RimbaWatch and Friends of the Earth England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland previously released a report examining timber certification audits in Peninsular Malaysia between 2021 and 2024.

The groups alleged that forests cleared for industrial timber plantations were still certified as “sustainable”, and that Sirim’s auditors failed to properly recognise indigenous land conflicts.

According to the report, the auditors consulted only a limited number of Orang Asli communities and relied heavily on government agencies for verification and consultation.

“They did not acknowledge well-documented and widely reported indigenous land conflicts and grievances occurring within the forest management units (FMUs) and chose to certify the FMUs instead,” the group said.

RimbaWatch also claimed that at least two FMUs might have exceeded the allowed 5% forest conversion limit under certification rules.

“Between 2021 and 2024, at least 34,260ha of natural forests were cleared for conversion to industrial timber plantations within environmentally sensitive Rank 1 areas that had been classified as unsuitable for development by local authorities.

“Separately, at least 65,000ha of logging in general occurred in Class I tiger conservation areas, as identified by the National Tiger Conservation Action Plan (2008-2020),” the group said.

RimbaWatch called for the suspension of Sirim QAS International as the certification body under the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS).

It also urged MTCS to explicitly recognise indigenous customary land rights and end the certification of areas involving the conversion of natural forests.