Penans want 'no logging zone' after Samling's timber cert reinstated

The Penan community in the Limbang region of Sarawak have written to the Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC) to question why timber giant Samling has won back its certification for sustainable timber.

Samling lost its certificate for the Ravenscourt Forest Management Unit (FMU), one of its certified natural forests under the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS) in Sarawak, in July for non-compliance with MTCS standards.

However, the certificate was reinstated on Dec 6 last year, the MTCC website shows.

In their letter to MTCC yesterday, the communities of Long Gita, Long Tevenga, Ba Nyakit, Long Adang, Ba Peresek and Long Daun said they opposed the certification before because there was no informed consent for logging in these areas from their end.

Dismayed by the reinstatement, they now want a no-logging zone carved out from the area to secure Penan heritage, their way of life and livelihoods.

“We are confused that Samling’s concession on our land is MTCS certified again. We never agreed to this. We insist that still not all Penan communities in the area have been consulted and informed. We ask Sirim to withdraw the certificate again.

"As long as Samling has not marked our territories as community use and no-logging zones, we strongly oppose forest certification of the Ravenscourt FMU.

"We need these areas to continue our nomadic and semi-nomadic livelihood, the life of our ancestors,” said Ketua Baru, the leader of Long Gita, who is representing the Penans affected by the Ravenscourt FMU certification.

Sirim is the auditor who conducts checks on applicants seeking MTCS certification.

'Guardians of forest and heritage'

The MTCS certification is endorsed by the internationally recognised Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification and is used to signal to buyers that the timber is logged sustainably.

However, the local community said logging in the forests used by the Penans will undermine their traditional practices as it will pollute the rivers they fish in and impede their hunting practices as well as their gathering of medicinal herbs and sago.

"We are the last nomads of Sarawak. Our community are guardians of our cultural heritage, to be passed down to future Penans, Malaysians and the world," Ketua said.

He stressed that according to the free, prior informed consent principle of the MTCS, the indigenous people are the primary custodians of their lands unless they consent to allow other parties to manage the land.

As such, they demand that areas which are deemed Penan land be taken out of the certification zone.

Samling: We won't destroy forest

The Ravenscourt FMU shares a common boundary with the Pulong Tau National Park, Sabah and Kalimantan, Indonesia. Within the Ravenscourt FMU boundaries is the entirety of Ba'kelalan.

In previous engagements with Malaysiakini, Samling repeatedly stressed that it had adhered to all FPIC requirements in sustainable forest certification.

In 2021, the timber giant refuted allegations of mismanagement of its Ravenscourt FMU as "baseless allegations" meant to smear the company.

“Samling understands and respects the community’s dependence on forest produce and has neither denied the importance of the forest to their livelihood nor wilfully caused damage to forests that are used by the communities as food sources.

“At the same time, Samling also believes in the empowerment of local communities so that they can discern for themselves their rights and the responsibilities of the Samling Group, and engage directly with the group instead of through NGOs who claim to speak for the communities,” it remarked.

Last November, Samling repeated this position in response to a report by forest watchdogs Bruno Manser Fonds and The Borneo Project regarding its forest certifications.

"Our responses are archived on our website and we hope that anyone who wishes to know our side of the allegations will take the time to read and understand the complexity of the situation in Sarawak’s forests before throwing about unjustified and empty allegations."

Malaysiakini has contacted the MTCC and Sirim to seek more information on why Samling's Ravenscourt FMU certification was reinstated.

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