Mongabay · Climate & nature

Logging Threatens Bornean Forest Earmarked for Indigenous Peace Park

A significant portion of the Upper Baram Forest Area in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo, intended for community-led conservation as the Baram Peace Park, has been granted as a commercial logging concession, according to a recent report.

The 283,500-hectare Upper Baram Forest Area was proposed for community co-management over 15 years ago. Despite securing $1.4 million in 2021 for a conservation initiative with 32 Indigenous villages, the state government granted a 170,000-hectare timber concession in 2024 to Borneoland Timber Resources Sdn. Bhd., overlapping crucial cultural and ecological zones.

Between March and May 2025, community observers documented over 160 logging trucks exiting the concession monthly, hauling an estimated $2.6 million in timber per month. Logging paths have reached primary forest areas central to Indigenous heritage, endangering species like helmeted hornbills, sun bears, and Sunda clouded leopards.

Affected villagers claim loggers have violated native customary rights by bulldozing land and destroying ancestral fruit trees. Local communities are actively monitoring and mobilizing to protect their forests, with concerns that the forest could be depleted if logging continues this year.

State authorities, however, defend the timber concession, stating that the project was always intended as an "integrated landscape management area" permitting timber licensing alongside community use and conservation. They also cited a High Court decision dismissing an Indigenous-led challenge as evidence of no irregularities in the concession's granting.

The Sarawak Forest Department director noted that not all communities oppose the logging activities but acknowledged recent blockades indicate frustration among some Indigenous groups regarding the concession.

AI-samenvatting op basis van de bron.