Tribe fights rainforest destruction with blockade
July 8, 2010
This page was created in 2010 and may contain language which is now outdated.
Nomadic tribespeople in Borneo are blockading a road to stop loggers destroying their rainforest.
Members of the Penan tribe have mounted the blockade in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo, to stop the destruction of the forests they depend on for their survival.
Malaysian timber company Lee Ling is logging in the area, and there are plans to clear the Penan’s forests completely to establish plantations of fast-growing trees for paper production.
The Penan say the plantations will leave them with nothing. They live by hunting, gathering and fishing, and will have nowhere to find food if the forests are chopped down.
Penan protesting at the blockade in northern Sarawak say they have experienced a violent attack by a logger. They are also going hungry, because manning the blockade means they are unable to spend time finding food.
The protestors include nomadic Penan, and those living in settled villages.
One Penan man told Survival, ‘We can’t live in a plantation environment. It is like asking fish to live on the land.’
Survival’s director Stephen Corry said today, ‘How many more Penan protests, and how much more intimidation by the loggers, will we see before Malaysia recognizes that this land belongs to the Penan?’
