A letter from 22 Penan communities in the Magoh and Limbang region is calling for a non-renewal of forest certification and support of their conservation efforts in the area. (Magoh/Sarawak/Malaysia) Twenty-two Penan communities in Sarawak, Malaysia, are urging the state government to halt logging in the Magoh and Limbang regions,...
What: Rapid expansion of native forest logging by Borneoland Timber Resources, moving toward the territory of Long Semiyang — an Indigenous Kenyah village on the Baram River in Sarawak. Where: Long Semiyang is located in the Upper Baram region of Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo. When: Borneoland Timber Resources has been operating...
Upper Baram, Sarawak — Penan and Kenyah communities in the Upper Baram region of Sarawak, Malaysia have issued a strong and unified statement opposing any logging activities in their ancestral lands. “We call on the Sarawak Government to adopt a zero-logging policy immediately”, emphasizes Roland Engan, Indigenous peoples rights lawyer....
Indigenous communities in Tatau, Sarawak are calling on global palm oil buyers to investigate a plantation, where they say the company has cleared their customary forests without consent and is now threatening the river system they depend on. Nine Iban longhouse communities along the Sungai Sap river say large areas...
As the Sarawak government moves forward with requests for proposals (RFPs) for a new series of cascading hydropower dams across five major river systems, Indigenous leaders and civil society organisations are calling for full participation in decisions that could reshape Sarawak’s rivers and communities for generations. The proposed cascading dam...
Miri, Sarawak — Indigenous community representatives in Sarawak have expressed concern regarding the confiscation of timber harvested for the construction of a family home, while destructive large-scale logging activities continue to be permitted. “We harvested timber for personal, non-commercial use to build our family house on our ancestral land”, says Mutang Tuo, resident of...
Community leaders in Belaga are calling for a formal revenue-sharing mechanism that would ensure Indigenous communities directly benefit from the electricity generated by the Bakun Hydropower Project. The proposal was advanced through a working paper prepared by the Balui Lake Native Association (BLNA), chaired by Pemanca Tony Kulleh. The paper...
UPOV, the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, is a global system of plant breeders’ rights. It gives legal monopoly rights to companies or institutions that develop “new” plant varieties. In Sarawak and across Malaysia, many Indigenous communities strongly oppose joining or aligning national law with...
Penan Community of Sawa Ali Forces Temporary Stop to Borneoland Timber Resources’ Logging Activities Miri, Sarawak — Logging operations by Borneoland Timber Resources (“Borneoland”) in the highly contested Upper Baram region have been temporarily halted. This marks a significant victory for the Indigenous Penan community of Sawa Ali, who have steadfastly resisted...
(Miri, Sarawak — December 18, 2025) Eleven Penan residents representing communities in Ulu Baram are weighing an appeal to the Malaysian Court of Appeal after the Miri High Court dismissed their challenge to logging licences issued by the Sarawak Forest Director and approved by the Minister of Natural Resources and...
