This timber giant is demolishing intact forest and silencing Malaysian rights defenders to do it ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ 

 
 

Villagers blockading Samling logging equipment in Malaysia

John,

Global timber and palm oil giant Samling is deforesting huge swathes of rainforest in Borneo, destroying Indigenous land, fuelling climate chaos and pushing endangered gibbons, clouded leopards and pangolins toward extinction.

When a local, four-person NGO exposed the destruction, the timber giant slapped them with a $1.8 million lawsuit to silence them!

The family that owns Samling is worth over $400 million – and can simply pay high priced lawyers to bully these forest defenders indefinitely if they want. But the tiny NGO doesn't need millions to defeat Samling, just enough to pursue a smart legal strategy that gets this bogus lawsuit thrown out.

With their first court date now set for May, they’re racing to raise money for the fierce legal battle ahead – and with your help of even $1 we can give this small but mighty group of Borneo forest defenders money they need to fight back in court and win.

Donate $1Donate another amount

Samling doesn’t even need to win this case in court to win. It just needs to bankrupt these Borneo forest defenders with an expensive lawsuit to shut down the campaign, or keep the case dragging on indefinitely to silence dissent. Either way, Samling can continue its unethical logging operations.

Letting that happen would set a dangerous precedent against environmental activists and local land rights -- and people’s land and endangered animals' habitats will continue to be wiped out by huge logging companies and palm oil plantations. But this NGO has a good shot of winning their case -- even the UN says the lawsuit may be unfounded and has issued a public statement expressing their concerns to the Malaysian government about Samling's dodgy practices. 

That’s why we need your help right now to build on this momentum.

Winning lawsuits like this is crucial in our fight to protect people and the planet from corporate greed. Together we can give this group a fighting chance to beat this lawsuit, set new legal precedent that protects activists against this type of corporate bullying, and keep up the fight to stop corporate bullies everywhere.

Can you donate to help these forest defenders fight back – and save majestic Borneo?

Donate $1Donate another amount

Thanks for all that you do,
Yasmin, Nish, Angus and the team at Ekō


More information:

Malaysia: alleged SLAPP against human rights organisation SAVE Rivers (joint communication). UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders. 02 November 2022.

SLAPP suit against Sarawakian NGO SAVE Rivers by PEFC-certified logging company. ICCA Consortium. 24 March 2022.

Malaysian timber giant Samling takes conflict over logging activity to court. Mongabay. 19 August 2021.

300 Long Moh villagers demand justice after unpermitted logging on their land. SAVE Rivers. 10 March 2021.

 
 

Ekō is a worldwide movement of people like you, working together to hold corporations accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable path for our global economy.

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