Bruno Manser Fonds launches “Save the Baram forest” campaign at UNESCO headquarters
(Paris) Forest activists told Sarawak Premier Abang Johari during his visit to Europe that his first step towards climate protection should be the conservation of old-growth forests in Sarawak.
A delegation from the Switzerland-based nature protection agency Bruno Manser Fonds (BMF) awaited the Premier this morning at the gates of UNESCO’s headquarters in Paris with banners reading “Save the Baram Forest”.
“The Premier is not credible if he promotes green energy internationally and at the same time allows the destruction of Sarawak’s last primary rainforests”, BMF executive director Lukas Straumann said.
“We call on the Premier to stop the ongoing destruction of the Baram forest by the timber industry. Sarawak has an international responsibility for this biodiversity hotspot that plays an important role as global carbon stock.”
The Sarawak Premier has drawn conservationists’ ire after his government granted a 170,000 hectare timber licence in Baram to a politically connected timber tycoon from Miri, Sarawak.
The government granted the timber licence, which is worth millions of dollars, without public tender and the necessary social and environmental impact assessments.
Local communities recently challenged the licence with a claim for judicial review in the High Court of Sabah and Sarawak. A court decision is expected by the end of October.
Sarawak Premier Abang Johari is currently touring Europe in an attempt to promote the Malaysian state as a green energy hub for South-East Asia.