Sudestasiatico.com

MEDIA RELEASE, BRUNO MANSER FUND, BASEL / SWITZERLAND

New Sarawak dam project threatens livelihood of rainforest communities27 May 2008

 Surveying work for the proposed Limbang dam has started without proper information being given to the communities affected - a unique rainforest river ecosystem is in danger of being submerged.A new hydro-electric power project on the river Limbang in the East Malaysian state of Sarawak, on the island of Borneo, would threaten the livelihood of several rainforest communities if it were to go ahead. According to local sources, surveying work for a projected dam started in April 2008 without the indigenous population concerned being properly informed.Several teams of surveyors have started assessing the geology and hydrology of the Upper Limbang area and are also studying the relocation of several hundred Kelabit and Penan who live on the site affected by the proposed dam. While the Kelabit have a long tradition of farming in the area, the Penan are recently settled hunter-gatherers who still depend to a large extent on the rainforest for their livelihood.An apparent attempt has been made at social engineering.This took the form of canvassing local opinion on the proposed dam by distributing questionnaires to locals. However, what the official dam project really involves has still not been effectively disclosed. Maps circulating in the area show three different proposed dam sites, and rumours are rife to the effect that one of the schemes would include a dam over 500 feet high and would thus submerge the Kelabit village of Long Napir and at least three Penan villages.Mutang Urud, a Kelabit rainforest advocate from Long Napir, said: “This dam project appears to be the final assault on our forest and our livelihood. It would not only erase our cultural landscape but also the cultural memory of our young generation.”While most of the primeval rainforests in the Upper Limbang have been logged, the Limbang valley still has secondary forests with a very high biodiversity. In the 1980s and early 1990s, the Upper Limbang Penan and Kelabit staged a series of blockades against loggers but failed to prevent them from encroaching on their lands.