Indigenous tribes demand end to logging in Baram Peace Park

A GROUP of Penans, who said their livelihoods were being threatened by ongoing logging operations in the upper Baram River basin, today handed over a petition with over 500 signatures to Sarawak’s Deputy Premier Awang Tengah Ali Hassan, demanding an immediate halt to work in the area. 

Copies of the petition were also handed to the Sarawak Forest Department director Hamden Mohammad and Ramon Carrillo of the International Tropical Timber Organisation at the opening of the three-day Asia-Pacific Forest Landscape Restoration Conference in Kuching. 

The petition – mostly from Penan villagers living in the 283,500ha Baram Peace Park close to the Sarawak–Kalimantan border – included the signatures of members of the 44 tribes from the village of Ba Data Bila who were directly affected by the construction of a logging road. 

They said they were concerned about the negative impact it would bring. 

The biosphere, also known as the Upper Baram Forest Area (UBFA), is part of an effort to protect Sarawak’s last area of pristine forest. 

The drive is led by the indigenous people who have been living there for generations – the Penan, Kenyah, Saban and Kelabit – who consider the area their ancestral land. 

In early 2023, community representatives of the Penan, Kenyah, and Saban launched the UBFA Declaration. 

Through this document, the communities outlined their vision for development without losing their heritage, forests, and culture to logging. 

Keruan, a civil society group representing the Penan, said in a statement that the handing over of the petition was another sign of the tribes’ growing resistance to logging operations by Borneoland Timber Resources. 

It said last week that 100 Penan from the upper Baram met in the settlement of Long Lamam to send “a clear message” to the logging company and the state government in the form of an Oro – a traditional Penan message. 

Keruan said there was increasing tension in Ba Data Bila between those who supported and those who opposed the logging activity.  

The pro-logging faction is led by the headman’s family, who reportedly had signed a deal with the logging company. 

Maria Nilson, a Ba Data Bila farmer and member of the delegation that handed over the petition to Awang Tengah said the tension was creating fear.  

“End the logging and bring peace back to our home and forest. We Penan have supported the UBFA project because we hoped to finally get development without destruction of our forest. 

“Now despite the official recognition of the project, our worst fears have materialised,” she said, alluding to the satellite image analysis made last week, which revealed how the logging roads in the park were rapidly expanding. 

Borneoland Timber Resources is linked to the timber tycoon Hii King Chiong. 

Keruan said it only recently discovered that the timber concession, now known as licence T/9246, was acquired by Borneo Timber Resources from Samling. 

It stated that although all timber licences must be certified under Sustainable Forest Management from 2022, “no efforts for certification are known to be under way for this concession”. 

Apart from focussing on protecting their ancestral lands from deforestation and encroachment by logging companies, Keruan has also been instrumental in mobilising the Penan community to file police reports, set up blockades, and use satellite and drone imagery to document and challenge the logging activities of the companies operating there.  

Keruan, alongside other CSOs, has criticised the lack of transparency in environmental impact assessments related to logging activities, highlighting that communities often lacked access to crucial information. 

This lack of transparency complicated efforts to hold logging companies accountable, making Keruan’s work in documenting and challenging these activities even more critical. – August 27, 2024.