ForestSEA was set up in March 2019 following the election of a new reforming government in Malaysia, dedicated to reversing corruption and bad practices that have had a devastating effect not only on the economy of the country, but also on the environment and lives of indigenous peoples in the region, particularly East Malaysia.
South East Asia and most specifically Borneo and East Malaysia leads the world in terms of natural biodiversity and in the wonder of its natural heritage. Tragically, owing to corrupt and rapacious deforestation over the past 50 years only remnants of this gift of nature are left, leaving many of the world's most exotic creatures on the brink of extinction and a wealth of plant and animal life of incalculable scientific and other values on the verge of being wiped out.
The profits from this grab for timber, followed by short term cash crops have gone to a very few, who do not include the indigenous people who have lived off the forests since time immemorial. These politically connected players have largely exported their wealth abroad and further re-invested in the mass deforestation of the world’s other remaining tropical timber regions - making the East Malaysian state of Sarawak a key hub of the world’s timber mafia.