Director Sheam Satkuru refuses to accept the petition
(Photo/Supplied)
Yokohama,
11 November 2026: During this year’s session of
the International Tropical Timber Council (ITTC) in
Yokohama, Japan, NGOs submitted a petition on behalf of
Indigenous Penan and Kenyah communities from Sarawak,
Malaysia, raising concerns about logging activities on their
ancestral lands.
The petition challenges the
cancellation of the Baram Peace Park, an Indigenous-led
conservation initiative in the Upper Baram that was endorsed
by the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO)
under the name Upper Baram Forest Area (UBFA).
When
the conservation project was cancelled, a logging licence
was granted to Borneoland Timber Resources Sdn. Bhd. The
company has since been logging in one of Sarawak’s last
remaining primary rainforests outside fully protected areas.
According to the petition, the logging operation has
disregarded the principle of Free, Prior and Informed
Consent (FPIC), contributing to conflicts with local
communities.
The petition calls on the ITTO to launch
an independent and transparent investigation into the
cancellation of the UBFA and the subsequent logging
activities, examine its own role in these developments, and
suspend all ongoing and planned ITTO projects in the Upper
Baram until the concerns have been addressed. It also
demands that affected Indigenous communities are
meaningfully involved in all future decisions concerning
forest management in their territories, with their right to
Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) fully
respected.
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The petition, signed by more than 300
community members most affected by the logging, states:
“Please understand that these matters are not merely about
policy or project management. This directly affects our
Traditional Territories, our lifeblood, our rights and the
future of our communities. We have spent decades protecting
these forests and striving to develop a community-led
conservation model for those who depend on them.”
To
the disappointment of the Indigenous community
representatives, ITTO Executive Director Sheam Satkuru
initially refused to acknowledge or accept the petition. The
petition was subsequently handed over to ITTO Chairperson.
ITTO Director Satkuru emphasized that there is “no
commitment as to whether the chairperson accepts this
document or endorses the content.”.
After years of
unsuccessful dialogue and continued impacts from logging,
the communities hope that their concerns will finally be
heard and addressed by the
ITTO.
