UPDATE September 18 2023: Samling has given in to intense international pressure and dropped its lawsuit against Borneo's forest defenders and said it will engage with all relevant stakeholders! This is a huge win for Indigenous and environmental rights.
The Indigenous led campaign was supported by Ekō members all around the world. More than 33,000 people signed the petition calling on Samling to drop the lawsuit. Thousands emailed Samling’s CEO directly amplifying this ask and thousands more chipped in to help fund the forest defender’s legal costs – thank you!
Global timber giant Samling is logging Indigenous land in Borneo without consent. When four forest defenders exposed Samling they were slapped with a lawsuit designed to silence and bankrupt them.
The timber corporations' logging is also fueling the climate crisis and destroying the habitats of endangered gibbons, clouded leopards and pangolins.
Samling could drop the lawsuit at any time - so let’s stir up a global outcry to force them to.
Add your name to the petition demanding Samling drop the lawsuit against Borneo’s forest defenders.
The family that owns Samling is worth over $400 million and this isn’t the first time destructive practices have been revealed.
A Samling subsidiary has been fined for bribing forestry officials. A company setup by one of the founders was ordered by a court to pay millions in compensation to Indigenous communities in Papua New Guinea. And just last month the sustainable forestry certification program launched an investigation into Samling’s logging and violation of human rights.
Samling’s lawsuit against the small four person grassroots organisation, SAVE Rivers, is the act of a bully. Even the UN says the lawsuit may be unfounded and has issued a public statement expressing concerns to the Malaysian government about Samling's dodgy practices.
Sign the petition calling on Samling to stop legal action and respect the rights of Indigenous communities.
Samling might have millions of dollars but the Ekō community has millions of people all around the world who can help shine a spotlight on the corporations unethical logging and persecution of forest defenders.
Ekō members like you have done this before when more than 200,000 people took action to support Máxima, an Indigenous Peruvian farmer, to keep her land safe from the second biggest gold mining corporation. Let’s do it again in Borneo.
More information
Business and Human Rights Resource Centre. 2 November 2022.
Sarawak Report. 1 February 2020.
Forest Stewardship Council. 1 May 2023.
SAVE Rivers. 10 March 2021.
