rainforest

Long Moh, Sarawak — William Tinggang throws a handful of fish food into a glass-clear river.

A few seconds pass before movement under the water’s surface begins, and soon a large shoal splashes to the surface, fighting for the food.

He waits for the underwater crowd to disperse before hurling the next handful into the river. The splashing resumes.

“These fish aren’t for us to eat,” explains Tinggang, who has emerged as a community leader in opposing the logging industry in Long Moh, a village in the Ulu Baram region of Malaysia’s Sarawak state.

“We want the populations here to replenish,” he tells Al Jazeera.

As part of a system known as Tagang – an Iban language word that translates as “restricted” – residents of Long Moh have agreed there will be no hunting, fishing or cutting of trees in this area.

Just a few hours’ flight from Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur, Sarawak is one of two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo that contain some of the oldest rainforests on the planet.

It is an internationally recognised biodiversity hotspot, and within its Ulu Baram region lies the Nawan Nature Discovery Centre, a community-initiated forest reserve spanning more than 6,000 hectares (23 square miles).

The forest in Nawan is dense and thriving; bats skim the surface of the Baram River, palm-sized butterflies drift between trees, and occasionally, monkeys can be heard from the canopy.

The river remains crystal clear, a testament to the absence of nearby activities.

The community’s preservation effort stands in contrast to much of the surrounding landscape in Sarawak, where vast tracts of forest have been systematically cut down for timber extraction and palm oil plantations.

Conservation groups estimate that Sarawak may have lost 90 percent of its primary forest cover in the past 50 years.

Limiting hunting is one of the numerous ways communities in the region are working together to protect what remains of Sarawak’s biodiversity heritage.

For the community of Long Moh, whose residents are Kenyah Indigenous people, the forests within their native customary lands have spiritual significance.

“Nawan is like a spiritual home,” says Robert Lenjau, a resident of Long Moh, who is a keen player of the sape, a traditional lute instrument which is popular across the state and is steeped in Indigenous mythology.

“We believe there are ancestors there,” says Lenjau.

While most Kenyah people have converted to Christianity following decades of missionary influence in the region, many still retain elements of their traditional beliefs.

The community’s leading activist, Tinggang, believes the forest to have spiritual importance.

“We hear sounds of machetes clashing, and sounds of people in pain when we sleep by the river’s mouth,” he explains.

“Our parents once told us that there was a burial ground there.”

Sarawak’s dwindling forest cover

Sarawak’s logging industry boomed in the 1980s, and the following decades saw large concessions granted to companies.

Timber exports remain big business. In 2023, exports were estimated to be worth $560m, with top importers of Sarawak’s wood including France, the Netherlands, Japan and the United States, according to Human Rights Watch.

In recent years, the timber industry has turned to meeting the rapidly growing demand for wood pellets, which are burned to generate energy.

While logging reaped billions in profits, it often came at the expense of Indigenous communities, who lacked formal legal recognition of their ancestral lands, despite their historical connection to the forest and their deep ecological knowledge of the region.

“In Sarawak, there are very limited options for communities to actually claim native customary land rights,” says Jessica Merriman from The Borneo Project, an organisation that campaigns for environmental protection and human rights across Malaysian Borneo.

“Even communities who do decide to try the legal route, which takes years, lawyers, and costs money, they risk losing access to the rest of their customary territories,” Merriman says, explaining that making a legal claim to one tract of land may mean losing much more.

“Because you’ve agreed – essentially – that the rest [of the land] doesn’t belong to you,” she says.

Even successful community claims may only grant rights to a very small fraction of what Indigenous communities actually consider to be their native customary land in Sarawak, according to The Borneo Project.

This also means that logging companies might legally obtain permits to cut the forest in areas which had been previously disputed.

While timber companies have brought economic opportunities for some, providing job opportunities to villagers as drivers or labourers, many Kenyah community members in the Ulu Baram region have negative associations with the industry.

“We don’t agree with logging, because it is very damaging to the forests, water and ecosystems in our area,” says David Bilong, a member of Long Semiyang village, which is about a half-hour boat ride from Long Moh village.

Both Long Moh and Long Semiyang have dwindling populations, with about 200 and 100 full-time residents, respectively.

Extensive logging roads in the region have increased accessibility for the villages, resulting in younger community members migrating to nearby towns for work and sending remittances back home to support relatives.

Those who remain in the village, or “kampung”, live in traditional longhouses which are made up of rows of private family apartments connected by shared verandas. Here, community activities like rattan weaving, meetings and karaoke-singing take place.

