Hydro Energy is commissioned to “provide technical support” to Sarawak Energy, which is currently building the multi-billion dollar Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE). The project involves 12 highly controversial dams projected to produce 28,000 MW of power.
Local and international indigenous groups and communities denounced the project saying the dams will “flood huge swathes of the Borneo Jungle and destroy the lives of tens of thousands of indigenous people along with their cultures.” The exodus of people has begun.
International civic organisations have thrown in support to condemn the dams. Groups include the Borneo Project (USA), the Bruno Manser Fund (Switzerland), the Rainforest Action Network (USA), International Rivers (USA), the Rainforest Foundation Norway and the Sarawak Report (UK), and many more.
These groups demand that the Federal Government of Australia and the State Government of Tasmania live up to their commitments to protect indigenous rights and the environment. They asked Tasmania Premiere Lara Giddings to immediately pull Hydro Tasmania and all its subsidiaries out of Sarawak. Read their petition to Giddings HERE.
These groups said that despite the Australian Government’s commitments to indigenous rights, Hydro Tasmania shares responsibility for the destruction of Sarawak communities. They also demand that the Tasmanian government severe all ties with Sarawak Energy and take a stand for environmental conservation and indigenous rights.
Sarawak is home to over 40 indigenous communities, as well as many vanishing species, including the orangutan. Conservationists said the proposed dams threaten to destroy some the last remaining rainforests in Borneo.
Australian Greens Leader Senator Christine Milne and Lee Rhiannon said Hydro Tasmania cannot walk away from their responsibility for the damage these dams will cause to thousands of villagers in Sarawak.
In an other development, delegates from Sarawak arrived in Australia for dialogue with Hydro Tasmania and local officials.
Indigenous leaders from Sarawak met with Hydro Tasmania’s CEO Roy Adair in Launceston and Tasmania’s Deputy Premier Bryan Green.