Editing Sarawak (section)

==== Conservation issues ====
[[File:Sarawak, Cultural Village 11.jpg|thumb|A logging camp along the [[Rajang River]]]]
Sarawak's rain forests are primarily threatened by the logging industry and palm oil plantations.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Tom |first1=Young |title=Malaysian palm oil destroying forests, report warns |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/feb/02/malaysian-palm-oil-forests |access-date=28 July 2015 |newspaper=The Guardian |date=2 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140529234141/http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/feb/02/malaysian-palm-oil-forests |archive-date=29 May 2014}}</ref> The issue of human rights of the [[Penan]] and deforestation in Sarawak became an international environmental issue when Swiss activist [[Bruno Manser]] visited Sarawak regularly between 1984 and 2000.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Elegant |first=Simon |title=Without a Trace |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,172580,00.html |date=3 September 2001 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time magazine Asia]] |url-access=subscription |access-date=14 August 2014}}</ref> Deforestation has affected the life of indigenous tribes, especially the Penan, whose livelihood is heavily dependent on forest produce. This led to several blockades by indigenous tribes during the 1980s and 1990s against logging companies encroaching on their lands.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sarawak and the Penan |url=http://bmf.ch/en/about-us/sarawak-and-the-penan/ |access-date=17 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150708203915/http://www.bmf.ch/en/about-us/sarawak-and-the-penan/ |archive-date=8 July 2015}}</ref> Indeed, illegal logging in particular has decimated the forest regions indigenous populations depend on for their livelihoods, depleting fish, wildlife, but also traditional medicinal herbs and construction staples like Palm.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Sarawak, Malaysia Infringement of the Rights of Indigenous People by Continuous Illegal Logging Practices |journal=Human Rights Now |date=2016 |page=16 |url=http://hrn.or.jp/eng/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/0df9bf57ee7d367d4dbfac6dcfbf7c37.pdf |location=Tokyo, Japan}}</ref> There have also been cases where [[Aboriginal title|Native Customary Rights]] (NCR) lands have been given to timber and plantation companies without the permission of the locals.<ref>{{cite web |title=Native Customary Rights in Sarawak |date=19 February 2010 |url=http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/malaysia/native-customary-rights-sarawak |publisher=[[Cultural Survival]] |access-date=17 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151005075934/http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/malaysia/native-customary-rights-sarawak |archive-date=5 October 2015}}</ref> The indigenous people have resorted to legal means to reinstate their NCR. In 2001 the High Court of Sarawak fully reinstated the NCR land claimed by the Rumah Nor people, but this was overturned partially in 2005. However, this case has served as a precedent, leading to more NCR being upheld by the high court in the following years.<ref>{{cite web |title=Rumah Nor: A Land Rights Case for Malaysia |url=http://borneoproject.org/our-work/rumah-nor-a-land-rights-case-for-malaysia |publisher=The Borneo Project |access-date=17 November 2015 |archive-date=8 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160208085935/http://borneoproject.org/our-work/rumah-nor-a-land-rights-case-for-malaysia |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Jessica |first1=Lawrence |title=Earth Island News – Borneo Project – Indigenous victory overturned |url=http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/eij/article/borneo_project2/ |publisher=[[Earth Island Institute]] |access-date=17 November 2015}}</ref> Sarawak's mega-dam policies, such as the [[Bakun Dam]] and [[Murum Dam]] projects, have submerged thousands of hectares of forest and displaced thousands of indigenous people.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Rhett |first1=Butler |title=Power, profit, and pollution: dams and the uncertain future of Sarawak |date=3 September 2009 |url=http://news.mongabay.com/2009/09/power-profit-and-pollution-dams-and-the-uncertain-future-of-sarawak/ |publisher=Mongabay |access-date=17 November 2015 |quote=One dam has already displaced 10,000 native people and will flood an area the size of Singapore.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Bakun Dam |url=https://www.internationalrivers.org/campaigns/bakun-dam |publisher=[[International Rivers]] |access-date=17 November 2015}}</ref> Since 2013, the proposed [[Baram Dam]] project has been delayed due to ongoing protests from local indigenous tribes.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sarawak, Malaysia |url=https://www.internationalrivers.org/campaigns/sarawak-malaysia |publisher=[[International Rivers]] |access-date=17 November 2015 |quote=Work on access roads to the dam site began but came to a halt in October 2013 when local communities launched two blockades to stop construction and other project preparations from proceeding.}}</ref> Since 2014, the Sarawak government under chief minister [[Adenan Satem]] started to take action against [[illegal logging]] in the state and to diversify the economy of the state.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Vanitha |first1=Nadaraj |title=Battle Against Illegal Logging in Sarawak Begins |url=http://www.establishmentpost.com/battle-illegal-logging-sarawak-begins/ |access-date=18 November 2015 |publisher=The Establishment Post |date=21 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150921054212/http://www.establishmentpost.com/battle-illegal-logging-sarawak-begins/ |archive-date=21 September 2015}}</ref> Through the course of 2016 over 2 million acres of forest, much of it in orangutan habitats, were declared protected areas.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.mongabay.com/2016/08/sarawak-announces-department-of-national-parks-and-wildlife-to-open-next-year/ |title=Sarawak establishes 2.2M acres of protected areas, may add 1.1M more |author=Mike Gaworecki |newspaper=Mongabay |date=19 August 2016 |access-date=22 August 2016}}</ref>

Sources vary as to Sarawak's remaining forest cover: former chief minister [[Abdul Taib Mahmud]] declared that it fell from 70% to 48% between 2011 and 2012, the Sarawak Forest Department and the Ministry of Resource Planning and Environment both held that it remained at 80% in 2012,<ref name="Taibawangforests">{{cite news |last1=Joseph |first1=Tawie |title='What's really left of our forest, Taib?' |url=http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2012/10/25/whats-really-left-of-our-forest-taib/ |access-date=16 November 2015 |work=Free Malaysia Today |date=25 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102121203/http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2012/10/25/whats-really-left-of-our-forest-taib/ |archive-date=2 November 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Types and Categories of Sarawak's Forests |url=http://www.forestry.sarawak.gov.my/modules/web/pages.php?mod=webpage&sub=page&id=593&menu_id=0&sub_id=160 |publisher=Sarawak Forest Department |access-date=16 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161122014750/http://www.forestry.sarawak.gov.my/modules/web/pages.php?mod=webpage&sub=page&id=593&menu_id=0&sub_id=160 |archive-date=22 November 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and [[Wetlands International]] reported that it fell by 10% between 2005 and 2010, 3.5 times faster than the rest of Asia combined.<ref>{{cite report |title=Impact of oil palm plantations on peatland conversion in Sarawak 2005-2010 |date=January 2011 |url=http://archive.wetlands.org/Portals/0/publications/Report/Sarvision%20Sarawak%20Report%20Final%20for%20Web.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170820120140/http://archive.wetlands.org/Portals/0/publications/Report/Sarvision%20Sarawak%20Report%20Final%20for%20Web.pdf |archive-date=20 August 2017 |access-date=25 June 2017 |website=Wetlands International}}</ref>