Celine Lim and the community-based environmental marketing campaign group she runs, Save Rivers, have been staring down the barrel of a financially crippling legislation swimsuit.
Malaysian timber large Samling was suing Save Rivers for defamation, searching for RM5 million (US$1.1 million) in damages for articles on the organisation’s web site that raised issues over the therapy of native communities dwelling in areas underneath the corporate’s administration.
However on 18 September 2023, the day the trial was scheduled to start, 25 months and 4 rescheduled trials after Samling sued, the 2 events reached a settlement.
The decision was hailed as a minor triumph for conservation and Indigenous peoples in Malaysia within the ongoing battle to guard Sarawak forests from loggers. Over the previous 20 years, Sarawak has misplaced greater than 1 / 4 of its forests, which Indigenous folks within the area have traditionally trusted for his or her meals, well being, livelihoods and tradition.
That Samling dropped its lawsuit was testomony to Save Rivers’ capability to galvanise assist from different Malaysian and worldwide non-governmental organisations – 160 NGOs had known as on Samling to withdraw the case, stress which led to a collection of investigations into Samling’s forestry practices by certification our bodies.
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Indigenous communities have quite a bit to show the world about the best way to synergistically dwell with their surroundings and handle pure assets.
Celine Lim, supervisor, Save Rivers
It was additionally proof of Lim’s knack of discovering amicable resolutions to seemingly insurmountable issues. Samling is one among Malaysia’s largest timber firms, value in extra of US$1 billion and armed with appreciable political muscle.
Lim, who’s an Indigenous member of the Kayan tribe from Lengthy Pilah in Baram, a area of 283,500 hectares (ha) in northern Sarawak, is a believer in conflict-free activism as an agent for change.
“Concurrently we’re criticising [governments and businesses], we’re additionally studying the best way to construct bridges,” says Lim, whose advocacy efforts earned her a spot on the Eco-Enterprise Sustainability Management A-Record 2023, a who’s who of Asia’s most influential sustainability professionals.
Although she isn’t at liberty to speak publicly in regards to the Samling case, Lim’s group has prior expertise of peacefully standing their floor in opposition to highly effective opponents.
Save Rivers, as its title suggests, was born out of a resistance motion to cease a large hydroelectric dam on the Baram River, which might have flooded 40,000 ha of forest and value 20,000 Indigenous folks their properties.
Save Rivers’ protest on behalf of 26 communities of the Indigenous Kenyah, Kayan and Penan peoples concerned one of many longest working blockades in Malaysian historical past. For nearly two years the group fashioned a relentless barricade to cease the dam-builders from accessing the Baram River development web site.
The blockade was extensively coated by the native and worldwide media, which fuelled curiosity in Save Rivers’ trigger and led to extra supporters becoming a member of within the motion. In tandem, Save Rivers lobbied worldwide leaders to cease the dam.
On 20 March 2016, Sarawak officers cancelled the development of the Baram dam, marking the tip of probably the most profitable environmental defence campaigns in latest instances in Southeast Asia.
On the coronary heart of the trigger Lim’s neighborhood continues to struggle for is their proper to dwell on their ancestral lands. When timber licenses are granted to firms by the Sarawak Forestry Division, the forests that Indigenous peoples have trusted for generations should not recognised, solely the plots of land that they dwell and farm on.
“Legally, we don’t have the land title [for the forests]. However traditionally, we’ve been right here for generations – and now we have the traditional burial grounds to show it,” she says. “While you restrict the land forest-dependent communities are entitled to to the land they dwell on, you steal their id.”
Lim took on the position of supervisor of Save Rivers in 2019. The organisation has simply 5 workers, and a wide range of funders, together with the Inexperienced Livelihood Alliance, a Netherlands-based funder that funds NGOs throughout Southeast Asia, and works with NGO teams together with The Borneo Mission, a United States-based group working shield Borneo’s forests and folks in opposition to industrial logging.
On this interview, Lim talks about her ongoing wrestle to guard her peoples’ land from logging and dams, and explains why the loss and injury fund brokered on the latest COP28 local weather talks is unfair.
