Home › Campaigns › Region: Sulawesi ›

Forests & forest fires

Land claims in Lore Lindu result in deaths

Down to Earth No. 55, November 2002


A bitter dispute between the Lore Lindu National Park authorities in Central Sulawesi and local communities has resulted in the deaths of a local man and a forest ranger.

On 8th October, a forest patrol clashed with illegal loggers near Kalukubula. A local man was shot dead by a forest ranger and a ranger suffered serious knife wounds in the incident. The following day, hundreds of Dongi-dongi people burnt a park information office, rangers' posts and park staff housing.

Sulawesi communities reject Rio Tinto's CPM mine

Down to Earth No 53-54  August 2002

The forested Kambuno mountains are the adat (customary) lands of the indigenous Poboya peoples and provide the basis for their livelihoods.

In Brief... DTE 53-54 - August 2002

Down to Earth No 53-54  August 2002

Kotopanjang dam victims to get compensation?

Over four thousand families forced to resettle on barren land due to a Japan-funded dam have become "developmental refugees" according to a Japanese newspaper report. The Kotopanjang dam in Riau, Sumatra was built on protected forest and the adat (customary) land of local communities in 1997 at a cost of 36.4 billion Yen, almost all of which was a Japanese government loan.

Rio Tinto's Kelian mine blockaded

Down to Earth No 52, February 2002

East Kalimantan's Kelian gold mine, operated by Anglo-Australian mining multinational Rio Tinto, was forced to cut production in January when four former employees blockaded an access road to the site.

The shrimp industry

Down to Earth No 51 November 2001

 

Despite a poor social and environmental record across the globe, commercial aquaculture - intensive fish-farming - is still regarded as having a bright future in Indonesia. According to former marine affairs minister Sarwono, of Indonesia's total fish production, 82% is from capture fisheries. "We need to push for aquaculture to boost fish production" he told a March workshop.

Communities and companies

Down to Earth No 50 August 2001

Violations of community rights are still continuing as companies and regional governments try to maximise income from the country's mineral resources. At the same time, mining companies are complaining about the "legal vacuum" hampering their operations in Indonesia.

Large-scale mining in Indonesia is in 'legal limbo', as the protesting companies see it, because their contracts, signed during the Suharto era, are being nibbled away by the demands of local governments newly empowered by regional autonomy.

Oil palm investments opposed

Down to Earth No. 49, May 2001


The government's plan to expand oil palm plantations could founder because it fails to address the underlying question of community rights to farmland and forests.

Oil palm remains a central plank of Indonesia's economic recovery strategy despite growing social unrest arising from disputes over plantation land.