Indigenous folk better off with timber certification, says council

The Malaysian Timber Certification Council says it is not true its schemes only represent the interest of timber companies. (Bernama pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC) said the interests of the indigenous people are better taken care of with certification.

This follows claims the council does not truly care for the welfare of the indigenous communities as they are continuously driven out of their land.

MTCC chief executive officer Yong Teng Koon said the council is based on three “pillars” – productivity, environment and social welfare.

“To say that MTCC schemes only represent the interest of timber companies is not accurate,” he said at the council’s 20th anniversary conference, where a question on the benefits of certification was raised during a panel discussion titled “Envisioning the future of certification beyond 2030”.

Yong said all stakeholders, including the indigenous people, are invited to take part in a “standard setting process”.

Later, speaking to FMT, he said the MTCC is perhaps one of the few organisations to have indigenous people on its board.

The others, he said, include the Sabah Wetlands Conservation Society and Perak Orang Asli Association.

“We have been as inclusive as we can in terms of putting all the important stakeholders in our standard setting, including Sabah and Sarawak. We take into account differences between the regions as well,” he said.

Yong acknowledged that there are difficulties when it comes to native customary lands because the government has certain laws pertaining to them.

“The forestry department has its own set of constraints, but we do our very best to be inclusive in terms of the indigenous community,” he said. - FMT