Bilong has played an active role in community activism over the years. For him, deforestation activities have contributed to the undermining of generational knowledge, as physical landmarks have been removed from their lived environment.

“It’s difficult for us to go to the jungle now,” he explains.

“We don’t know any more which hill is the one we go to for hunting,” he says.

“We don’t even know where the hill went.”

For decades, Indigenous communities across Ulu Baram have shown their resistance to logging activities by making physical blockades.

This typically entails community members camping for weeks, or even months, along logging roads to physically obstruct unwanted outsiders from entering native customary territories.

The primary legal framework regulating forest use is the Sarawak Forest Ordinance (1958), which grants the state government sweeping control over forest areas, including the issuance of timber licences.

Now, local communities are increasingly turning to strategic tools to assert their rights.

One of these tools is the creation of community maps.

“We are moving from oral tradition to physical documentation,” says Indigenous human rights activist Celine Lim.

Lim is the managing director of Save Rivers, one of the local organisations supporting Ulu Baram’s Indigenous communities to map their lands.

“Because of outside threats, this transition needs to take place,” Lim tells Al Jazeera.

Unlike official government maps, these maps reflect the community’s cultural landmarks.

They include markers for things like burial grounds, sacred sites and trees which contain poison for hunting with blow darts, reflecting how Indigenous people actually relate to and manage their land sustainably.

“For Indigenous people, the way that they connect to land is definitely a lot deeper than many of our conventional ways,” says Lim.

“They see the mountains, the rivers, the land, the forest and in the past, these were entities,” she says.

“The way you’d respect a person is the way that they would respect these entities.”

By physically documenting how their land is managed, Indigenous communities can use maps to assert their presence and protect their native customary territory.

“This community map is really important for us,” says Bilong, who played a role in the creation of Long Semiyang’s community map.

“When we make a map, we know what our area is and what is in our area,” he says.

“It is important that we create boundaries”.

The tradition of creating community maps in Sarawak first emerged in the 1990s, when the Switzerland-based group Bruno Manser-Fonds – named after a Swiss environmental activist who disappeared in Sarawak in 2000 – began supporting the Penan community with mapping activities.

The Penan are a previously nomadic indigenous group in Sarawak who have now mostly settled as farmers.

Through mapping, they have documented at least 5,000 river names and 1,000 topographic features linked to their traditions, and their community maps have been used numerous times as critical documentation to prevent logging.

Other groups, such as the Kenyah, are following suit with the creation of their own community maps.

“The reason why the trend of mapping has continued is because in other parts of Baram and Sarawak, they’ve proven to be successful,” says the Borneo Project’s Merriman, “at least in getting the attention of logging companies and the government.”

Now, local organisations are encouraging communities to further solidify their assertion to their native customary territories by joining a global platform hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme that recognises Indigenous and community conserved areas, known as the ICCA.

Communities participating in the ICCA are listed on a globally accessible online database, and this international visibility offers a place for them to publicise threats and land grabs.

In Sarawak, the international visibility afforded through ICCA registration could offer an alternative avenue of protection for communities.

Merriman says that another important aspect of applying for ICCA recognition is the process itself of registering.

“The ICCA process is fundamentally an organising tool and a self-strengthening tool,” she says.

“It’s not just about being on the database. It’s about going through the process of a community banding together to protect its own land, to come up with a shared vision of responding to threats and what they want to do to try to make alternative income.”

Safeguarding Indigenous communities in Sarawak also has an international significance, activists say.

As the impacts of climate change intensify in Malaysia and globally, the potential role of Sarawak’s rainforests in climate change mitigation is increasingly being recognised.

“There’s plenty of talk at the state level about protecting forests,” says Jettie Word, executive director of The Borneo Project.

“Officials often say the right things in terms of recognising their importance in combatting climate change. Though ongoing logging indicates a gap between rhetoric and reality,” Word says.

“While mapping alone can’t protect a forest from a billion-dollar timber project, when it’s combined with community organising and campaigning, it’s often quite powerful and we’ve seen it successfully keep the companies away,” she says.

“The maps provide solid evidence of a community’s territory that is difficult to refute.”

DID you know there are rainforests in Britain? Nope – me neither.

But you may well have visited one without realising if you’ve holidayed in Cornwall, Wales or along the Atlantic Coastline.

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Especially if you remember walking through green woodland packed with ferns, moss and lichen – with a really memorable earthy, damp scent.

