Lukas Straumann (Book order)

Lukas Straumann Book order

January 1, 1969

Lukas Straumann, a historian and executive director of the Bruno Manser Fund, focuses his work on the rights of Borneo's indigenous peoples and the links between corruption and tropical deforestation. His book, Money Logging, highlights how corruption acts as a key driver of rainforest destruction. He also explored the history of applied entomology and the discovery of DDT in his work Nützliche Schädlinge. Straumann's research uncovers the intricate connections between human activities and their environmental consequences.

Money logging

313 pages
11 hours of reading

Money Logging investigates what Gordon Brown has called “probably the biggest environmental crime of our times”—the massive destruction of the Borneo rainforest by Malaysian loggers. Historian and campaigner Lukas Straumann goes in search not only of the lost forests and the people who used to call them home, but also the network of criminals who have earned billions through illegal timber sales and corruption. Straumann singles out Abdul Taib Mahmud, current governor of the Malaysian state of Sarawak, as the kingpin of this Asian timber mafia. Taib’s family—with the complicity of global financial institutions— have profited to the tune of 15 billion US dollars. Money Logging is a story of a people who have lost their ancient paradise to a wasteland of oil palm plantations, pollution, and corruption—and how they hope to take it back.