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.
Coalition submits complaint to FSC during General Assembly, calling on the body to withdraw Samling’s certificates (BALI, INDONESIA / MIRI, MALAYSIA) This week, a coalition of civil society organizations are calling on the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) to drop Sarawak timber giant Samling and withdraw its FSC Licence Agreement under...
Samling withdraws from the Upper Baram Forest Area as Penan increase pressure with police report and blockade (BARAM / SARAWAK / MALAYSIA) Penan communities have filed a police report and erected blockades to stop logging in the area of the mountain of Batu Siman in Northern Sarawak. In May and...
JOINT PRESS RELEASE by KERUAN, Bruno Manser Fund, The Borneo ProjectFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Logging company Samling extracts timber near culturally important site – Penan communities outraged (LONG AJENG / BARAM / SARAWAK) Logging company Samling is currently extracting timber from an area earmarked for community-led conservation and community development under...
In Malaysian Borneo, local communities are fighting to safeguard their land from logging in the face of corporate intimidation. Last December, timber giant Samling’s COO James Ho Yam Kuan wrote in an opinion piece in a popular Malaysian online news site that he was “scandalized” by accusations that the company...
May 13, 2022 Indigenous delegates from Malaysia visit the Netherlands, top importer of MTCS certified timber, to raise concerns about the certification scheme(THE HAGUE / NETHERLANDS) An Indigenous delegation from Malaysia is currently in the Netherlands to speak to the Dutch government about suspending its endorsement of the Malaysian Timber...
In conjunction with MTCC’s participation at PEFC International’s upcoming members meeting in Dublin, civil society organisations argue MTCC is unable to uphold timber certification standards. May 10, 2022(MIRI / SARAWAK / MALAYSIA) As the Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC) attends the members’ meeting for the Programme for the Endorsement of...
Experts at Swiss Anti-SLAPP Conference Identify Samling’s Lawsuit Against SAVE Rivers as an alleged SLAPP Suit Originally published in the Sarawak Report As companies increasingly rely on legal intimidation around the world, Samling is identified as one company in Malaysia allegedly using legal action to silence public participation A delegation...
Originally published in the Malaysian Insight PENAN folk deep in the interior of Sarawak have refuted a timber company’s claims that it was not logging in Long Pakan. In a video contradicting the company Samling, the ethnic group showed satellite images of a road the firm is alleged to be building on...
Samling appropriated and claimed ownership over a photo featuring the work of community-based organization SAVE Rivers, which Samling is suing for publicly criticizing Samling’s lack of community engagement January 25, 2022 (Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia) — On a webpage highlighting its commitment to corporate social responsibility, Samling Timber Malaysia has posted...
