Confusion in Bareh and Magoh Forest allocated for Penan encorached by loggers

By Sahabat Alam Malaysia

Utusan Konsumer, December 2002, Vol 32 No. 12

2002-12-16 | In July 2002, to the delight of a nomadic community in Bareh and Magoh, the Forest Department responded favourable to their application letter for a community Forest Reserve in May. Favourably? Well, almost. Close to 5,000 ha were allocated to them and yes, logging operations were supposedly prohibited in these areas.However, the question on the legal status of the land remains unresolved until today. Then in October, SAM officers discovered that even this insignificant portion of land (by logging operation standards, that is) was said to have been encroached upon by the insatiable loggers.

MUCH has been said about the demand of the Penan community for Communal Forest Reserves (CFR) in areas adjacent to their respective villages. Looking at the various Sarawak land and forest laws, one can easily see that the best legal protection (although not the most ideal) that forest-dependent communities in Sarawak can receive for their customary forests is provided for by the Sarawak Forests Ordinance, which allows forested areas in the state to be gazetted into CFRs for the benefit of local communities.

Thus way since the 1980s, letter upon letter had been sent by various local communities to the relevant state authorities, requesting that their traditional territories be gazetted as CFRs. However hardly any received a positive reply. Some received no reply at all.

However, in July 2002, the nomadic community from the Bareh-Magoh area finally received an encouraging response from the Forest Department indicating the allocation of a specific section of forestland to the communities residing in the area and the prohibition of logging operations in this zone.

SAM certainly viewed the initiative of the State Government as a very positive move as well as an indication of its genuine concern on the socio-welfare of the nomadic Penan whose survival depends entirely on forest resources.

However there are still several issues that we need to examine.

Firstly, it appears to us that the legal status of the land still remains unclear. As long as the land is not gazetted as a CFR under the Forests Ordinance, legally, the allocation does not carry any weight for the people. All that the communities have now is a letter from the Forest Department stating that "the State Government has allocated an area of 5,000 hectares in the requested vicinity for the use of local communities as marked in the enclosed map. Logging operations are prohibited in the above said area."

Secondly, SAM has also discovered that the reality on the ground is way harsher. Recent reports from various nomadic groups from the area seem to indicate that logging activities are going on as usual in and around the Reserve. Thus this certainly defeats the purpose of such initiatives.

As a result of the continuous encroachment, the people have been extremely distressed. Representatives from various groups in the Bareh, Puak and Magoh areas had travelled all the way to Marudi to seek our assistance in conveying their desperate plea to the Forest Department and to all the other relevant authorities so that immediate steps will be taken to protect the Reserve from further logging operations.

The 5,000 ha land is actually being shared by three nomadic groups, led by Chief Guman Megut from the Magoh River, Chief Bujang Lawai from the Bareh River and Chief Tebaran Agus in Tepen and Puak Rivers.

We first received the report on the encroachment from Chief Guman Megut and two of his people, who had come all the way from Magoh to our office in Marudi in early October.

According to Chief Guman, one logging company had directed its agents to carry out logging within the upper Ketokep and Babui Mebing Rivers (upper tributaries of Magoh River) in early September. The people complained of water pollution and other environmental damages caused by the operations.

In late October, Chief Juperi Moyong and Chief Leyong Abit from two nomadic groups in the areas adjacent to the Bareh-Magoh Reserve reported that forest areas surrounding the Tanak Pepang and Kemanan Rivers (upper tributaries of Bareh Rivers) along „ with those surrounding the a Tepen River in the southern zone of the allocated land had also been logged.

The two leaders stated that although the Reserve is outside of their present territories, they knew the Bareh-Magoh areas well as they used to share the ground for hunting and gathering with other nomadic Penan groups.

Chief Juperi was especially worried since the company working in Tepen had withdrawn its operations in the Reserve, they then decided to divert into his area in the nearby Puak River in the East, despite the fact that he had already signed an agreement with the company that certain specific areas in Puak are reserved for his community use.

SAM seriously urge the Sarawak State Government to promptly gazette the Bareh-Magoh areas into a Community Forest Reserve for the nomadic Penan groups living in the vicinity and ensure that there is strict monitoring and enforcement on the ground level to prevent further encroachment by logging companies.

In the meantime, the state should also consider gazetting other forest areas for other Penan communities so that the resources of the Sarawak forests are equally shared by all its citizens. This is also important, as how Chief Juperi's case had demonstrated - the prohibition in one area led the loggers to encroach into his traditional territory.

Besides the two issues above we also believe that the Forest Department has to thoroughly look into the matters below:

• Has the FD notified the timber concession holders in and around the area about the creation of the Forest Reserve?

• Has the FD sent its personnel to demarcate the area and put up visible signs indicating the border of the Reserve? If this has not been done, does it have any plan to involve local residents in conducting survey works to demarcate the area as soon as possible?

• Has the FD educated local communities in monitoring issues so as to ensure that no logging encroachment will occur in the future?

• Has the FD taken any steps to ensure that the people are empowered to show the validity of the Reserve to encroaching parties through special documents, certificates, etc.?

• The appropriate actions to be taken by the various nomadic Penan communities, if logging companies continue to encroach into the Reserve.

• The actions to be taken by the FD upon receiving complaints from local peoples.

• Whether the FD is willing to alter or readjust the allocated zones and include forests where the richest areas for vital forest resources are to be found so as to meaningfully serve the needs of the local peoples. According to the people, some of the areas presently allocated to them are indeed not the best zones as most parts of the areas do not ontain the necessary resources.

Last but not least, it is highly important for the state to come clean on the legal status of the Reserve. This is because the Communal Forest Reserve as denned by the Sarawak Forests Ordinance is classified under the broad category of Permanent Forests, in which two other types of forests are also listed - Forest Reserves and Protected Forests.

Unlike logging operations, activities of local communities are highly restricted in Protected and Forest Reserves. We believe it is through the creation of a Communal forest that the interests of the local peoples are best protected.

We also would like to take this opportunity to urge the Forest Department to take cognizance of the findings and recommendations of SUHAKAM (Malaysia's

Human Rights Commission) which had been submitted to the government and all the concerned parties following their visit to various Penan settlements last year.

The findings and recommendations of the body were not only made based on their visits to the aggrieved communities but also after a number of meetings, briefings and dialogues with relevant authorities and enforcement agencies.

We sincerely hope that the Director of the Forest Department of Sarawak would look into the above matters and take every appropriate measure to address the plight of the Penan in their respective areas especially their genuine, legitimate and desperate need for adequate forest areas for their sustenance, which are all in line with the principles of sustainable forest management.

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