LONDON: The credibility of the international Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) has been called into question over its failure to act against a company bulldozing ancestral forests and perpetrating human rights abuses in Indonesia. First Resources Ltd has submitted documents to the RSPO falsely claiming that its subsidiary PT Borneo Surya...
The Penans have been blockading against the construction of the 944MW Murum Dam since Sept 26, 2012. More than 1,600 Penans from eight Penan villages (including one Kenyah Badeng longhouse) are affected by the construction of the dam which is now about 70% completed. The Penan communities affected by the...
KOTA KINABALU, Malaysia: Over 120 participants representing 11 nations at the recently concluded Southeast Asia Renewable Energy People’s Assembly (SEAREPA) have unanimously decided to reject the development of 12 planned mega-dams in Sarawak. In their declaration, participants stressed that they had discussed renewable energy concerns across the region and were deeply concerned...
A proposed industrial area extension in East Kalimantan, Indonesia will likely mean the end of a population of rehabilitated orangutans who reside there, according to the Indonesian environmental group Peduli Teluk Balikpapan. Orangutans, as with other native wildlife that lives in the region, have increasingly smaller and smaller patches of...
TAKE ACTION! Hydro Tasmania and Sarawak Energy are ignoring human rights by investing in the construction of 12 new dams in Sarawak with no indigenous community consultation or oversight. This is not acceptable. Click here to stand alongside The Borneo Project in support of indigenous people’s rights! Read our full...
Earlier this week, Indonesia’s House of Representatives moved to establish “North Kalimantan”, a new province in Indonesian Borneo, in addition to four new districts: Pangandaran in West Java, South Coast in Lampung (Sumatra), and South Manokwari and Arfak Mountains in West Papua (New Guinea). This political move is meant to...
Survival International recently announced that “Indonesia treats its indigenous and tribal people, especially in West Papua, worse than any other country in the world.” This finding, surprisingly, comes after the Indonesian Government adopted the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples back in September, 2007. Read below to learn more....
The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) is calling for international support to demand an end to the intimidation of an indigenous community in Indonesia as well as the destruction of its forests by plantation firms. Two companies are clearing forests and farmland belonging to the Dayak Benuaq of Muara Tae, while the...
The High Court recently ruled against a joint petition by Penan and Kelabit people in Limbang to save their forest lands from the greed of Chief Minister Taib’s timber and plantation allies, Samling Global and the Hii family. The judge based his ruling on the failure of the natives of...
According to a study published last year in the journal Global Change Biology, Indonesia and Malaysia lost more than 11 million hectares (42,470 square miles) of forest between 2000 and 2010. Borneo was on the top of list, losing 12 percent of its 2000 cover. Lowland forests historically have been...
