The Borneo Project’s Jessica Merriman appeared on Consider This from Malaysian news outlet Astro Awani to discuss the Bruno Manser Fonds’ recent report, Plundering the Baram Peace Park. The report documents how the Upper Baram Forest Area (UBFA), a conservation project established to protect some of Sarawak’s last remaining primary...
Originally published in Malaysiakini. It takes five and a half hours by boat across the Bakun reservoir to reach Long Jawe, a remote Indigenous village on the reservoir’s furthest inlet. When we arrived, our boat driver’s dogs came down to meet him. They were up to their necks in mud,...
by Peter Kallang The future of Upper Baram is no longer an abstract debate about development versus conservation. It is a real and ongoing conflict involving Indigenous communities, logging interests, and government authorities responsible for managing Sarawak’s forests. Since 2024, Indigenous Penan and Kenyah communities in Upper Baram have opposed...
This article was originally published at Green Agenda Australia In Sarawak, eucalyptus plantations are replacing biodiverse forests under the guise of “reforestation”. Indigenous communities fight to protect their lands while Australia continues to import timber grown on stolen territories. When I think back to the Black Summer of 2019-2020, I...
This article was originally published in Malaysiakini. The sound of a forest tree being felled tugs at some primal place of fear in our bodies – the thunder of a trunk losing its structural integrity, the ripping of vines and branches, then an eerie silent millisecond before its full weight...
This article was originally posted in Eco-business Asia We wind our way through a maze of logging roads in Sarawak, heading toward some of the state’s so-called reforestation projects. Sarawak claims to be at the forefront of Malaysia’s green revolution, planting millions of trees and launching its first carbon offset...
Originally published on Mongabay, 9 October 2024, by Danielle Keeton-Olsen A coalition of Indigenous and human rights groups are hoping new European Union trade regulations could help pressure timber and oil palm industries in Malaysia’s Sarawak state into respecting Indigenous land rights and implementing better land-use consent practices. The international...
Podcast originally aired by BFM Radio Guest: Luciana Téllez Chávez, Senior Environment & Human Rights Researcher, Human Rights Watch Click here to listen to the story. Human Rights Watch wants Sarawak to be classified as high-risk for deforestation under the EU deforestation regulation (EUDR). This is based on HRW’s joint one-year-long...
A coalition of environmental and Indigenous groups has called on the EU to designate Sarawak as high risk under its anti-deforestation law. Sarawak’s extensive deforestation and Indigenous rights violations pose serious risks, prompting calls for stricter EU import checks on timber and palm oil products from the region. Originally published...
Originally published in Sarawak Report The NGO Human Right Watch has, in collaboration with other international organisations, today issued a devastating report on Sarawak’s timber industry as it urges the European Union to categorise all Sarawak products as “High Risk” in advance of new laws to counter deforestation. The critique follows on...
