Photo Credit: Hoon Seong

In January 2023 Quaker environmental activist Dr Teo Hoon Seong arranged a talk for CCA, by Sarawak activists, about the felling of the Borneo rainforest and the part that the UK plays in this destruction, following which we joined them in London in a solidarity action.

These indigenous activists are still fighting on to protect the rain forest. Watch their short moving film.  They face powerful vested interests. Malaysian timber company Samling is suing the activists for for allegedly defamatory statements in connection with their campaign which has been recognized as strategic litigation against public participation (SLAPP). SLAPP suits are a growing international trend used by corporate players to silence and bankrupt human rights and environmental defenders, and in April 2023, in another important gesture of support, 160 global civil society organizations sent a solidarity letter demanding that Samling withdraw it’s lawsuit against the activists. 

In August on a visit to her Malaysian homeland, Hoon went to see for herself what the situation was on the ground. You can read her  account of this here.

The indigenous activists ask that their allies do not allow the struggle to go unseen here in the UK and so Clean Up the Tropical Timber Trade continues to campaign to amplify their voices and to hold the UK timber trade to account, and we continue to support them in that. On the afternoon of Saturday 9th September they are holding a family friendly action in Regents Park and at London Zoo to highlight the gross discrepancies between Samling’s policies on social and environmental responsibility (backed up by ZSL’s SPOTT report) and their on the ground logging activities, and in a show of UK-allyship with courageous rainforest-defenders in Sarawak.

Please sign up here for this event if you can definitely come.