ACCOR announces review of Interhill's logging operations
Picture: Interhill headquarters in Miri, Sarawak / Malaysia (Copyright: BMF)
ACCOR, Europe's leading hotel group, has announced an independent review of the logging operations of Interhill Logging, its partner in the controversial Novotel Interhill Kuching hotel project on the island of Borneo (Sarawak, East Malaysia). This has been disclosed today by the Bruno Manser Fund, a Swiss NGO that is campaigning for Borneo's indigenous rainforest communities.
According to Hélène Roques, ACCOR's Director for Sustainable Development, the probe will focus on the social and environmental impacts of Interhill's logging operations and will be carried out by two renowned independent experts. The review aims at establishing the basis for an action plan which will allow the implementation of corporate social responsibility measures within Interhill's logging concession in Sarawak's Middle Baram region.
Interhill is operating on the native lands of Penan communities whose representatives have recently sent a written appeal to ACCOR CEO, Gilles Pélisson. The Penan complained about the socially and environmentally devastating effects of Interhill's operations and asked the French hotel group to review its partnership with the Malaysian loggers.
The Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) welcomes the French hotel group's announcement and hopes that the upcoming review will mark a turning point for the Penan communities in the Middle Baram. BMF director Lukas Straumann said: "We are satisfied that ACCOR is taking this issue very seriously and are confident that the upcoming review will help the local communities to safeguard their livelihood in the rainforest."
(12 May 2009)