Luciana Téllez Chávez

My colleague's quick take of our 54-page investigation in Malaysian Borneo 👇

Détruits au bulldozer par la mondialisation La communauté de Rumah Jeffery, nichée au cœur de la forêt tropicale de Sarawak, en Malaisie vit grâce à la forêt mais ne possède pas de titre foncier bien qu'ils vivent à cet endroit aussi loin que l...

Le commerce international des produits dérivés du bois est souvent entaché de violations des droits humains et de déforestation.

Dans le #BriefDuJour, @andrewstroehlein.bsky.social prend l'exemple de la Malaisie (dont les csqcs s'étendent peut-être jusque chez vous) ⤵
www.hrw.org/fr/news/2025...

YouTube video by Human Rights Watch What is Zedtee, a company of the Shin Yang Group, doing deep in the rainforest of Sarawak, Malaysia?

Watch the video featuring the village chief and community members denouncing Zedtee's encroachment: www.youtube.com/shorts/wdkgQ...

EU: Address Indigenous Rights Violations in Malaysian Imports The European Union should classify Malaysia’s state of Sarawak as high risk under its new anti-deforestation regulation.

This report complements our previous release calling on the EU to benchmark Sarawak as a high risk jurisdiction under the classification of the EU Deforestation Free Products Regulation - EUDR. The European Council is deliberating on benchmarking this week and next. www.hrw.org/news/2024/09...

Malaysia: Wood Products Tainted by Abuse, Deforestation Malaysia’s Sarawak state has failed to protect an Indigenous community from a timber company that logged without the community’s consent and seeks to remove them from their land.

The bottom line: The international trade of wood products tainted by human rights abuses and deforestation is a shared responsibility between sellers and buyers. They both need to clean up supply chains, protect rights, and safeguard nature. Read our report: www.hrw.org/news/2025/05...

We obtained government trade data that shows France, the Netherlands, Japan, and the United States are major destinations for Sarawak's wood products, including several products manufactured and exported by Shin Yang.

We found Zedtee's timber licenses did not meet Sarawak's own laws and policies. Instead of holding Zedtee accountable, the Sarawak government threatened to demolish the village and arrest Indigenous protesters who denounced the abuse.

Today @hrw.org published an investigation I co-authored with Matthew Reysio-Cruz, with support from the Sarawak Dayak Iban Association. Zedtee, a company member of the Shin Yang Group, logged an Indigenous territory in Malaysian Borneo without the community's consent.
www.hrw.org/news/2025/05...

Malaisie : La filière bois est entachée d’abus liés à la déforestation L’État malaisien du Sarawak a failli à sa responsabilité de protéger une communauté autochtone contre les activités d’une compagnie forestière sur ses terres ancestrales.

"Face aux bulldozers"

La compagnie malaisienne Zedtee a abattu des arbres sur les terres ancestrales de la communauté Rumah Jeffery sans leur accord dans l'Etat du Sarawak en #Malaisie en violation des lois de l'Etat.
hrw.org/fr/news/2025...

COP30 Should Deliver Bold Action on Climate and Rights Today, Human Rights Watch sent a letter to André Aranha Corrêa do Lago, the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) President-designate, and Executive Director Ana Toni, outlining priorities ...

🌍 10 years after Paris Agreement #COP30 must deliver bold action on climate & rights.
@hrw.org calls on Brazil to prioritize:
– Transition away from fossil fuels
– Forest protection & land rights
– Civic space
🔗 hrw.org/news/2025/04/23/cop30-should-deliver-bold-action-climate-and-rights

The 2015 encyclical letter: lnkd.in/eSy_aPC8

The lesser known 2023 encyclical letter on climate change: lnkd.in/evwZVpid

Can only hope that Pope Francis' successor will honor and further the intention of these encyclical letters.

In keeping with Pope Francis’ style, some statements are profoundly groundbreaking for the Catholic Church even as he sought to inscribe them in a continuum of tradition. Prof Klein did an excellent essay that is worth reading to fully appreciate the late Pope’s climate leadership. lnkd.in/eBJCY9Gg

The Pope rejects consumerism, urges us to realize technology will not solve our ‘confrontational’ relationship to nature, and even condemns eco-fascism (i.e. the kind that justifies forcibly evicting people from their land to create nature parks.)

