The Marudi Forest Conservation and Restoration Project is currently “under validation” according to Washington DC-based carbon certification company Verra. The project developer is SaraCarbon, a subsidiary of Samling, one of the most notorious forest destroyers in Southeast Asia. Communities from 15 villages in Marudi district say that the project infringes on their native customary land rights. They see the project as a new from of land grabbing.
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The forest carbon project is inside a licensed planted forest (sic) concession. SaraCarbon claims that it will stop clearing forest inside the project area and restore forest in order to generate carbon credits.
Earlier this year, Marudi villagers protested against SaraCarbon’s project. They say the project was introduced without their free, prior and informed consent and offers no benefits to their communities. Instead, it poses a serious threat to their customary land rights.
If the project were to go ahead, communities would not be allowed to conduct their traditional livelihoods in their customary territories. Activities such as hunting, harvesting forest products, and cultivating the land could be banned. They could even be evicted from their customary territories.
Communities have so far written three objections to this project.
But in a response to the objections, SaraCarbon simply claims that the proposed project area does not overlap with communities’ customary territories.
In an Explainer about the communities’ objections to the project, Sahabat Alam Malaysia writes that,
In Malaysia, native customary rights and the right to life of Indigenous Peoples are indeed recognised and are contained within the Federal Constitution and court decisions. It needs to be upheld and respected at all costs.
Carbon markets are not a solution to the climate crisis. They are fraught with fundamental problems that can never guarantee environmental integrity and they violate the rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Sahabat Alam Malaysia has prepared a petition in solidarity with the Indigenous People and the local community in Marudi district. The petition is currently only open to NGOs and CSOs. The petition has been launched together with Save Rivers, Bruno Manser Fonds, and the Borneo Project.
In addition to SaraCarbon and Malaysian government officials, the petition is also addressed to Mandy Rambharos, Verra’s Chief Executive Officer.
Here is the petition text, which has currently been signed by 35 organisations:
Native Customary Rights (NCR) must be upheld – Respect communities’ right to reject the carbon credit project by Saracarbon Sdn. Bhd.
Dear YAB, YB, YBhg, Sir/Madam,
We, the undersigned, would like to express our opposition to Saracarbon’s Marudi Forest Conservation And Restoration Project, in solidarity with the communities from 15 villages in the Marudi district that oppose and/or have serious concerns about the project.
This is a carbon credit project by SaraCarbon Sdn Bhd that is located within a licensed planted forest concession (LPF 0008). The project claims that it will cease all future forest clearing and do restoration within the permitted boundaries to generate carbon credits.
So far, there have been three written community objections against this proposed project. These objections are made based on the communities’ substantiated claim that their customary territories are included in the proposed project area, despite SaraCarbon claiming otherwise in a written response.
If this project proceeds in its current form, it poses a risk of infringing upon the native customary rights (NCR) of the affected villagers and will be perceived as a form of land grabbing by the communities who live there.
As such, we are against any project that will lead to any NCR violations and impede the native communities from practicing their traditional way of life, such as hunting, harvesting forest products and cultivating the land.
In Malaysia, native customary rights and the right to life of indigenous peoples are recognised and are contained within the Federal Constitution and court decisions. We call on all parties involved to respect this and uphold it.
Once again, we stand in full solidarity with the villagers in their rights to life and property. We fully support them and join them in resisting this carbon credit project within their customary territory, as it constitutes a clear violation of their rights.
Wishing the Marudi villagers success with this appeal! There are too many variables - lack of FPIC, a logging company supposedly "restoring" a forest, a planted forest pretending to mimic a developed biosphere, unknown time frame for young forest to capture any carbon, the foolishness of carbon offsets and the land-grab accompanied by fortress conservation and loss of customary territory. All in exchange for another financial scheme?
One thing that constantly strikes me is the conflict of interests in the carbon offset industry. Developing restoration project backed by a notorious logging firm, is just logically untenable. This is as absurd as a fossil fuel company sponsoring green energy innovation award in higher education, which is an instance that actually happens in my institution. Obviously, Verra's self-validation nature as both the standard-setting body and the registry body facilitates such projects, and the lack of government oversight, and potential collusive agreements further exacerbate the issue.
Wishing the Marudi villagers success with this appeal! There are too many variables - lack of FPIC, a logging company supposedly "restoring" a forest, a planted forest pretending to mimic a developed biosphere, unknown time frame for young forest to capture any carbon, the foolishness of carbon offsets and the land-grab accompanied by fortress conservation and loss of customary territory. All in exchange for another financial scheme?
One thing that constantly strikes me is the conflict of interests in the carbon offset industry. Developing restoration project backed by a notorious logging firm, is just logically untenable. This is as absurd as a fossil fuel company sponsoring green energy innovation award in higher education, which is an instance that actually happens in my institution. Obviously, Verra's self-validation nature as both the standard-setting body and the registry body facilitates such projects, and the lack of government oversight, and potential collusive agreements further exacerbate the issue.