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KOTA KINABALU – Eleven groups have written a letter to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Francisco Cali Tzay, requesting his attention to the controversial Nature Conservation Agreement (NCA), which they alleged runs foul of international law, standards and institutions.
The group comprises Pacos Trust, Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia, Asia Indigenous Peoples’ Pact, International Work Group on Indigenous Affairs, Borneo Futures, Danau Girang Field Centre, Land Empowerment Animals People, South East Asia Rainforest Research Partnership, WWF Malaysia, and the Centre for International Environmental Law.
“First, the signatories request that United Nations bodies clarify to the Sabah public that the UN has not been engaged in the development of the NCA and does not play a role in its oversight, especially to guarantee that the NCA will deliver on rights or sustainable development commitments.
“The NCA uses language suggesting it is working under UN treaties and mechanisms, most of which containing claims that are confusing or false, such as that it will comply with Kyoto Protocol (which was replaced by the Paris Agreement), and that the Sustainable Development Goals are an instrument connected with carbon trading.
“We are concerned that this language may mislead Sabahans to believe they can rely on the UN’s involvement and standards to ensure its success,” the group said in a statement here today.
Leap founder Cynthia Ong said she was concerned over the UN’s alleged involvement, saying that proponents of the NCA had also claimed the involvement of the Singapore-government owned Temasek Holdings and Singapore’s Southern Capital were financing the NCA project.
“So they have been claiming the UN is legitimising this. We are therefore asking the truth from the UN,” said Ong.
The protagonists of the NCA refer to Sabah deputy chief minister Datuk Seri Jeffrey Kitingan as one of them.
“We are taking this issue to the UN, because for some reason, those behind the NCA are still claiming that they have successfully become the legal rights holders of all carbon and life in these forests at the secret stroke of a pen, and that there is nothing that the indigenous peoples of Sabah can do about it for one hundred years,” said Anne Lasimbang of Pacos Trust.
“Just because you (Jeffrey) are a politician elected by indigenous voters in one constituency, it does not mean that communities across Sabah had given their free prior and informed consent to giving up their rights to use the forest to meet their wellbeing and needs,” said Beverly Joeman of CSO Platform for Reform.
The Sabah state government had reportedly signed the NCA in secret with a representative of Singaporean firm Hoch Standard Pte Ltd for a commercial monopoly over all carbon and other natural capital, except minerals and timber, in 2 million ha of Sabah’s forest for 100 years’ renewables.
Under the NCA, Hoch Standard is to secure 30% gross revenue from the monetisation of natural capital, while the Sabah government is responsible for most management costs.
Sabah WWF-Malaysia conservation head Robecca Jumin said the NCA controversy is of international concern, as there is the possibility of world heritage sites in Sabah being threatened.
The organisations claim the NCA treats life in the forests as a commodity and that it attempts to grant rights over living beings as though the Sabah Biodiversity Enactment 2000 does not exist.
It also ignores that Malaysia ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity (1992) and Nagoya Protocol, which address issues of community rights and access and benefit sharing, the group said.
“We realised that we had to appeal to the United Nations when it is becoming clear that the NCA controversy is still refusing to die, even after the Sabah state government and Sabah attorney-general’s press statement in February.
“That statement made clear that the NCA falls outside Sabah’s intended climate policies, is ‘legally impotent’, riddled with ‘unfair and absurd contract terms’, and that it still has to face rigorous due diligence on the truth and reliability of Hoch Standard’s representations and capability,” said Ong. – The Vibes, March 8, 2022
