“Where did the money go?” asks symbolic Rainforest Tribunal

(BASEL, SWITZERLAND) On Tuesday, Malaysian activists gathered in Basel, Switzerland, for a Rainforest Tribunal investigating deforestation in Borneo’s remote interior. Members of the Penan, Kelabit, Kenyah, Tering, and Kayan Indigenous communities of Sarawak, as well as international scholars, served as witnesses testifying on rainforest destruction and loss of Indigenous livelihoods...

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Swiss Court to hear Jamilah Taib’s lawsuit against BMF

(BASEL, SWITZERLAND) On Wednesday, Jamilah Taib Murray, daughter of Sarawak Governor Abdul Taib Mahmud, will face Swiss human rights and environment NGO, Bruno Manser Fonds (BMF), in the Civil Court of Basel-Stadt, Switzerland. Taib Murray, her husband Sean Murray, and her Canada-based real estate corporation Sakto Group have sued BMF...

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Swiss Rainforest Tribunal to look into Borneo deforestation

Representatives of the Penan people from Sarawak (Borneo) and other leading experts will come to Basel, Switzerland in August for an event to bear witness to the destruction of Borneo’s forests: The Rainforest Tribunal. The aim of the Tribunal is to take stock after decades of deforestation and ruthless exploitation of the rainforest: What are the...

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A Letter from our Executive Director

Dear Friends, I’ve just returned back to California from Malaysian Borneo, where Fi and I (the two-person staff of The Borneo Project) spent several weeks helping our partners, SAVE Rivers, prepare for a long-awaited trial against timber giant Samling. A few days before the trial was scheduled to start, we...

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SAVE Rivers silenced indefinitely as lawsuit postponed again

Indigenous communities hold peaceful demonstration and global civil society stands in solidarity with SAVE Rivers as they face a defamation lawsuit  (MIRI/SARAWAK/MALAYSIA) Today, timber giant Samling and Indigenous grassroots organisation SAVE Rivers were scheduled to face off at the Miri High Court in Sarawak. Last week, however, the judge adjourned...

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160 organizations join new call for Samling to drop lawsuit

160 groups and local communities rally behind grassroots NGO SAVE Rivers through letters and an email petition demanding timber company Samling withdraw its abusive lawsuit, which goes to trial in May at the Miri High Court. (Miri/Sarawak/Malaysia) 160 global civil society organizations sent a solidarity letter demanding timber company Samling...

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