Timber scheme: Samling withdraws concessions, S'wak natives celebrate

Summary

• Samling representatives tells community members the firm has removed several of its concessions in Sarawak from the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme.

• This is after persistent resistance from the local indigenous people who live in or depend on the forest for their livelihoods.

• However, it is unclear whether logging will continue in the concessions areas, without the sustainable timber certification.

Indigenous communities in Sarawak celebrate what civil society group Save Rivers has termed a “landmark victory” after timber giant Samling withdrew several concessions from the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS).

In a meeting with the community on Feb 13, Samling representatives said the company has “abandoned logging” in the Gerenai Forest Management Unit (FMU) concession “due to sustained opposition from communities and NGOs, as well as financial considerations,“ Save Rivers said in a statement today.

Community members were told the firm has also withdrawn the Gerenai FMU and several other concessions from the sustainable timber scheme for the same reason, Save Rivers added.

The MTCS is a voluntary scheme to raise sustainability standards of Malaysian timber.

Among others, certification holders must obtain free, prior and informed consent from stakeholders like the indigenous communities who live in or depend on the concession area for their livelihoods.

“This development follows years of persistent resistance from communities across Sarawak, who have long challenged the company’s failure to obtain free, prior, and informed consent and its encroachment into native customary rights lands,” Save Rivers said.

However, it is unclear if the joy will be short-lived, and if Samling will continue to log the concession areas to harvest non-MTCS certified timber.

The certification is important for the export of timber products, with greater consumer and regulatory pressure for sustainable timber globally.

Malaysiakini has contacted Samling for comment.

READ MORE: Loopholes in timber cert scheme raise questions of greenwashing

Save Rivers managing director Celine Lim said while the community is “jubilant” over the fact that Samling has withdrawn from the MTCS, more needs to be done to secure their rights to the forest.

“What communities now want is a full recognition of their territories, and to stop having to perpetually deal with outsiders that claim to have operational rights,” she added.

Save Rivers shared that a representative from the Forest Department at the community meeting said the land use for those concessions is to be determined.

‘Suffered long enough’

The Feb 13 meeting was organised as part of an inspection by the international sustainable forest certification bodies Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) and representatives of the Dutch Timber Procurement Assessment Committee (TPAC).

The objective of the meeting was for the international bodies to inspect the complaints against the MTCS certification process.

The MTCS is endorsed by the PEFC, the biggest global forest certification programme.

On Feb 15, PEFC and TPAC met with community members from the Lepo’ Gah Tanjung Tepalit, who have also been under threat from logging and played a pivotal role in fighting against the Baram Dam.

“We hope this meeting will finally bring about positive change. I wanted to be here to show that whether certified or not, communities here have all suffered from logging activities,” said a community member who had travelled from the remote Penan village of Ba Data Bila to attend the meeting.

Penan leader and Keruan Organisation executive director Komeok Joe also reiterated the Penan communities' call for a permanent withdrawal of MTCC certification and logging concessions, especially the Ravenscourt Forest Management Unit.

“They have suffered enough from logging and lack of free, prior and informed consent in the past,” he stressed.

Two Penan villages refuse to participate in timber audit

NGOs lament Save Rivers 'silenced' by 4th postponement of Samling suit

Samling: Action by international body opportunity to clear the air

Int'l forestry body probes Sarawak timber group Samling

Loopholes in timber cert scheme raise questions of greenwashing

Activists: Penan stopped Samling from logging conservation area