Reflecting on Pope Francis’ passing and marking Earth Day, I decided to reread the Laudato Si’ encyclical letter. I share here the abstracts I most appreciated. They remain as relevant today as they were in 2015. 🧵

Australia: Disproportionate Removal of Aboriginal Children Western Australia’s child protection authorities are disproportionately removing children from Aboriginal families and placing them in out-of-home care.

NEW: Western Australia’s child protection authorities are disproportionately removing children from Aboriginal families and placing them in out-of-home care.

Ever wondered what it's like for those communities that are already sinking? My colleague @ericarosebower.bsky.social has been to the front lines, in Solomon Islands, where community leaders are organizing to find dignified homes for the displaced. Her report 👇

Keen observers may ask: what about MSPO? Didn't that prohibit conversion to oil palm plantations after 2019? You're right. But the federal government couldn't enforce it because land issues are under the jurisdiction of states. That's what makes Sarawak's announcement so meaningful.

I've been working on Sarawak with amazing partners SAVE Rivers, KERUAN, RimbaWatch, The Borneo Project and Bruno Manser Fonds. Our message: unless meaningful reforms are implemented, Sarawak should be considered high risk under the EU anti-deforestation regulation.

www.hrw.org/news/2024/09...

Incredible news from Malaysia: the state of Sarawak will not award any new permits for oil palm plantations 'for now', a senior minister said on February 20. He said Sarawak aimed to mitigate deforestation, citing international scrutiny in particular from the EU.

www.thevibes.com/articles/new...

In an open letter alongside 39 other orgs, we are calling on the
@ec.europa.eu to ensure a robust EU Deforestation Regulation benchmarking system that evaluates environmental and human rights risks #EUDR

www.hrw.org/sites/defaul...

@hrw.org

@lucianatellez.bsky.social

Land in limbo: Nearly one third of Indonesia’s cleared old-growth forests left idle | PNAS Indonesia has experienced rapid primary forest loss, second only to Brazil in modern history. We examined the fates of Indonesian deforested areas,...

Across the archipelago, millions of hectares already lie fallow. Why not use those instead? www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

The Indonesian government wants to turn 20 million hectares of forest into areas for food and energy production and water reserves. It creates the illusion that Indonesia must decide whether to feed its people or save its rainforest, but...

www.msn.com/en-us/news/w...

If you follow a plant based diet and take B12 supplements, please read this 👇 thanks for the PSA @georgemonbiot.bsky.social 👍

Turkish Government Approves Coal Power Plant Expansion Amid growing concerns about its existing air pollution problem, Turkish authorities have approved the expansion of one of Türkiye’s biggest coal power plants. The decision to greenlight two additional...

Amid growing concerns about its existing air pollution problem, Turkish authorities have approved the expansion of one of Türkiye’s biggest coal power plants.

Together with HRW colleagues, we analysed air quality data and talked to residents in the area last year:
www.hrw.org/news/2025/01...

⬇️🧵

Singapore’s 'blueprint for disaster' threatens global climate targets An ambitious plan to re-engineer the carbon market could play havoc with net zero goals and raises questions about human rights.

The world's biggest carbon offsetting registry, Verra, failed to properly investigate allegations of human rights abuses against Indigenous people in Cambodia, the NGO @carbonmarketwatch.bsky.social says.

SourceMaterial visited the project to investigate.

www.source-material.org/singapore-ca...

The only offsets we believe in: working out so you can eat more holiday sweets.

Map showing the five remaining coal plant proposals in OECD countries, in the US, Turkey, Japan and Australia. Source: Global Coal Plant Tracker, Global Energy Monitor.

NEW – Analysis: Only five proposals for coal plants remain across OECD’s 38 countries | @cshearer19.bsky.social

Read here: https://buff.ly/3VLKryH

@ghgpolicy.org @yungenchee.bsky.social @kostyack.bsky.social @bigearthdata.bsky.social @juliaradio.bsky.social @vcmdaily.bsky.social @ketanjoshi.co @joeloclimate.bsky.social @oekoinstitut.bsky.social @carbonplan.org

Now @carbonmarketwatch.bsky.social is arguing that the way Verra handled our allegations shows that Verra does not have an impartial grievance mechanism, thus falling short of #ICVCM requirements. Will the ICVCM enforce its standards? carbonmarketwatch.org/publications...