Land and food security

Open letter to EU decision-makers, signed by 112 organisations, including Down to Earth.

DTE 93-94, December 2012

Last year DTE reported on the global land-grab phenomenon and its connection to the 2008 financial crisis, the global food price spike of 2007/2008 as well as the ongoing climate change & energy crisis.[1] Since then, more analysis of data on land deals has become available which fills in some of the detail in the picture. In this update, we take another look at the global rush for land with a focus on investors and their obligations to the people affected by land-grabbing.

DTE's new Indonesian-language book, Keadilan Iklim dan Penghidupan yang Berkelanjutan Jilid II (Climate Justice and Sustainable Livelihoods 2nd Edition) is updated from the 2009 book.

It consists of DTE newsletter articles on the themes of climate justice, climate change developments in Indonesia, energy and renewable energy; and sustainable livelihoods. 

To view the PDF version, click here.

To request a hard copy, please contact dte@gn.apc.org.

Press Release, Civil Society forum (CSF) for Climate Justice

Jakarta- Indonesia, March 23st, 2011.

Indonesia’s parliament has noted that during 2008 to 2010 the Government’s climate change debt to Japan, France and the World Bank for climate change-related loans amounted to USD 1.907 billion. Yet the public do not know what these funds are being used for. Meanwhile, fisherfolk, farmers and fi

Down to Earth No.82, September 2009

More deaths at Freeport-Rio Tinto mine in Papua

More violence near the Freeport-Rio Tinto copper and gold mine in West Papua resulted in three deaths - two Freeport employees and a police officer - in July. Police arrested seven people: two of them worked at the company's Grasberg mine. More shots were fired at a bus carrying the mine's employees in August, with one incident leaving five people injured.

Down to Earth No. 76-77 May 2008

Concerns about food security worldwide are growing as rice prices have more than doubled in many countries over the last year and global rice stocks are the lowest for decades. Meanwhile the Indonesian government needs to consider how to increase rice production and to protect the food supplies of the poor.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization voiced concern when international rice prices rocketed to a 20-year high in late March with the global benchmark price at over US$500 per tonne.

Down to Earth No. 74, August 2007


Mounting global concern over climate change and the link to deforestation has refocused international attention on the need to protect the world's forests. Rampant forest and peatland destruction in Indonesia means that the country is one of the world's top three emitters of carbon dioxide, a major contributor to global warming.