The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), a leading forestry certification body, has launched an investigation against Malaysian timber giant, Samling Global Limited, following complaints of violations.
Announcing this in a statement yesterday, FSC said it is probing the matter after establishing two FSC certificate holders are indirectly involved in “alleged unacceptable activities”.
The two entities are holders of FSC chain of custody certificates, which guarantees that the timber they used was procured through sustainable means.
The complaint to FSC was lodged in October 2022 by a coalition of organisations including Save Rivers, Gerenai Community Rights Action Committee (GCRAC), Keruan Organisation, The Borneo Project, and Bruno Manser Fund.
The complainants alleged Samling violated FSC standards in four areas, including violation of human rights through forestry operations and destroying high conservation value forests.
They alleged the activities happened between 2017 to 2022, among others, in the Upper Baram Forest Area in Sarawak, home to the Penan community.
“The allegations have been made against entities of Samling Global Limited that are not FSC-certified but are connected to two chain of custody certificate holders that also belong to the Samling group.
“Due to the chain of custody certificate holders’ indirect involvement in the alleged unacceptable activities defined in FSC’s Policy for Association, FSC has decided to accept the complaint and open a Policy for Association case against Samling Global Limited,” the council said.
Samling has repeatedly denied the allegations and has taken civil action against the activist groups.
Besides FSC, the NGOs have also complained to the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS), which has certified Samling’s forestry activities as sustainable.
The MTCS dispute resolution process has been postponed pending the outcome of the lawsuit.
Malaysiakini has sought a response from Samling and is waiting for a reply.
[More to follow] - Mkini
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