Resources

This is the ninth chapter of 'Conflict or Consent? The oil palm sector at a crossroads'.This case study looks in some detail at oil palm concessions granted in 1996 to a local joint venture company Rinwood-Pelita on the middle Tinjar river in northern Sarawak which overlaps the customary lands of communities of the Berawan, Kayan and Kenyah peoples. The local enterprise was acquired by the Malaysian transnational palm oil company, IOI, a prominent member of the RSPO, in 2006.

Oleh Marcus Colchester, Wee Aik Pang, Wong Meng Chuo dan Thomas JalongForest Peoples Programme dan Perkumpulan Sawit WatchEdisi Bahasa Malaysia 2008

This report reveals escalating conflicts between indigenous peoples and oil palm companies due to the rapid expansion of plantations in the Malaysian State of Sarawak. Based on field interviews with community representatives in 12 different villages the report details:

• rapid rate of expansion of oil palm plantations in Sarawak
• reasons for the conflicts over native customary lands
• why some 40 legal cases about land conflicts between communities and oil palm companies are now clogging the courts in Sarawak
• concerns raised by the communities about the plantations
• how the process of oil palm development in Sarawak is contrary to international standards adopted by the Rountable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)
• recommendations for reform