Rural Sarawak communities lodge complaint against logging firm

Penan communities in rural Sarawak have lodged formal complaints against timber giant Samling Group over two of its logging concessions.

The villagers have demanded to see the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Social Impact Assessment (SIA) reports for both licences.

A forest where a logging concession is in force is formally called a forest management unit (FMU).

Last week, the Gerenai Community Rights Action Committee reported Samling to the Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC) for an alleged lack of transparency over the Gerenai FMU.

Malaysiakini sighted the May 11 letter.

“Our request to receive copies of the 2018 SIA as well as the two EIAs for the Gerenai FMU were never acknowledged.

“Without relevant impact reports...