Tong Tana - Bruno Manser Fonds

Forestry in Sarawak
Professor em. Eberhard F. Bruenig,
Associate Member, Oxford
Forestry Institute, Oxford University,
who worked in the Sarawak
Forestry Department from
1954–1963 and 1990–1996,
talked to John Künzli
Responding to a question by Bruno Manser
whether the development of the forestry and
forest industry could be described as catastrophic,
Professor Bruenig asserted that, with
respect to the development in the last three
decades, this could be said with the following
qualifications.
Timber trade, and to a certain degree, the
wood-processing industry flourished, while
the forest growing stock capital was depleted
quickly and drastically, at the expense of future
prospects. Rash and wasteful growing
stock depletion and exodus of capital caused
ecological damages to site and forest stand
caused by the generally careless and inadequate
construction of roads and tracks, inappropriate
harvesting technology, destructive
logging practices and overlogging.
All this could have been avoided, however,
if the political will and strength had been
there. Commercial interests of indigenous and
foreign power-holding groups were, since the
mid-1960s, primarily cash-flow orientated.
The combination of lack of governmental control,
ready markets, pressing buyers and the
in theory free but in reality manipulated and
distorted markets, was ideal for those who
cleverly and in many ways were out to maximise
private profits. The position of the
power-holders was strong enough to fend off
any outside interference. Even the Malaysian
Federal Government found it difficult to make
itself heard. This only changed with the emergence
of the rainforest movements in the international
political and NGO arena. During
the whole period, only a few companies had,
to some extent, managed to adhere to the
principles of sustainability and complied with
existing rules, regulations and management
prescriptions.
Recently for example, the German Technical
Assistance Agency (GTZ – Project FOMISS) is
helping the Samling Co. to implement lowimpact
logging techniques and sustainable
management approaches. (However, even
then, the elusive issues of social justice and customary
or statutory rights of land and resource
ownership remained outside the concern of
Samling Co. The co-operation with GTZ
effected little change.) If forest values worth mentioning
are to be saved, the existing principles,
codes and guidelines for sustainable management,
nature conservation and environment
protection must be enforced without delay in all
concession areas. This would cause 20–30% of
the area of Sarawak’s permanent forest estate
to be automatically excluded from logging and
totally protected in its pristine state as a result of
excessive slopiness, water catchment and
stream/river bank protection or because of
particular ecological sensitivity or uniqueness.
In addition, another 5–10% of each concession
area would be excluded from logging for various
reasons such as poor accessibility or poor
quality. Another 10% outside the producing
forest estate should, according to government
policy, be established as national park, wildlife
sanctuary or biosphere reserve. The total area
of preserved pristine forest would then be very
substantial in absolute and relative terms which
should satisfy any conservationist, environmentalist
and anthropologist.
However, the reality is rather different and
the forest growing stock liquidation and forest
area decline continue almost unabated. Nature
and forest protection have made no notable
headway. The large newly designated
totally protected areas are intentions which
are only slowly established on the ground and
largely remain on paper. Satellite images indicate
that exploitation of Sarawak’s forests
progressed rapidly and engulfs many areas
which should, under any circumstance and aspect,
be totally protected. This causes not only
damage to the sites, forests, environment and
water bodies, but also irreversibly destroys
unique heritage sites and ecosystems.
The Environmental Impact Assessment
(EIA) which is mandatory for any forestry operation
above a specified size is applied reluctantly
or entirely circumvented. Of particular
ecological and economical alarm are the
continued exploitation and destruction of the
fragile Alan-Peatswamp forest ecosystems
which are unique as ecosystem and global
heritage, and the hazardous plan to replace
all types of natural peatswamp forest by
agricultural plantations. A credible and well
implemented EIA and certification would
probably stop the former and prevent the
latter. However, a hopeful sign that a wind of
change is blowing effectively, is the activity
in recent years of the Malaysian Federal
Government towards a national scheme of
certification to support development towards
sustainable forest management and conservation.
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