Defending Rainforests, Defending Rights: Voices from Sarawak

A visit by Borneo’s Indigenous Rainforest Protectors to Manchester

3pm - 4.30pm, 26th April 2025

Friends Meeting House, 6 Mount Street, Manchester, M2 5NS GB

Free to attend, please book here

Friends of the Earth Manchester

Join us for an inspiring afternoon with frontline activists from Sarawak, Malaysia, who are working to protect their rainforests, land, and way of life from corporate destruction. This is a rare opportunity to hear firsthand testimonies from those leading efforts to safeguard their communities and connect with the global movement for environmental justice, and find out what action you can take to support them.

We’ll also hear about the central role of Indigenous People as protectors of forests in the context of the international climate talks (COP 30) to be held in the Brazilian Amazon later this year, as we build the climate justice movement here in Manchester.

Be part of this vital conversation and take action for justice.

Speakers will include:

Celine Lim – a Kayan from Baram, Sarawak, Celine Lim is the Managing Director of SAVE Rivers, a local civil society organisation that advocates for Indigenous People’s rights and environmental issues. SAVE Rivers is a member of the Indigenous Communities Conserved Area (ICCA) Consortium, an international organization that promotes the appropriate recognition and support of Indigenous Peoples' Conserved Areas and Territories. Indigenous people and environmental rights are important to Celine as she has witnessed first-hand how Indigenous communities are affected by the forced changes in their environment, community, and culture through external factors.

Komeok Joe – a Human Rights and Environmental Activist from Sarawak, Komeok Joe is the CEO and founder of Keruan, a Penan non-profit self-help organization based in Kota Kinabalu and Miri, Malaysia. After working in various jobs in the private sector, Komeok trained as a community organizer in 1991. After completing his training, he began working full-time to defend the rights of the Indigenous Penan, working closely with Bruno Manser and the Bruno Manser Fonds. The knowledge and experience he acquired allowed him to lead the struggle of his people. He represented the Indigenous Peoples Network Malaysia (JOAS) at various international conferences. Komeok Joe is one of only two recipients of the "Bruno Manser Award for Moral Courage"

Dayang Ukau – a Penan activist from Bateu Bungan/Mulu, Sarawak. Dayang Ukau represents a new generation of Penan women working to protect the forest and the rights of their Indigenous communities. Dayang Ukau hails from Bateu Bungan, the Penan village in the heart of the UNESCO-protected Gunung Mulu National Park. Dayang successfully campaigned with her family against the conversion of 4400 hectares of rainforest in the Mulu area into an oil palm plantation.

Mutang Urud – a Human Rights and Environmental Activist from Sarawak, Montreal. Mutang Urud is an Indigenous human rights and environmental activist who has been in jail for his activism. He is a Kelabit from Sarawak who took refuge in Canada. His local activism started in the early 1980s and since the 1990s he was involved in the international Indigenous rights movement at the United Nations. In Canada he has worked for a decade amongst Aboriginal youth in the environmental and outdoor education. Presently, he also dedicates his time to protecting his people’s culture and language through oral history writing, creating a dictionary, and mapping their traditional territory.

There will be some small group discussions.

Event co-organised by Friends of the Earth Manchester and Greater Manchester Climate Justice Coalition.