A COALITION of environmental, human rights and indigenous organisations have urged the European Union to address its rights concerns by classifying Sarawak as “high risk” under the EU's new anti-deforestation regulation.
An assessment by the Human Rights Watch, RimbaWatch, Save Rivers, Keruan, Bruno Manser Fonds, and The Borneo Project alleged “millions of hectares” of Sarawak's ancient rainforests “are at risk of being razed for timber and oil palm plantations supplying international markets” and the deforestation violates the indigenous peoples’ rights.
The coalition of civil society's assessment of environmental and human rights risks in Sarawak analysed the threat of future deforestation and the existence, compliance with, or effective enforcement of laws protecting the rights of indigenous peoples.
It found that the Sarawak government has set a goal of establishing one million hectares of industrial timber plantations by the end of next year.
The group said to achieve that goal, over 400,000 ha of naturally regenerating forest would need to be converted between 2022 and 2025.
The assessment also found that Sarawak's laws “fail to uphold indigenous peoples’ rights to own, use, and control their ancestral territories”.
The group claimed Sarawak’s laws impose an arbitrary 1,000-ha cap on the area for which indigenous peoples can get legal recognition and the state has the ability to unilaterally revoke indigenous land titles without consent or even compensation.
The assessment also claimed the Sarawak government grants companies with special leases to operate in areas that it has not yet surveyed, delegating the responsibility of surveying the land to those companies.
“The land code requires companies to report, and then remove from their concession, any indigenous land their lease area encroaches on, but without penalties if they don’t.
“In effect, companies can illegally disregard Indigenous peoples’ land rights claims without consequences,” the group said.
The assessment also claimed Sarawak has no law requiring companies to obtain free, prior, and informed consent from indigenous communities before leasing or conducting activities on their land.
“The certification programmes that require informed consent have a record of noncompliance, permissive auditing, inadequate enforcement, and no real avenues for recourse.”
If Sarawak is classified as high risk, the EU Deforestation-Free Products Regulation (EUDR) will restrict imports of wood and palm oil products, among others, that are linked to deforestation or violations of laws on human rights, land use, and labour.
If the EU heeds the group's demand and the regulation is enforced in January next year, relevant products cannot be sold on the EU market if they originate from land deforested after 2020.
The group also claimed two thirds of EU imports tainted with deforestation originate from five countries - Côte d’Ivoire, Brazil, Indonesia, Ghana, and Malaysia.
A “high risk” designation would require EU member countries to triple their customs checks on imports of timber and palm oil products from Sarawak.
EU companies importing these products would also have to conduct more rigorous due diligence to mitigate environmental and human rights risks.
The European Commission, the EU’s primary executive body, would be required to collaborate closely with Malaysian officials to identify measures to reduce risk.
The group estimated Sarawak has exported at least RM37.3 million worth of timber products to the EU since 2023, principally to the Netherlands, France, and Greece.
The Netherlands, Germany, France, and Belgium were among the top 10 buyers of certified Malaysian timber products, according to the most recent report by the Malaysian Timber Certification Council, dating from 2022.
The EU is the third largest destination of Malaysian palm oil exports, according to the Malaysian Palm Oil Board, a government and industry body. - September 27, 2024
