Malaysian Timber Certification Council

Several Malaysian social, environmental, and community-based organisations were involved in reviewing the Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC) scheme in 1999. 14 of these groups (collectively named JOANGOHutan) withdrew from the scheme in July 2001, when it became clear that it did not guarantee legality and sustainable forest management, and did not respect the basic rights of indigenous peoples, thereby fuelling human rights conflicts. The serious flaws within the MTCC scheme include:

MTCC doesn't recognize the customary tenure and user rights of indigenous peoples and local forest communities. For example in May 2003 14 villagers from a Temuan indigenous community were arrested when they tried to stop a logging company from carrying out its work on their ancestral land in Pahang. This encroachment on indigenous land took place despite the fact that Pahang has been certified by MTCC as "sustainably managed forest" since 2001.

MTCC has also recently certified a concession in Sarawak, despite an unresolved land claim by the indigenous Penan people which is currently before the Malaysian courts. In February of this year, 19 Penan leaders and 582 Penan from a remote area of Sarawak demanded an immediate withdrawal of the MTCC certificate, and called on the company to cease the destructive logging in the area. Greenpeace has satellite images illustrating the extent of destructive logging that we would be pleased to provide to the committee if requested.

Greenpeace research has identified other serious concerns about the MTCC scheme, including:

• MTCC criteria and indicators fail to adequately safeguard social values and environmental conservation;
• MTCC certifies on the basis of whole states in Peninsular Malaysia, thereby disregarding the variable practices within concrete forest operations in a given Malaysian state;
• MTCC lacks a well-defined performance based standard;
• MTCC Chain-of-Custody procedures and standards allow for up to 30 per cent uncertified wood and fibre products up to 70 per cent with no adequate requirements on the uncertified material. Thus the MTCC labeled products can be intermixed with illegally acquired wood.

For example, it is clear that large amounts of illegal timber are being trafficked from Indonesia to Malaysia. Figures from the Malaysian Statistical office record log production of one species, selangan batu, as 404 000 m3 in the year 2004; yet record log exports of the species as 585 000 m3, and sawn timber exports of the species as 210 000 m3. This means that legal exports of selangan batu products from Sarawak are nearly double legal production.

Given that 30 per cent of the timber being certified as MTCC does not require chain of custody documentation from auditable third party assessors, it is apparent there is a high risk illegal timber could be entering the MTCC supply chain.

Read our report: "Missing Links, Why the Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC) certificate doesn't prove that MTCC is legal and sustainable"