How has the potential for conservation teams to withstand land encroachment modified in Sarawak in recent times?
Thirty years in the past, the state of affairs was dire. Worldwide sustainability certification schemes that give us a type of test and steadiness to police the event of forests didn’t exist. Logging was performed by concession, and choices have been made among the many elites. However now, entities that supply forest merchandise from Malaysia demand chain of custody verification, and that has benefited civil society organisations like ours. We are able to use certification schemes to push again, because the stress on Malaysia to certify its timber as sustainable for the worldwide market has elevated.
Inform us a bit in regards to the area of Baram in northern Sarawak and why conservation is so essential.
Baram is a area of 283,500 ha, about 3 times the dimensions of Singapore, of which 79,000 ha are nonetheless untouched, pristine forest. Our conviction is that this 79,000 ha of forest – which is Sarawak’s final intact forest – should be protected.
We’ve got performed our personal analysis to evaluate the natural world on this space – the Baram Heritage Survey. This can be a counter response to the Environmental Impression and Social Assessments and Excessive Conservation Worth surveys which have been used within the space, which concluded that not one of the communities are depending on the forest anymore.
The Baram Heritage Survey was performed with assist from researchers from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak and members of the area people, who have been skilled to run the survey, and primarily based on a analysis mannequin utilized in South America. We wanted proof to indicate that the neighborhood nonetheless relies on the forests.
What’s your most important grievance with the way in which the land is managed in northern Sarawak?
The primary level of rivalry is how Indigenous communities are all the time sidelined when land use choices are made in Baram.
And whereas the logging trade in Baram has been in operation for 30 to 40 years and is a giant pure useful resource hub for the regional and nationwide economic system, Indigenous communities are nonetheless marginalised relating to primary facilities.
Even right now, we don’t have correct street entry to our communities, and should use logging roads; the closest of the communities we work with is eight hours by 4X4 car.
There are not any correct well being providers. There isn’t any telecommunications. We are actually offgrid. Although there are some elements of the village the place now we have entry to free web, however when it rains, overlook it.
Managing battle is one thing you may have performed successfully in your work. How?
I wouldn’t say we’re doing it nicely, however we’re simply getting on with what must be performed. The folks we work with strategy the land use problem from very completely different angles and factors of view. When sitting down with the forestry division now we have to be very forthright and sincere, and respect that there are all the time choices we have to think about. It’s mentally exhausting.
In comparison with our counterparts in Indonesia and the Philippines, I might not say we’re as confrontational. Sure, now we have used blockades and demonstrations, however by no means violence. And now we have confronted down insidious ways to silence us [such as Samling’s Strategic Lawsuit against Public Participation, or SLAPP suit].
“Cease the chop”: a bunch of protesters from Indigenous communities in northern Sarawak demonstrates in opposition to an absence of consent given to firms to develop their customary lands. Picture: BFM
Inform us about how Save Rivers efficiently blocked the development of the Baram Dam, which would have resulted in 20,000 Indigenous folks shedding their properties.
It began out as a motion from inside our communities, however we additionally tapped into quite a few worldwide alliances to assist us. We’ve got all the time seen ourselves as dwelling in two worlds – as a proud Indigenous neighborhood, but additionally a part of the broader world neighborhood. We’ve got needed to perceive the worldwide discourse over certification, local weather change and different world environmental points to border our narrative and additional our trigger. That is one thing we discovered throughout the anti-Baram dam marketing campaign.
In that marketing campaign, we created a blockade on the dam web site for nearly two years. It attracted a whole lot of consideration. Filmmakers and the media visited the location, which created a big supporter base for the marketing campaign. We insituted a rotation system so that there have been all the time folks manning the blockade. We have been an immovable power. Folks would come and go, and talk from the dam web site to the skin world. Frequently telling our story was important to maintain the marketing campaign alive.
One other essential ingredient was enjoyable. There was a whole lot of music, dancing and meals. Folks from the neighborhood would are available and prepare dinner for everyone on the blockade. There was a communal spirit that saved us going. There was additionally authorized coaching for the neighborhood on web site. The blockade was positively not boring.
