KUCHING, March 10: Indigenous land rights defenders have refuted the claims by Telang Usan assemblyman Dennis Ngau that logging poses no threat to indigenous communities in Baram, as they insist that opposition to logging is still widespread, as are its environmental impact.
In a joint statement today, Save Rivers and Penan organisation Keruan has criticised Dennis’ remarks dismissing the serious and genuine grievances of Baram communities, saying that it demonstrated a real lack of understanding of the issues and needs on the ground.
In a news report on March 8, Dennis told Free Malaysia Today (FMT) that logging in Ulu Baram, a remote area in Miri, does not threaten the way of life of indigenous communities as he had come to know that they welcomed the logging, benefiting from it after engaging with these communities together with Sarawak Forestry Corporation and the Sarawak Forest Department.
Dennis also downplayed the blockade set up by a Penan community to prevent logging from taking place in the Ba Abang village of Ulu Baram, saying it was carried out by a “very small group of people”.
To this, Save Rivers and Keruan stressed that it is well substantiated that logging poses a threat to the environment as well as the social and cultural wellbeing of remote indigenous communities in Baram by harming the plant, animal and fish populations that communities rely on for their food security.
It also damages waterways, causing siltation, landslides and heavy flooding. It threatens vital medicinal plants, and restricts access to the forest products used for handicrafts.
“We are not happy when the company continues to work because the forest will vanish, forest products are difficult to find such as sago, rattan and medicines. It is also difficult to hunt and the polluted water and soil erosion cause the fish to die,” said Pada Jutang, the village chief of Long Pakan.
The problem, he pointed out, is not only the direct impacts of logging itself, but also the way that logging companies conduct themselves.
Save Rivers managing director Celine Lim said that communities have complained of a lack of access to environmental and social impact assessments after discovering that logging has taken place on their lands without free, prior and informed consent.
“They have participated in completely inadequate consultations, or been left out of the process entirely,” she added.
Lim also mentioned that communities have collected photos, videos and satellite data to prove their claims — which have been submitted to both the national and international certification bodies, while the treatment of indigenous communities by logging companies in Baram has also been questioned by the United Nations (UN).
On Dennis’ remarks that logging companies have built roads to improve access to Ulu Baram, the groups said that the communities refused to be held hostage over essential infrastructure and called on the government to step up and maintain the roads, not logging companies.
“Logging roads are meant for logging companies to transport logs while the roads we want are roads that should be provided by the government. We want accessible tar roads just like other villages in this country. Is Sarawak economy only dependent on logging, that Baram for 40 years has had no choice but to still depend on logging roads for accessibility?” David Bilong from Long Semiyang, Baram questioned.
“Provide us with a main road as basic infrastructure and we will be able to generate and manage a sustainable economy from this area and we don’t have to depend on third-parties like logging companies for scraps. We are left behind in all manners of basic services and amenities because this most basic infrastructure is not afforded to us,” Jacinta Baun from Long Moh added.
Save Rivers chairman Peter Kallang has this to say, “After more than 40 years of intensive industrial-scale logging being carried out in Baram and which reaps billions of dollars for timber tycoons, and associates, now the communities are constantly reminded by uninformed politicians to be happy with unpaved, dirt, makeshift roads, and flimsy log bridges. The available employment opportunities which are often bragged about are negligible compared to the thousands who are being deprived.”
One of the many obvious impacts of logging, he highlighted, is the increase in flooding in the Baram area, which is becoming more frequent and more severe.
“Save Rivers is working to collect data on mitigation measures to support communities, who are fed up with being constantly flooded,” he added. — DayakDaily
