A plan to protect one of Sarawak’s remaining rainforest landscapes has instead ended with a major timber concession over the same forests, according to a new report about the Upper Baram. For years, Penan and other Indigenous communities in the region have pushed for their forests to be protected through what began as the Penan Peace Park and later became the Baram Peace Park. The idea eventually became a government-backed project with international support. But the report, Plundering the Baram Peace Park, says that while this conservation project was being developed, a major timber concession was granted over the same forests, and the project was eventually cancelled. So how did a community-led conservation vision reach this point, and what happens to the forests and the people who depend on them now? We explore this with Lerroy Lemen, a Penan representative from Long Lamai in Baram and a member of the grassroots organisation Keruan, and Tanja Meier, a campaigner with the Bruno Manser Fonds, which is behind the report.

A plan to protect one of Sarawak’s remaining rainforest landscapes has instead ended with a major timber concession over the same forests, according to a new report about the Upper Baram. For years, Penan and other Indigenous communities in the region have pushed for their forests to be protected through what began as the Penan Peace Park and later became the Baram Peace Park. The idea eventually became a government-backed project with international support. But the report, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.savebaramforest.org/en/report/">Plundering the Baram Peace Park</a>, says that while this conservation project was being developed, a major timber concession was granted over the same forests, and the project was eventually cancelled. So how did a community-led conservation vision reach this point, and what happens to the forests and the people who depend on them now? We explore this with Lerroy Lemen, a Penan representative from Long Lamai in Baram and a member of the grassroots organisation <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.facebook.com/p/Keruan-Voices-of-the-Penans-100075707032321/">Keruan</a>, and Tanja Meier, a campaigner with the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://bmf.ch/en">Bruno Manser Fonds</a>, which is behind the report.

Climate change, ferocious weather and ‘the haze’ are now part our everyday lives. How are our lifestyles connected to them, and what can we do about it? What does the economy have to do with it? Earth Matters engages with activists and experts to explore our changing relationship with the planet that we only borrow from our children.