It was additionally not confrontational. What helped diffuse any battle was that individuals who labored for the authorities who needed to construct the dam had household and buddies who have been a part of the resistance motion on the blockade. That wasn’t essentially a acutely aware tactic, it simply labored out that manner.
In the meantime, we have been lobbying worldwide teams. We gave a petition signed by 10,000 neighborhood members to the chief minister on the time at an occasion in London, which was significantly efficient at getting our message throughout.
Is there a danger that the Baram Dam may nonetheless be constructed?
The phrase that was utilized in 2016 was “shelved”, which implies there’s a likelihood that it may nonetheless be constructed. However we haven’t heard something a few revival of the Baram Dam undertaking.
That stated, the authorities at the moment are attempting to rejuvenate one other dam undertaking that was a part of the 12 mega dam tasks earmarked for Sarawak. Due to the anti-Baram Dam marketing campaign, a variety of different hydroelectric energy tasks have been postponed – the marketing campaign had a ripple impact.
The Bakun Hydroelectric Dam in Sarawak, one among 12 giant hydroelectric dams which have been deliberate for the area. Picture: IEEE Curtin Malaysia Pupil Department/Fb
We’ve got responded to a declare made by the present Premiere of Sarawak that individuals within the space desire a cascading dam on the Tutoh River [Sarawak premier Abang Johari Openg has said the dam will generate 35,000 megawatts of surplus power, which can be sold to other regions]. We’re demanding a roundtable stakeholder assembly. The burden of proof is on the federal government to show that declare – that the folks need the dam, which we consider isn’t the case.
Sarawak premier’s has claimed that the cascading dam can forestall extreme crocodile breeding within the river, and that there’s an “infestation” of crocodiles within the river – however now we have seen no information to again up this declare.
We’re additionally involved in regards to the affect of the cascading dam on Mulu — which is a UNESCO World Heritage web site — because the Tutoh river is related to the nationwide park. A petition opposing the dam has collected 500 signatures [as of 16 January].
Males from representing the communities of Tutoh and Apoh maintain a signed petition that opposes the development of a cascading dam. They are saying the dam will probably be constructed with out their consent and should impact the Mulu Nationwide Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Web site. Picture: Save Rivers
What’s your view on the loss and injury fund, and the International North paying to assist creating nations adapt to local weather change, which was negotiated on the COP29 local weather talks?
Indigenous communities are victims of this local weather disaster, and we’re studying the best way to mix trendy science with ancestral data to adapt to local weather change. The International North traditionally has duty for local weather change. It has been saddening to see the International North setting the phrases for the dispersal of the loss and injury fund, which was presupposed to be its manner of remedying and apologising for the local weather disaster, and the colonial historical past that has introduced us to the place we’re right now. However it feels just like the International North counterparts have been highjacking the method, and has made it very tough for the International South to faucet into local weather adaptation finance. The International South ought to have rather more affect over the method.
What does the world must be taught from Indigenous peoples and the standard lifestyle?
We consider that Indigenous communities have quite a bit to show the world about the best way to synergistically dwell with their surroundings and handle pure assets.
Proper now the world is speaking quite a bit about sustainability. However for the longest time, dwelling in steadiness with nature was taught to us [Indigenous people] at a really younger age – the best way to respect the environment and recognise that we’re only a small half of an entire, and to respect the surroundings as you’d one other particular person.
When you go to Baram, you’ll discover a giant distinction in folks’s relationships with the surroundings and the way we farm the land. Industrial agriculture makes use of the surroundings as a commodity. Indigenous peoples observe polyagroforestry, which is extra in steadiness with nature.
I bear in mind a narrative a few very outstanding businessman who appeared out over his monoculture plantation, and stated ‘Behold, have a look at the gorgeous forests’. He ignored the truth that the river and forest had been destroyed to make manner for his plantations.
The interview has been edited for brevity and readability.
Celine Lim was one among 10 sustainability leaders chosen for the Eco-Enterprise A-Record 2023. Learn our tales with the opposite winners right here.
