NGOs push EU to label Sarawak as ‘high risk’ source of timber, palm oil

Deforestation for oil palm plantation in Sarawak. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

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...

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Why Sarawak should be high risk under the new EU deforestation rules

We’ve been sounding the alarm lately about Malaysia’s resistance to the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), a law that aims to prevent products associated with deforestation from entering the EU. Malaysia has lobbied against forest protection rules, excluded civil society from policy discussions, and played the victim card in high-level...

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HRW Assesses Sarawak’s Timber And Palm Oil Industries

Capture from BFM radio: HRW Assesses Sarawak's Timber and Palm Oil Industries

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...

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EU urged to designate Sarawak as ‘high risk‘ under anti-deforestation law

Logging companies often illegally cut roads into forests on indigenous land (© Rettet den Regenwald / Mathias Rittgerott

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...

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EU: Address Indigenous Rights Violations in Malaysian Imports

Ladies listening Long Tungan

Designate Sarawak as ‘High Risk’ Under New Anti-Deforestation Law The European Union should classify Malaysia’s state of Sarawak as high risk under its new anti-deforestation regulation, a coalition of environmental, human rights, and Indigenous organizations said today. Sarawak, whose millions of hectares of ancient rainforests are at risk of being razed...

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EU Must Classify Sarawak Timber As “High Risk” Under New Rules Says Joint NGO Report

Map of timber and plantation concessions in Sarawak

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...

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BFM: Keeping the Baram Peace Park Intact

In an interview with Juliet Jacobs of BFM Radio, Malaysia’s only independent radio station, our friend and partner Celine Lim talks about the ongoing struggle to save the Baram Peace Park. Celine is Managing Director of Sarawak-based Indigenous rights NGO SAVE Rivers, which upports and empowers Indigenous communities to protect...

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NGOs to Anwar: fix Malaysia’s broken timber certification system

MTCS zone inside the Lana plantation

In a letter to Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, NGOs call for urgent reforms of and propose solutions to the broken Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS) (KUALA LUMPUR / MALAYSIA) Today, civil society groups called on Malaysia’s Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, to undertake long-overdue reforms of the Malaysian Timber Certification...

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