Home › Campaigns › Theme: Transmigration ›

Indonesia

Indonesia has great natural wealth but many of its citizens live in extreme poverty. Democratic progress has been made since the resigation of former president Suharto in 1998, but many civil society organisations feel that far too little progress has been made towards sustainable management of the country's resources, and ensuring that Indonesia's diverse communities have a real say in decisions which affect their future.

Policies and practice: favouring big business over communities

DTE 93-94, December 2012

In this article we highlight some of the influences at work inside Indonesia which are contributing to the ongoing transfer of land from communities to corporations. These influences include national and local government policies, laws, governance and practices, whose provisions for supporting indigenous peoples and communities’ rights and livelihoods have been deprioritised in favour of large-scale, commercial ‘development’ projects. The result is a growing disparity between rich and poor, worsening imbalance in the control over agrarian resources and more and more conflicts between communities, private sector and the state.

Indonesia taken to task over MIFEE

DTE 89-90, November 2011, Special Papua edition

The United National Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has written to the Indonesian government to express concern about the impacts of the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate project (MIFEE) on the indigenous peoples affected by this agro-industrial mega-project.

100 years of oil palm

DTE 88, April 2011

Oil palm development in Indonesia has led to conflict, human rights abuses and the theft of community land; it has sparked massive fires which devastate forests, contribute significantly to climate change and affect human health.

Twenty years of DTE

Down to Earth No.80-81, June 2009

In January 2009 DTE marked its 20th birthday by inviting friends to a gathering in Bogor. On the same occasion we launched an Indonesian language compilation of climate change articles taken from recent DTE newsletters. The following review of our activities was published as the introduction to that book.

Sustainable palm oil: mission impossible?

Down to Earth No 63  November 2004


Palm oil industry representatives, conservation organisations and NGOs met to discuss 'sustainable palm oil' in Jakarta in October.

In Brief... DTE 56 - February 2003

Down to Earth No 56  February 2003


NGO to sue Singapore over sand imports

The Institute of Indonesian Forestry Studies, an organisation based in Riau province, is planning to charge Singapore with destroying the marine environment and mangrove forests as well as causing the disappearance of an island in Karimun subdistrict. The Institute's director, Andreas Herykahurifan, said the Riau administration must also bear responsibility because it had issued licences to sand-dredging companies.

Forests, People and Rights

A Down to Earth Special Report, June 2002

Written by Liz Chidley, edited by Carolyn Marr
and produced with the support of
Forest Peoples Programme and
Rainforest Foundation