A UNIT of Sarawak timber giant, Samling, is now being investigated by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) after the Bonn-based organisation accepted the complaint filed by several civil society groups last October that there was “sufficient evidence” regarding violation of FSC policies.

The FSC is an international non-profit, multi-stakeholder organisation established in 1993 that promotes responsible management of the world’s forests via timber certification.

Its worldwide headquarters is based in Bonn, Germany, but there are multiple national offices across the world.

In an online statement yesterday, FSC stated it would open a case into alleged illegal logging or the trade in illegal wood or forest products, violations of traditional and human rights in forestry operations, destruction of high conservation values in forestry operations, and significant conversion of forests to plantations or non-forest use by Samling Global Limited.

FSC, on its website, stated the alleged activities have mainly occurred between 2017 and 2022 in the upper Baram forest area of Sarawak.

“The allegations have been made against entities of Samling Global Limited that are not FSC-certified but are connected to two chain of custody certificate holders that also belong to the Samling group.

“Due to the chain of custody certificate holders’ indirect involvement in the alleged activities defined in FSC’s Policy for Association, FSC has decided to accept the complaint and open a policy for association case against Samling Global Limited,” FSC added.

“FSC’s acceptance of the complaint, which was submitted by the Gerenal Community Rights Action Committee (GCRAC), Bruno Manser Fonds, The Borneo Project, Keruan, and Save Rivers, marks a breakthrough for the communities’ struggle for justice,” the statement said.

It added since 2020, indigenous communities have been using official complaints procedures to raise their concerns about the lack of consultation regarding Samling’s logging activities and the certification process under the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS), endorsed by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) International.

PEFC is a leading global alliance of national forest certification systems.

The environmentalists said both the MTCS and PEFC schemes claimed to protect indigenous rights, “but the gap between the provisions and the reality on the ground is vast”.

“When communities from the Baram region complained about absent or inadequate consultations, Save Rivers published those reports on its website. In response, Samling slapped Save Rivers with a defamation lawsuit seeking exorbitant damages of RM5 million – equivalent to 45 times Save Rivers’ annual budget.”

They added that while MTCC and PEFC have so far failed to take action against Samling, FSC has found there is sufficient evidence to move forward with an investigation.

It also stated the lack of community engagement and transparency in the case of forest certification is a broader issue in Sarawak.

It said experts meeting at the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) annual conference in Kuching this week share the view that community consultations and free, prior and informed consent are required as part of impact assessments.

“They asserted that more needs to be done for transparency and community engagement in Sarawak.”

Pointing to one of the experts, Kamala Vainy Pillai, in her session on flooding in the Baram, the environmentalists said Pillai had explained the need to revise Sarawak’s current environmental impact assessment (EIA) reporting for logging, which is not required for clearing virgin forests under 500ha.

She was reported to have said Sarawak has to look into the EIA reporting revision.

The environmentalists said flawed assessments have led to a lack of trust between local indigenous communities and hydropower, forestry and palm oil companies.

“In Sarawak, impact assessment processes require greater trust between communities, assessors, and industry,” the Borneo Project director Jettie Word said. – Bernama, May 11, 2023.