Borneo is estimated to be home to more that 220 mammal species and 420 bird species, many of them found nowhere else. Lowland rainforest in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Since that initial warning, however, little has happened. In another recent case, a high-ranking official from the Democratic Action Party urged anti-corruption officials to probe the Sabah governmentвЂ™s decision to award 283,000 hectares (700,000 acres) of protected forest reserve to вЂњfamily and friendsвЂќ of former state minister Tan Sri Musa Aman ahead of SabahвЂ™s state elections in late September. вЂњThere is just too much dependency on the votes from Sarawak to remain in power.вЂќ вЂњThere criticism, but no political authorities like the prime minister or any leaders would openly have criticized the state,вЂќ Straumann says. The Bornean states wield heavy weight in the countryвЂ™s elections, and national politicians are wary of stepping on the toes of state officials. Thus, states remain able to do as they please with their forests, unless thereвЂ™s sufficient outside pressure, says Lukas Straumann, director of Swiss-based environmental nonprofit Bruno Manser Fonds and a longtime Sarawak conservation advocate.Д®ven in cases like Gunung Mulu, where there is significant public controversy, Straumann says he never sees concerns from federal officials go beyond a one-off comment. Under MalaysiaвЂ™s federal system, state governments hold authority over most regulations regarding land usage and environmental protection, including the right to manage forests and grant concessions for oil palm, timber and agricultural plantations. Image by Gurazuru via Wikimedia Commons ( CC BY-SA 4.0).

The limestone pinnacles of Mount Api, inside Gunung Mulu National Park. Though the company withdrew much of its machinery and has halted clearing since late 2019, the controversy over the concessions exemplifies the tensions that can arise between the environmental policies of MalaysiaвЂ™s central government and the autonomous Bornean states of Sabah and Sarawak, which are home to the majority of MalaysiaвЂ™s remaining primary forest. Still, Kok was careful to frame the matter as falling under the purview of the state government, which should act in the interests of the state. Objections were also quietly raised by officials from MalaysiaвЂ™s central government, including then-Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok, who said she confronted a top Sarawak official about the plantations. Indigenous Penan and Berawan communities in the area also protested as the company began clearing the forest, saying the area was a crucial part of their traditional land, and that they had not been consulted. The news that trees were being felled in the concession alarmed local and international NGOs who said they feared the proposed plantations would damage Gunung MuluвЂ™s biodiversity and questioned the secretive way in which the concession had originally been granted a decade earlier. In 2018, a wave of protest erupted when the public learned that the Sarawak government had granted the company Radiant Lagoon two oil palm concessions, amounting to 4,400 hectares (10,900 acres) of secondary rainforest bordering the western edge of the park. Experts on forest management and conservation see cause for both optimism and skepticism.ДЇamed for its caves and karst ecosystems, Gunung Mulu National Park in Malaysian BorneoвЂ™s Sarawak state is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, home to more than 81 mammal species, 270 varieties of bird and more than 130 reptiles and amphibians.

Both states have laws on the books aimed at protecting and managing forests, as well as sustainable forestry and palm oil certification schemes.

Since the late 1960s, Malaysian Borneo lost much of its forest: first to timber and later to palm oil and other agricultural industries.

In the Bornean states of Sabah and Sarawak, home to most of MalaysiaвЂ™s remaining intact forests, politicians push against perceived interference from the central government, particularly when it comes to resource management.

Under MalaysiaвЂ™s federal system, state governments hold authority over most regulations regarding land usage and environmental protection.

Sarawak borneo