Malaysian Government Allows Logging of Tribal “Peace Park” on Borneo

The Malaysian government will allow logging to take place in a contested area of rainforest on the island of Borneo, rejecting an attempt by local tribesemen to declare part of the forest as a protected “peace park.” Hoping to establish a model of conservation and land management, and draw attention to excessive logging on traditional lands, Penan tribesemen last month designated 403,000 acres (163,000 hectares) in the state of Sarawak a so-called “Penan Peace Park.” But Malaysia, which has the fastest rate of greenhouse gas emissions growth since 1990 among middle and upper income nations, will not recognize the Penan’s declaration. Len Talif Salleh, the Sarawak forest director and the secretary to the Ministry of Planning and Resource Management, said the tribe was being “instigated and manipulated by foreign non-governmental organizations,” The Borneo Post reported. The Penan Peace Park lies within an area zoned for logging by the Malaysian Samling Group, a timber company that holds more than 5,400 square miles (1.4 million hectares) of logging concessions in Sarawak.