Representatives of the Penan people from Sarawak (Borneo) and other leading experts will come to Basel, Switzerland in August for an event to bear witness to the destruction of Borneo’s forests: The Rainforest Tribunal. The aim of the Tribunal is to take stock after decades of deforestation and ruthless exploitation of the rainforest: What are the...
SAVE Rivers shocked as timber company uses its chairman’s name on webpage about community engagement in apparent attempt to enhance its image (MIRI / BARAM / SARAWAK) Local civil society organization SAVE Rivers was shocked to see their chairman’s name on Samling’s website in a description apparently intended to strengthen...
Dear Friends, I’ve just returned back to California from Malaysian Borneo, where Fi and I (the two-person staff of The Borneo Project) spent several weeks helping our partners, SAVE Rivers, prepare for a long-awaited trial against timber giant Samling. A few days before the trial was scheduled to start, we...
The Penan villages of Long Lamai and Ba Lai refuse to participate in the ongoing forest certification process and ask timber giant Samling to respect their territories (LONG LAMAI & BA LAI / BARAM / SARAWAK) The Penan communities of Long Lamai and Ba Lai have expressed their complete rejection...
As Malaysian timber giant Samling’s SLAPP suit against SAVE Rivers is adjourned for a fourth time, communities continue their fight against the logging company. Last week on the steps of High Court, in Miri, Sarawak, we witnessed a peaceful protest from community members from the Baram region of Sarawak, Malaysia....
Indigenous communities hold peaceful demonstration and global civil society stands in solidarity with SAVE Rivers as they face a defamation lawsuit (MIRI/SARAWAK/MALAYSIA) Today, timber giant Samling and Indigenous grassroots organisation SAVE Rivers were scheduled to face off at the Miri High Court in Sarawak. Last week, however, the judge adjourned...
While international experts and civil society discuss best practices for impact assessments at the ongoing IAIA conference in Kuching, FSC launches investigation into Samling’s “unacceptable activities” in Sarawak (KUCHING, MALAYSIA / BONN, GERMANY) This week, the Forest Stewardship Council FSC officially accepted a complaint against Malaysian timber giant Samling filed...
Introduction The Baram Heritage Survey (BHS) conducted 2 years of data collection in rural Indigenous communities of Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo. The project hired and trained local people to collect social, economic, and ecological data, incorporating Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and building community ownership of the project. The resulting 90-page atlases...
160 groups and local communities rally behind grassroots NGO SAVE Rivers through letters and an email petition demanding timber company Samling withdraw its abusive lawsuit, which goes to trial in May at the Miri High Court. (Miri/Sarawak/Malaysia) 160 global civil society organizations sent a solidarity letter demanding timber company Samling...
In response to the recent statements made by Telang Usan assemblyman Dennis Ngau, who claimed that logging posed no threat to the indigenous community in Baram, the organisations emphasize that such claims are unfounded. Logging has significantly altered the environmental balance of the virgin forest and led to damage to...
