Logging is continuing in Malaysia Upper Baram Forest Area in Sarawak raising concerns among Indigenous communities and civil society groups over the loss of primary rainforest and the future of a conservation initiative once envisioned as an Indigenous led peace park.
A new report Plundering the Baram Peace Park published by the Swiss based Bruno Manser Fonds and other civil society organisations, alleges that logging within and around the forest area is undermining conservation efforts and raises questions about the process through which a 170,000 hectare timber concession was granted to Borneoland Timber Resources Sdn. Bhd. in 2024.
The Upper Baram initiative had its roots in a proposal developed over more than 15 years to establish the Baram Peace Park. Between 2009 and 2024, Indigenous communities and the Sarawak forest department worked toward a conservation model involving 32 Penan, Kenyah, Kelabit and Saban villages across about 283,500 hectares.
The project received momentum in 2021 after the Sarawak forest department submitted a proposal to the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) raising about $1.4 million for conservation and community development activities.
The subsequent granting of the Borneoland concession became a major point of dispute. The concession overlaps areas regarded by conservationists and Indigenous groups as environmentally and culturally important within the former Baram Peace Park project.
The Bruno Manser Fonds report draws on community observations, satellite imagery and other information to document what it describes as continuing logging activity. Community observers reportedly counted more than 160 logging trucks leaving the forest each month between March and May 2025.
The report also identifies extensive logging around Gunung Murud Kecil a 1,626 metre mountain considered significant in Penan cultural heritage. Satellite imagery and community testimony reportedly show an expansion of logging roads into areas of primary forest.
Conservation groups say the forest provides habitat for species including the helmeted hornbill, sun bear and Sunda clouded leopard. Continued forest loss could therefore affect both biodiversity and the ecological functions of the Upper Baram landscape.
Indigenous rights advocate Komeok Joe, founder of the Penan organisation Keruan, said logging has continued to expand from Ba Data Bila toward other nearby communities, including Ba Sebateu, Ba Ole and Sawa Ali. Residents have also organised blockades to prevent logging activity on customary lands.
The Sarawak forest department disputes the characterisation of the original conservation project. Hamden Mohammad, the department’s director, told Mongabay that the Upper Baram Forest Area was conceived as an “integrated landscape management area”, rather than a fully protected forest. Under that model, conservation zones, community use areas and timber concessions could coexist.
Mohammad also disputed claims that the concession was improperly granted. He said the concession was legally issued and argued that criticism of the process did not reflect the views of all Indigenous communities in Upper Baram.
The legal dispute has already reached the courts. Indigenous residents sought a review of Sarawak’s decision to grant the concession in early 2025. The High Court of Sabah and Sarawak subsequently dismissed the case. Mohammad said the decision indicated that there were no irregularities in the concession.
Civil society groups, however, continue to question the transparency surrounding the concession. The exact boundaries of the current Borneoland concession have not been publicly disclosed, according to the report. The forest department told Mongabay that it could not provide details of the concession without the consent of the concession holder.
The dispute has also affected international support for conservation activities in the region. The Bruno Manser Fonds and the Swiss city of Basel withdrew financial support after concerns emerged over logging in the proposed conservation area. According to ITTO, Japan still has about $139,000 invested in a continuing project, while the Sarawak government has contributed another $150,000.
The ITTO has continued a smaller community-focused project in the region after the broader Baram Peace Park initiative was withdrawn. Civil society representatives have questioned the transparency of the remaining programme, while ITTO disclosures indicate that infrastructure needs were compiled from representatives of 16 villages in early 2025 and community mapping was conducted later that year.
The controversy reflects a broader conflict over how Sarawak’s forests should be managed and how Indigenous communities should participate in decisions affecting customary lands. While the state authorities describe the Upper Baram model as one that can accommodate both conservation and timber production, Indigenous representatives and environmental organisations say continued logging threatens forests they had expected to help govern and protect.
For communities in Upper Baram, the dispute now concerns not only the future of the former peace park proposal but also the continuing availability of forest resources, customary lands and culturally significant landscapes.