They once covered more than 20 per cent of the UK – but history devoured them – and now there’s less than one per cent.

So the Wildlife Trust, sponsored by Aviva, has just launched an epic 100-year restoration project to bring them back.

The temperate rainforest restoration programme will restore approximately 1,755 hectares of temperate rainforest across the British Isles. 

Some of the new sites created through this programme include Bowden Pillars in Devon, Bryn Ifan in North Wales, Creg y Cowin and Glion Darragh on the Isle of Man, Trellwyn Fach in Pembrokeshire, and – most recently – Skiddaw in Cumbria.

Garden Designer Zoe Claymore, won a silver gilt medal at RHS Chelsea for her British Rainforest Garden.

She told me: “I didn’t know it at the time – but I played in a British rainforest as a child. The end of my grandparents garden in Devon went into Lidford Gorge which is one of the last existing rainforests.

“In the UK they’re found in the Goldilocks zone – not too hot, not too cold – and by rivers, gullies and gorges, because you also need the moisture from the river creating that ecosystem.”

But there are ways of recreating one in your own garden, she said.

“Even if  you don’t live in an area suited to creating a rainforest there’s other plants that will create the same vibes.

“Create shade with Hazels – they’re a great small tree which gives a real native-feel and perfect for small gardens. Or include hollies, birch or willows.

“Create a water feature – from a little stream with a few rocks or simply as an old-school rock water bowl – to  create that sense of humidity.

“But even if you just did a pond in a pot surrounded by some fun little logs, that will create habitat, that will bring wildlife, and it will create that kind of feeling of rainforest-y wetness.”

It’s easy to make a home made pond – using old washing up bowls. Tesco’s are currently selling one for just £2.75.

First choose a spot that’s sunny but not in direct sunlight all day – otherwise the water will evaporate.

Then all you have to do is put some logs around it, and a few stones, so wildlife can climb in and out easily – almost like a ramp.

Ideally fill it with rain water rather than tap.

And then put in about three water plants – like mini water lillies or water forget-me-not and sit back waiting for the wildlife.

Zoe added: “Then use British classic woodland plants and really focus on ferns – the unsung beautiful heroes of shade gardening – as well as bluebells, foxgloves, primulars, ivy, bananas and – if you’ve got a wet area – moss – which is the jewel in the crown – so your garden will be green all year round.”

For a ‘how to’ guide adapted to all UK gardens – as well as a rainforest-inspired pot combination  – head to www.zoeclaymore.com – and a share of the proceeds will go the Wildlife Trust.

Also in Veronica’s Column this week…

Gardening tips, news, plant of the week and a competition to win a garden border worth £195

PLANT OF THE WEEK! Dierama Wind Nymph Pink – pictured above – clump forming perennial with slender arching stems with soft pink blooms and evergreen foliage. Bees love it. Plant in direct sunlight, likes well drained soil but might need protection in Winter.

NEWS! A dad’s 60-year-old lawnmower has taken its place in gardening history as the UK’s oldest Flymo – after he read a plea in Sun Gardening. 

Pete Goddard’s monumental mower was inducted into the British Lawnmower Museum in Southport, Merseyside, last week after Flymo sent out a request for old mowers. 

The rare blue Flymo was unveiled last month – taking its place in the museum alongside King Charles, Brian May, and Nicholas Parsons’ former mowers.

It came after a nationwide search for the UK’s oldest Flymo to celebrate 60 years since the iconic hover mower was invented.

The 79-year-old retired Highway Maintenance Operative’s Flymo was originally bought in the 1960s by his father-in-law and lovingly maintained across three generations – and still works today.

NEWS! Great Comp Gardens will show off some salvias not released to the general public before – at it’s  annual Summer Show next weekend. 

The seven acre garden in Platt, near Sevenoaks will be at it’s best – with the hot and cool border in bloom, salvias bringing swathes of colour to the perennial borders and the Italian Garden in full flower in time for their annual two-day flagship event. 

The weekend event features a group of talented artists, craftspeople, award-winning nurseries and garden ornamental suppliers plus live jazz bands on the lawn.

Curator William Dyson says: “We can’t wait to share the garden with our Summer Show visitors – it looks particularly splendid in August with the salvias in full flow.

“We’ve also introduced lots of new and interesting plants to the garden this year including a collection of new world salvias that we’ve inherited from Lindsay Pink (a collector in Portsmouth) that people won’t have seen before. 

