SIGN THE PETITION: #STOPTHECHOP AT BAKUN

Defend the last remaining forests of Ulu Balui

A massive commercial bamboo project is threatening to wipe out native forests in the Belaga region of Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo. On the banks of the Bakun dam, vast tracts of rainforest are slated to be cut down to make way for bamboo monoculture. The Kenyah, Kayan, Lahanan, and Penan communities in the region have already been displaced once, when the Bakun mega-dam flooded much of their ancestral territories.

Now, the small area of forests these communities have left are at risk of being wiped out for good.

In a region ravaged by logging, destructive dams, and palm oil plantations, healthy forests are being cut down for yet another type of industrial monoculture. The people behind the company responsible for the plantation (LPF/0056), Rich Venture Sdn Bhd, have been linked to multiple deforestation projects around Sarawak.

The Bakun bamboo plantation is the latest example of Indigenous territories under attack from extractive industry.

Local advocacy group, the Committee on Native Customary Land and Lepuun Ulu Balui, say the community was not adequately consulted – they have not seen an Environmental Impact Assessment, nor a management plan for the bamboo plantation.

Communities are desperate for the deforestation to stop and for the company responsible to be held accountable.

Sign Our Petition

We, the undersigned, call on Rich Venture Sdn Bhd and the Premier of Sarawak to:

1. Immediately suspend all activity within LPF/0056;
2. Recognize and excise Indigenous land and customary territories from the LPF/0056 concession area;
3. Declare a permanent buffer zone protecting forests and water sources around the Bakun reservoir;
4. Adequately and fairly compensate the communities of Uma Belor, Uma Lahanan, Uma Kelep, Uma Penan Talun, Uma Balui Liko, Uma Juman, and Uma Daro for existing forest destruction; and
5. Immediately begin forest restoration efforts in sensitive areas damaged by clearing, particularly within 50 meters of water resources and in formerly HCV areas.

Join us in demanding justice for Sarawak’s Indigenous communities.