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.
Originally published in The Borneo Post MIRI (May 21): Some 36 Dayak communities in Ulu Baram and Ulu Limbang last week filed official complaints with the Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC) against the certification of two logging concessions, according to two non-govenrmental organisations (NGO). The Borneo Project and Bruno Manser...
Originally published in Aliran Last month, the community of Long Moh submitted a letter to Samling demanding compensation for unpermitted logging on their land. Dated 8 November, the letter was signed by 300 community members and is the second plea made by the community to Samling, after an initial letter...
Last month, the community of Long Moh submitted a letter to Samling demanding compensation for unpermitted logging on their land. Dated November 8th, the letter was signed by 300 community members and is the second plea made by the community to Samling, after an initial letter sent in September received...
The timber company Samling has been encroaching into the area earmarked for the conservation zone of the Upper Baram Forest Area (also known as Baram Peace Park) in Northern Sarawak. Assistant Headman Suya Ara of Long Ajeng, one of the Penan communities currently affected, is alarmed and sending an alert...