“We urge people to come along and see our revamped planting schemes which help to showcase new salvias that we have been keeping under wraps until now. There are salvias that I’ve only seen once before and can’t wait to show people. We are mixing in drifts of South American annuals like Cosmos for interest and colour and Tagetes erecta (Mexican marigolds) plus lots of varieties of dahlias.”

For more info visit www.greatcompgarden.co.uk

WIN! Garden on a Roll – which provide ready-made garden border paper templates, and the plants to put them in – are offering three £195 borders at 3m x 60cm of any style – including the  ‘Wildlife border’ for bees and butterflies. To enter visit www.thesun.co.uk/GardenBorders, or write to Garden on a Roll competition,  PO Box 3190, Colchester, Essex, CO2 8GP. Include your name, age, email or phone. UK residents 18+ only. Entries close 11.59pm. August 16, 2025. T&Cs apply

JOB OF THE WEEK! Stake your dahlias, trim your lavenders, take fuchsia cuttings, prune climbing and rambling roses, add tomato food to corn and peppers.

For more gardening content follow me @biros_and_bloom

SIPPING a glass of red on a garden bench as the sun sets over the neighbouring chateaux, mum Nicola Glover relishes the silence bar the therapeutic sound of evening crickets.

It’s a world away from her former life in Cambridgeshire, where she felt constantly stressed in her job working “ridiculous” hours as a primary school teacher to cover off her £1,000-a-month mortgage and rising bills.

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“In 2020, I split with my first husband and was re-evaluating my life and what I wanted to do,” Nicola, 50, tells The Sun. 

“I wasn’t happy in my teaching job I’d been at for 14 years – I was very stressed and worked ridiculous hours with deadlines and performance targets that seemed impossible at times. It was always busy.

“I felt like I was on a hamster wheel and was longing for a more slow-paced life.”

A few months after her marriage ended she began chatting to a man called Pete, now 58 and originally from Kent, in a Facebook community group for people considering a move to France.

With Pete, an HGV driver, having also tired of the daily grind in the UK, the pair bonded over their love of the country.

They began dating in August 2020, and decided to pursue their pipe dream to move across the Channel to start a new quieter, rural life together.

“I used to go to France every year as a child, and went to Strasbourg University,” Nicola explains. “I’ve always loved everything to do with France.

“Pete was working as an HGV driver with very early starts and long days. He was fed up with traffic jams and the conditions of the roads.

“So we explored different areas of France to see which area we’d like to move to, and figure out what we could do as a business.”

The couple eventually settled on the traditional French village of Affieux in the southern Corrèze region – a relatively undiscovered spot that’s less popular than the neighbouring, touristy region of Dordogne. 

Primarily populated with native French people, Nicola adds: “It has a rainforest vibe – it’s green with lots of lakes. Although we do get quite a lot of rain, it’s very hot in the summer.”

Prior to moving the couple outright bought a 19^th century stone cottage with an acre of land and five bedrooms for €175,000 (£149K) in April 2023.

They used their combined savings to purchase the house and used the sale of Nicola’s house in the UK to fund renovations to the property, turning it into a boutique bed and breakfast.

“It’s in the heart of the village of Affieux,” Nicola says. 

“It’s rural and very quiet, with amazing views. The architecture and buildings are medieval and stunning.”

All you can hear are cows in the field behind the house and crickets

Nicola Glover

It took nearly a year to sort out the paperwork – visas, business plans, and police checks – before the couple finally moved to France in February 2024, both quitting their jobs in the UK. 

Nicola says: “There is so much stuff that needs to be done before you can move over.

“You get a visa for 12 months initially, and once you’re here you have to re-apply every 12 months to the local prefecture unless you get a multi-year visa. 

“To get the multi-year visa, you have to meet certain criteria, which I managed to get.”

Compulsory French

However, with Pete’s French language level not as high as Nicola’s, his visa was only renewed for an extra year.  

“Pete spoke relatively little French when we moved here but has since passed his A1 level French after receiving compulsory free lessons from the government,” Nicola explains. 

“Everyone on a working visa is assessed on their French level when they move here and if your French isn’t good enough you will be assigned free lessons. 

“He is still continuing with French learning: online, books and apps.”

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In her previous life Nicola says she was constantly on the go commuting, working, shopping, ferrying teenagers around, fitting in a social life, sorting admin and cleaning.

Since moving to France, Nicola has loved the “calm and quiet” of the old-school village she now calls home. 

“All you can hear are cows in the field behind the house and crickets,” she says. 

“There is hardly any traffic. It’s all country roads unless you’re going to one of the big cities.”

