Timber giant Samling is logging some of the last intact forests in Sarawak against the wishes of local Indigenous communities. The #StopTheChop campaign is calling on Samling to stop logging without consent. It also calls on the MTCC and PEFC — the national and international timber certificationlabels — to enforce their own standards.
#StopTheChop is a rainforest protection campaign spearheaded by local communities and civil society in the Baram region, Sarawak. Indigenous communities in the area rely heavily on the forests for their physical and cultural survival. It is a biodiversity hotspot and critical wildlife corridor, with some of the largest areas of unprotected primary forest left in Malaysian Borneo. The region includes the Baram Peace Park (UBFA).
Communities have been fighting logging for decades, but started organizing under the #StopTheChop campaign in 2020 when reports from multiple communities revealed that timber giant Samling was logging without properly obtaining the free, prior and informed consent of local communities, as is required by the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS). Our local partner SAVE Rivers published these reports on its website, and in response Samling has slapped them with a massive defamation lawsuit designed to silence and bankrupt them.
In the face of such threats, more communities continue to join the #StopTheChop campaign in solidarity.
BELAGA, SARAWAK – The Customary and Native Land Committee of Hulu Balui has protested against a large-scale bamboo plantation by Rich Venture Sdn. Bhd. near the Bakun Dam in Belaga, alleging encroachment into Native Customary Rights (NCR) land and severe environmental damage. The plantation, licensed under LPF/0056 and covering 44,545...
Indigenous communities allege oil palm expansion without consent, deforestation, and environmental harm BELAGA, SARAWAK – Indigenous Penan and Kenyah communities from the Upper Belaga River have lodged a formal complaint against Urun Plantations Sdn. Bhd., alleging violations of the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) standards. The complaint, supported by detailed...
This article was originally published by Eco-Business Asia For years, Indigenous communities in Sarawak fought against logging on their lands. Today, they can claim a rare victory: timber giant Samling has withdrawn from Baram’s forests, and may well have withdrawn from logging native forests for good. Indigenous communities in the...
We’ve been sounding the alarm lately about Malaysia’s resistance to the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), a law that aims to prevent products associated with deforestation from entering the EU. Malaysia has lobbied against forest protection rules, excluded civil society from policy discussions, and played the victim card in high-level...
Save our forest and stop the logging – Baram Penan communities send clear message from the forest to Sarawak’s capital (KUCHING & BARAM / SARAWAK / MALAYSIA) Today, a delegation of Penan from the Upper Baram River Basin delivered a petition with over 500 signatures to government representatives at the...
Satellite analysis reveals logging road expansion nearing core protection zone of government backed project in the Baram River Basin (BARAM / SARAWAK / MALAYSIA) New satellite imagery shows major logging road expansion in the northwestern area of the Upper Baram Forest Area (UBFA), a conservation project in northern Sarawak supported...
Malaysian Borneo’s last primary rainforests under threat despite international conservation promises A new logging operation in Sarawak’s Upper Baram region poses an immediate threat to the Malaysian state’s last primary rainforests in the Heart of Borneo. Community sources say operators linked to Malaysian tycoon Hii King Chiong (“Hii”) have started...
Report via RimbaWatch Executive Summary This supplement report supports the general findings of the original State of the Malaysian Rainforest 2023 Study. This report uses three baselines to predict a future reduction in forest cover; using the Vancutsem et al., 2021, Official Data, 2020 and Gaveau, 2022 forest cover statistics...
Timber giant Shin Yang begins questionable Social Impact Assessment process for carbon project as questions about Sarawak’s carbon initiatives are put to Sarawak’s parliament (BARAM & KUCHING / SARAWAK) Critical questions were put to the Sarawak State Assembly yesterday about the state’s carbon market initiatives. At the same time, timber...
After various complaints from civil society, the Dutch government asks PEFC International to demonstrate accountability and prove that the Malaysian timber certification scheme is compliant (THE HAGUE / NETHERLANDS) The Dutch government expects PEFC International to conduct an investigation into the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS) following growing concerns about...
