Celebrating the saving of the Baram River – Bob Brown

Australian environmentalist Bob Brown has today hailed one of the biggest global environmental wins since the Franklin Dam in Tasmania. Sarawak’s Baram Dam, on the island of Borneo in Malaysia has been halted.

‘This is a rare but very significant victory for the indigenous people of Sarawak’s Baram River,’ Bob Brown said.

The lawyer for the Baram villagers, Mr Harrison Ngau has been notified of the revocation by the State Legal Office. The gazette extinguishing the native rights of ownership of the land earmarked for the dam site and its reservoir has been officially revoked. Sarawak indigenous people have had their right to their lands reinstated and can enter and use their land legally. The defence against the Baram dam has run for more than five years. Blockades were established on the 23rd of October 2013.

‘I travelled up the Baram river in 1990 and returned to Sarawak in 2013 to address a congress of indigenous people who live on the upper reaches of Sarawak’s rivers. After showing a film about the Franklin River blockade, I told the crowd they had a right to protest and could turn things around,’ Bob Brown said.

‘I continued to campaign in Australia, along with many other people, to highlight the involvement of Australian companies in the Baram Dam proposal. Australian-based engineering consultants SMEC (Snowy Mountains Electric Commission) has been up to its neck in hydro developments in Sarawak,’ Bob Brown said.
Jenny Weber, The Bob Brown Foundation