24 March 2023
Topik Pada Hari Ini
> Nicholas Mujah, Setiausaha Agung SADIA – Peraturan EU terpakai untuk mengekalkan kelestarian alam sekitar jangka panjang, ia adalah penting
> Nick Kelesau Naan, Jurucakap Pertubuhan Penan Keruan – UBFA diuruskan oleh komuniti sendiri, tiada lagi pencerobohan hutan berlaku
> Wesley Ancho Mering, dari PKR Belaga – Membina jalan raya adalah alasan, tetapi sebenarannya adalah pembalakan
> Sharmila dari Sahabat Alam Malaysia – Sahabat Alam Malaysia mahu laman web kerajaan sehenti untuk data perhutanan, pemuliharaan
On Today Show
> Nicholas Mujah, General Secretary SADIA – EU regulations apply to maintain long-term environmental sustainability, it is important
> Nick Kelesau Naan, Spokesperson for the Penan Keruan Organization – UBFA is managed by community itself, will be no more forest encroachment happened
> Wesley Ancho Mering, from PKR Belaga – Building roads is an excuse, but the truth is logging
> Sharmila of Sahabat Alam Malaysia – Sahabat Alam Malaysia wants one-stop govt website for forestry, conservation data
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Nicholas Mujah, General Secretary SADIA
*EU regulations apply to maintain long-term environmental sustainability, it is important*
Nicholas Mujah claims that DOPPA misunderstood the European Union's Deforestation-free Products Regulation- EUDR. The EU is not that cruel to restrict the sale of smallholder palm oil. But EU regulations apply to maintain long-term environmental sustainability.
According to Nicholas, the EU buys and will continue to buy Malaysian palm oil as long as it complies with the criteria of sustainable oil palm plantations, and the EU gives up to 5 years for compliance. Among the criteria required by the EU is legal land ownership and easen. Must not usurp the rights of others/Original.
Second is social responsibility - respecting the rights, culture and local customs/wills and needs of the local community and thirdly environmental sustainability such as protected forest areas, catchment areas, clean rivers, historic areas and areas of particular importance to the community. As long as all parties comply with all these rules. The EU has no problem buying their commodity crops.
Nicholas Mujah stressed that the enforcement of the EUDR regulations is important to deal with the issue of unethical farming and confiscation of indigenous people's customary land which is so widespread in Sarawak.
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Nick Kelesau Naan, Spokesperson for the Penan Keruan Organization
*UBFA is managed by community itself, will be no more forest encroachment happend*
On 20 March 2023, ITTO and the Sarawak Forestry Department signed an agreement to start 2 projects aimed at improving the management of the UBFA (Upper Baram Forest Area). UBFA covers an area of 283,500 hectares in the northeast of Sarawak, including primary forest, plantation areas, settlements/longhouses, timber concessions and agricultural land.
With the implementation of UBFA, Nick is confident that there will be no more forest encroachment by logging and oil palm plantation companies. The four ethnic groups in the area—Penan, Kayan Kenyah, Kelabit, and Saban—all depend heavily on the forest for their livelihoods.
Asked what is the difference between UBFA and Taman Negara. The National Park is managed by the Sarawak Forest Department. While UBFA is managed by the community itself. 18 Penan communities, 7 Kayan Kenyah communities, 2 Kelabit communities and 2 mixed communities are involved in this project. The project empowers and trains local people in forest management, landscape restoration and ecotourism.
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Wesley Ancho Mering, from PKR Belaga
*Building roads is an excuse, but the truth is logging*
The Sarawak Forestry Department has acknowledged the need to redouble efforts to tackle illegal logging in Sarawak. Its director Datuk Hamden Mohammad said illegal logging activities are robbing valuable forest resources and tax revenue in the state.
For Wesley this is just Sarawak Forest Department propaganda.
Last year in November 2022, their village Rumah Alip Tubau (in Tubau) was visited by a company to make a good road for the villagers and this company (no names, will get back to RFS later) met their headman to help make a road to the garden.
But what happened was that one by one the logs were pulled using the road and the villagers saw the log trucks carrying the logs and this shocked the villagers. However, the company did not feel afraid because they had a valid logging license, but seeing that, the villagers reported to the Sarawak Forestry Department to take action because the logs taken were in the main water catchment area of the villagers around the area. After not being able to stand the logging, the village head reported to the police but it was too late because tens of tons of logs had already been taken.
At first the villagers allowed the company to build a road on the grounds that the company only took acacia wood that had to go through the village. That's the company's reason, but the story is different, it's not paper wood that's cut down, but logs. After the report was made by the headman, the logging activity was stopped but it was too late for them to save forest because the company managed to remove logs worth hundreds of millions of ringgit.
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Sharmila of Sahabat Alam Malaysia
*Sahabat Alam Malaysia wants one-stop govt website for forestry, conservation data*
SAM called on govt to develop one stop user friendly website to publish on Forests data and conservation areas.
The reason is as there non one stop Internet website, where we can obtain all data from the 3 regions stored in one website. This will make it easy to obtain informations. We dont have to go to many places.
There are data but in différent ministry website. In the statistic depth data are not detail.
And some data are not consistent. Most people confused.
Especially communities that are affected by logging activités, plantations.
We can just go to one place and the most up to date for research and etc.