She reckons this slow pace of living is in part due to French culture. 

“I think the French put more importance on downtime,” she says. “It’s not all ‘work, work, work’. 

“As soon as we go back to the UK we feel stressed. Everyone seems like they are in a rush. 

“Here it’s very slowed down. Everyone shuts for lunch, and hardly anywhere is open on a Sunday. You have to plan your day around it, which has taken some getting used to.”

Community feel

Nicola and Pete have the full support of their grown-up children, who now often visit for holidays. 

The couple married in September 2024, and now feel they have much more time for themselves and each other, alongside running their bed and breakfast. 

“We play golf, go for walks, explore the area, and cook together,” Nicola says. 

“We both love renovating and I do a lot of upcycling furniture. We spend time together in our garden, our allotment, and then work on the house.”

The community feel of Affieux has been a much-loved benefit of the move, Nicola adds.

“There is always a village fete, festival, or evening event. Our neighbours have all been really welcoming. 

“We’ve been around to theirs for drinks in the evening, and lunch. They talk to us about our lives.

“They don’t speak in English – we have to integrate in French. They’ve all been so helpful with any information I’ve ever needed.”

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Although most costs are similar to the UK, Nicola says the house prices in the Corrèze region are cheaper, as she was able to get much more for her money. 

Her bills are also cheaper, especially given her house in France is considerably bigger than the small home she had in the UK. 

Her water bill is £200 a year cheaper, council tax is £400 cheaper, gas and electricity is £1,500 a year and her weekly shop is two thirds of the cost it was back in Blighty.

Wine is also a lot cheaper, with a basic cheap bottle costing just over a euro, and a nice bottle setting them back just €4. 

For a “fancy” three-course lunch, Nicola would expect to pay no more than €25. 

Nicola says: “We only buy food that’s in season here, and we waste less food. We also grow a lot of our food now, which we didn’t do in the UK.

We only buy food that’s in season here, and we waste less food. We also grow a lot of our food now, which we didn’t do in the UK

Nicola Glover

“We have room for our own allotment on our land here and have a 30ft polytunnel in our garden. We’re currently growing all sorts which will save us even more money.

“People in France generally rely less on ready meals and convenience foods than in the UK, most meals are prepared from scratch.

“If fruit and veg is not in season it’s generally more expensive – I’ve seen cauliflowers out of season for sale at €5.99 in one supermarket!

“In the UK, we are so used to getting anything at any time. They don’t do that here.

“Seafood is much cheaper though – 12 large tiger prawns cost me €2.25 yesterday!”

Nicola and Pete brought their own car to France and had it registered there, something that proved quite costly.

“We wanted to keep a right hand drive vehicle and cars are more expensive here than in the UK,” Nicola says. 

“This was a long-winded process though and cost quite a bit as we had to change the headlights.”

Car insurance is much the same as in the UK, but they don’t pay an annual tax on cars in France, and MOTs are done every two years. 

Another thing that Nicola says is more expensive in France are clothes – but outside of the big cities she’s noticed there isn’t an emphasis on fashion, so she doesn’t feel pressure to keep up with the latest style. 

“It’s very casual – jeans, trainers, top and blazer,” she says.

“There aren’t many charity shops like there are in the UK. People hold onto their clothes forever.”

There aren’t many charity shops like there are in the UK. People hold onto their clothes forever

Nicola Glover

With the increased number of sunny days in France compared to the UK, Nicola spends lots of time outside with her dog or in her allotment. 

“It’s nice to be outdoors more,” she says. “The blue sky and sunny days help with your mental health.”

Although she misses her twin daughters, both at university in the UK, as well as Marmite and Dairy Milk chocolate, Nicola can’t see herself moving back to the UK and would recommend rural France to anyone seeking a slower pace of life. 

“I haven’t thought that far ahead, but we’re happy where we are right now,” she says.

Read more about how you can visit Nicola’s B&B here.

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RICHMOND, Calif. — An oil tanker sat docked at Chevron’s sprawling refinery in Richmond, Calif., on Thursday — a visible link between California’s appetite for Amazon crude and the remote rainforest territories where it’s extracted. Just offshore, bundled in puffy jackets against the Bay wind, Indigenous leaders from Ecuador’s Amazon paddled kayaks through choppy waters, calling attention to the oil expansion threatening their lands.

Their visit to California helped prompt the state Senate to introduce a landmark resolution urging officials to examine the state’s role in importing crude from the Amazon. The move comes as Ecuador’s government prepares to auction off 14 new oil blocks — covering more than 2 million hectares of rainforest, much of it Indigenous territory — in a 2026 bidding round known as “Sur Oriente.”

