KUCHING: Continued logging has put the brakes on the establishment of the Baram Peace Park, an indigenous-led initiative designed to protect the biodiversity and cultural heritage of Sarawak's last area of pristine primary forest in the upper Baram region.
Logging is still being carried out in many areas within the proposed park, Save Rivers chairman Peter Kallang said.
And this was against one of the key conditions agreed with the countries that plan to fund the biosphere, he added.
The countries are Japan and Belgium and the funding was applied via the International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO). The latter will determine if the logging operations comply with international sustainable practices.
Kallang said Save Rivers, which supports the creation of the park, was aware that the state government could not withdraw the timber licences without having to face legal repercussions.
"So, the whole process is now in the hands of the government."
The licences were issued long before the idea for the park, which covers approximately 283,500 hectares, was mooted by the Penans living in the area. The park will be significantly larger than Singapore, covering nearly 3.89 times the size of the republic.
"Logging is still ongoing in many areas. Many still have valid licences. We had a meeting with the Forestry Department and were told the government could not simply cancel the licence," Kallang said in a recent media interview.
He also pointed out that when the memorandum of understanding on the establishment of the park was signed between the ITTO and the state government last year, one of the conditions was for sustainable logging. ITTO will audit the logging operations and issue sustainable logging certification.
The Penans first fought for a biosphere for themselves in 2009 and the name proposed was the Penan Peace Park.
Former chief minister Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud was reportedly cold to the idea. Kallang said Taib "refused to entertain them".
When Save Rivers got wind that Taib's successor, the late Tan Sri Adenan Satem, would be in London to meet Sarawakians in the UK, they flew a group of Penan leaders there to gate crash the meeting and presented him their proposal. Adenan reportedly liked what he saw.
Adenan urged that the other indigenous communities living within the boundaries of the proposed park, the Kenyah, Saban and Kelabit, be included and the park be renamed the Baram Peace Park.
Despite the hold-up, Kallang said Save Rivers would still go ahead and undertake replanting of the logged-over areas in the park and introduce agroforestry to the indigenous communities there.