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Export credit finances destructive, debt-laden projects

Down to Earth No. 49, May 2001


A new NGO report has drawn attention to the role of export credit lending agencies in pulp and paper mills and other projects in Indonesia, which have led to increased deforestation and abuse of people's rights.

Papuans reject autonomy, call Freeport/Rio Tinto to account

Down to Earth No 49 May 2001


The shooting of demonstrators, killings in police detention and increased military presence are making the prospects for peace in West Papua even more remote.

Group 4 security company called in by Caltex in Riau

Down to Earth No 49 May 2001


The US-based oil company Caltex Pacific Indonesia has called in the international security firm, Group 4, to deal with problems at its conflict-ridden oil operations in Riau province, Sumatra.

Caltex, a joint venture between Texaco and Chevron, is Indonesia's biggest oil producer, with a current output of around 690,000 barrels per day.

During the past months the company's operations have been hit by strikes, protests over land, employment and environmental impacts (see DTE 48).

In late Febr

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.

GM agriculture through the back door

Down to Earth No 49 May 2001

Indonesia has permitted the planting of genetically modified crops without public consultation and without adequate legal protection for farmers, consumers and the environment.

On March 15th, forty tons of genetically modified (GM) cotton seeds arrived from South Africa at Hasanuddin airport in Makassar, South Sulawesi. The seeds were trucked away under armed guard, to be sold to farmers in seven districts in the province. They were imported by PT Monagro Kimia the Indonesian subsidiary of US-based agro-chemical giant, Monsanto.

IFIs line up with companies to push GM crops

Down to Earth No. 49, May 2001

Biotech companies have formed powerful alliances with multilateral development banks, UN agencies, Northern governments, research institutes, large funding organisations and 'independent' agencies to promote biotech agriculture and GM seeds in developing countries.

Certification and Indonesia

A briefing, DTE, April 2001

Read the PDF document here.

The certification of timber and forest products is intended to change forest management for the better through global timber markets. This form of ‘ecolabelling’ was initiated by conservationists and consumers in the North, where a market has been created for sustainably produced timber. Schemes are gradually being adopted in the South, although producers in the South are in a weaker position.