Sarawak was blessed with a high density of large, valuable Dipterocarp trees, which were the first ones to be extracted. Now a huge proportion of Sarawak's primary forest has been logged at least once, and over time smaller and smaller trees have been taken in different logging passes. One reason for this is to produce plywood and other processed timber. The Sarawak government places a strong emphasis on processing timber to maximise local profits. Since industrial logging began in the late 1970s technology has evolved to allow smaller logs to be processed, which is deemed essential to keep up with the demand from Japan, India and the Far East – only a small percentage of Sarawak timber makes its way to Europe and the USA.
The companies carrying out selective logging in Sarawak use bulldozers to clear tracks through the forest and along steep ridges so that specific tree species can be cut and extracted. Logging crews (and their families) live in wooden huts on giant skids that are dragged between locations. These techniques were pioneered by James Wong, former Sarawak minister for the Environment and Tourism.
It's a bitter irony that whilst building tracks along ridges is seen as good logging practice in the rest of the world, in Sarawak it destroys a lot of sago palm, a staple of the Penan. Badly planned trails are a recipe for landslides, erosion and silting watercourses.
Once the giant trees were removed and the canopy opened, the remaining plant life, bursting towards the sunlight, undergoes some rapid growth which in places has created bushy secondary forest. Game is harder to spot and track, plants useful to the Penan are less plentiful and vital sago palms less abundant. The removal of large fruiting trees takes away a food source for the Penan and the game. At the same time logging roads give hunting access to non-Penan hunters.
As Sarawak's natural forests become less productive large areas are being assigned for acacia and palm oil plantation. In economic terms this makes perfect sense. Acacia trees can grow 15m in seven years and can re-grow from stumps, so they are very profitable over the long term. Palm oil is the most productive of all edible oil-producing plants and a possible biofuel (the EU has set a 5.75% target for transport biofuels). Malaysia produces 50% of the world's palm oil, a trade worth billions, and by 2010 the Sarawak government hopes to double palm oil plantations to 1 million hectares.
Sarawak's timber industry is worth around £1 billion a year. Some commentators maintain that logging in Sarawak has always been run by commercial imperatives and profit maximisation in order to enable the development that will turn Malaysia into a first world country by 2020. In development terms this would seem to be a logical trade off, but the marginalised Penan would beg to differ.
Opposition to Logging
Opposition to logging was fierce in the 1980s. Today the picture is more mixed. Some settled Penan villages see that a positive attitude to logging provides jobs, free transport, cash compensation, material goods and other assistance. Other communities have an ambivalent attitude to the logging, opposing logging but turning to logging companies for help, even if this means setting up a blockade as a negotiating tool. Confrontation with the loggers is usually non-violent.
The Sarawak government has often stated its desire to address the issue and bring development to the Penan. There is a minister, Alfred Jabu, with responsibility for the Penan. Penan communities who have chosen to settle have schools and clinics, and Penan children do receive some financial help to attend school, but anecdotal evidence suggests that hand outs from logging companies has much to do with this development.
Almost all nomadic Penan oppose logging and there is a huge gap of understanding and trust between the Penan and government. At heart, the government can't understand why anyone would want to live in the jungle and the Penan believe that the government cannot be trusted. In their experience logging only brings disaster and they believe that if they leave the forest they will lose it completely. What’s more, whilst they see secondary forest as bad, having their territories converted into plantation is a catastrophe.
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