The Indigenous leaders say the move goes against the spirit of a national referendum in which Ecuadorians voted to leave crude oil permanently underground in Yasuni National Park.

The preservation push in Ecuador comes as another South American country that includes part of the Amazon rainforest, Brazil, is moving ahead with plans to further develop oil resources. On Tuesday, Brazil auctioned off several land and offshore potential oil sites near the Amazon River as it aims to expand production in untapped regions despite protests from environmental and Indigenous groups.

Indigenous voices

Juan Bay, president of the Waorani people of Ecuador, said that his delegation’s coming to California was “important so that our voices, our stance, and our struggle can be elevated” and urged Californians to reexamine the source of their crude from the Amazon — ”from Waorani Indigenous territory.”

On Thursday, the Indigenous delegation joined local Californians in Richmond for a kayaking trip near a Chevron refinery, sharing stories about the Amazon and perspectives on climate threats.

For Nadino Calapucha, a spokesperson for the Kichwa Pakkiru people, the visit to California’s Bay Area was deeply moving. Spotting seals in the water and a bird’s nest nearby felt “like a gesture of solidarity from nature itself,” he told the Associated Press on a kayak.

“It was as if the animals were welcoming us,” he said.

The connection between the Amazon and California — both facing environmental threats — was palpable, Calapucha said.

“Being here with our brothers and sisters, with the local communities also fighting — in the end, we feel that the struggle is the same,” he said.

California is the largest global consumer of Amazon oil, with much of it refined and used in the state as fuel. Ecuador is the region’s top producer of onshore crude.

Bay highlighted a March ruling by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which found that Ecuador had violated the rights of the area’s Indigenous groups by allowing oil operations in and around a site known as Block 43.

The court ordered the government to halt extraction in protected areas and uphold the 2023 referendum banning drilling in Yasuni National Park, where the country’s largest crude reserve lies, estimated around 1.7 billion barrels.

Bay appealed to the California government to reconsider if it “should continue receiving crude from the Amazon” — or continue to be “complicit in the violation of rights” happening on Indigenous territory.

Defending Indigenous rights

State Sen. Josh Becker (D-Menlo Park), who introduced the new resolution, praised the visiting leaders for defending their land and the global climate.

“Their communities are on the front lines asserting their rights and resisting oil extraction,” Becker said on the Senate floor on Monday. “They are defenders of a living rainforest that stores carbon, regulates the global climate, and sustains life.”

Long criticized by environmental justice advocates, the refinery has processed millions of barrels of Amazon crude, fueling concerns over pollution, public health, and the state’s role in rainforest destruction.

The delegation also helped launch a new report by Amazon Watch, an Oakland-based nonprofit dedicated to the protection of the Amazon Basin, which outlines the climate, legal and financial risks of operating in Indigenous territories without consent.

‘Addiction to Amazon crude’

Kevin Koenig, Amazon Watch’s director for climate, energy and extraction industry, said the effects of Amazon crude extend far beyond Ecuador. He joined the Ecuadorian delegation on the kayaking trip Thursday.

“The Golden State, if it wants to be a climate leader, needs to take action,” he told AP. “California has an addiction to Amazon crude.”

Californians need to “recognize their responsibility and their complicity in driving demand for Amazon crude and the impact that that is having on Indigenous people, on their rights, on the biodiversity and the climate,” he added.

California’s future is closely tied to the Amazon’s — the state relies on the rainforest’s role in climate regulation and rainfall, Koenig said, warning that continued Amazon crude imports contribute to the destruction increasing California’s vulnerability to drought and wildfires.

He said environmental and public health damage tied to oil drilling is not confined to South America.

“We’re seeing the same impacts from the oil well to the wheel here in California, where communities are suffering from contamination, health impacts, dirty water,” he said. “It’s time that California lead an energy transition.”

California, one of the world’s largest economies and a major importer of Amazon crude, must take stronger climate action, Koenig added, and called on the state to phase out its reliance on oil linked to deforestation, human rights abuses, pollution and climate damage.

The resolution commends the Indigenous communities of Ecuador for their struggle in defending the rainforest and Indigenous rights.

It also marks the first time California would examine how its energy consumption may contribute to the region’s deforestation and cultural loss. The resolution is expected to be up for a vote within a few weeks, according to Koenig.

Grattan and Vasquez write for the Associated Press.