The series

Imagine forests that educate your children, feed your community and for generations define and inspire your culture.

Sarawak, along with Sabah, is a state of Malaysia on the island of Borneo. It is home to over 40 different sub-ethnic groups.

Many native communities, such as the Iban, Penan, Bidayuh, Kayan, Kenyah and Saban are still dependent on the remaining forests that they live in. However, they are under increasing pressure to leave or surrender their customary lands to forestry industries, palm oil plantations or dams.

Like the forests they inhabit and have been custodians to for generations, Sarawak’s native groups may also perish, along with their traditions, countless generations of cultural knowledge, their dignity and their rights.

Those that have already lost access to their customary lands and rights are finding uncertainty and cultural poverty the legacy their children will inherit.

Sarawak Gone explores the struggles of the Bidayuh of Upper Bengoh and the Penan of Ulu Baram.

• Synopsis: The Dam: The Bidayuh of Upper Bengoh
• Synopsis: The Headman: Kelesau Nann and the Penan of Long Kerong, Ulu Baram