Dear Friends,
As 2025 comes to a close, I’ve been thinking about what it means to do this work in a place where the challenges never seem to end. Plantations continue to expand, logging companies push deeper into forests, and communities face immense pressure on their lands and livelihoods. And yet, this has also been a year of remarkable success stories and tremendous hope.
With a slightly larger team at The Borneo Project (three full-time staff instead of two!) and with our skilled, and steadfast partners on the ground, we’ve been able to take on more than ever before. We’ve put that capacity directly into strengthening community organizing, solidarity, and long-term strategies for defense. This is the heart of our work—standing together with communities in pursuit of shared goals. When communities are organized and resourced, they win. We’ve seen it again and again.
This year, we saw it when timber giant Samling withdrew from a major logging concession after sustained community resistance and NGO pressure. And we saw it again in October, when oil palm company Urun Plantations agreed to a forest-clearing moratorium and committed to reforesting over 1,000 hectares to address their deforestation liabilities.
These wins didn’t happen by accident. They happened because we had the capacity to act strategically. With added staff, we were able to monitor forest clearing in real time, identify points of leverage in the oil palm supply chain, and pressure local mills to stop buying from destructive companies. Smart campaigning works, and it’s working consistently.
We are hearing from more communities than ever before. People are asking for help with organizing, mapping, funding, legal support, and strategies to protect their forests. These are needs we want to meet, and with your support, we can.
Your support creates real-world victories. When you give, you’re not just funding our work, you’re expanding the power, safety, and agency of the people defending their forests. When you give, you are directly equipping Indigenous communities with the support they need to protect their land — and win.
As we reach this critical stage, our board is offering an incredibly generous $50,000 matching grant. This means that any donation you make today will be doubled, helping us meet our $100,000 end-of-year fundraising goal.
Every victory this year has roots in your support. Thank you for standing with us, for believing in community power, and for helping protect the forests and peoples of Malaysian Borneo.
With gratitude,
Jettie Word
Executive Director, The Borneo Project