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No mining in the forests!

Down to Earth No 53-54  August 2002

Indonesian civil society organisations are battling to stop more mining in the country's protected forests.

Indonesia's forestry minister Mohammad Prakosa is coming under increasing pressure from a powerful international mining lobby to end his opposition to mining in 'protected' forests in Indonesia. The lobby includes some of the biggest global mining corporations - Britain's Rio Tinto, Canada's Inco and the United States' Newmont.

The Indonesia-UK MoU on Illegal Logging

Down to Earth No 53-54  August 2002


In April this year the Indonesian and British governments signed an agreement to improve forest law enforcement and to combat illegal logging and the international trade in illegal wood products.

Fires bring "haze" to Sumatra and Kalimantan

Down to Earth No 53-54  August 2002


Choking smoke from fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan has caused respiratory health problems and disrupted transport services in several cities in western Indonesia over the past weeks.

Legal action on forest fires

Down to Earth No 53-54  August 2002

The following is a summary of recent legal action against companies accused of setting fires in their concessions.

 

Only 5 of the 176 plantation and timber companies accused of burning to clear concession land in 1997 were ever taken to court and only one was found guilty, according to former environment minister Sonny Keraf, speaking in March 2000.1

A coalition of 13 NGOs and community groups from North Sumatra took legal action against a number of national timber industry associations and thei

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

MPR passes decree on agrarian reform and natural resources

Down to Earth No 52 February 2002

In November Indonesia's highest legislative body, the Peoples' Consultative Assembly (MPR), passed a decree which provides the legal framework for the reform of laws relating to the and natural resources management.

Decree No. IX/MPR/2001 on Agrarian Reform and Natural Resources Management acknowledges the weakness of existing laws and the resulting conflicts.

No sign of much-needed reform

Down to Earth No 52, February 2002


As M. Prakosa settles into his job as Indonesia's fourth forestry minister in four years, the direction of forest policy is becoming clearer.

Forestry minister Prakosa made it clear from the start that he did not intend any immediate radical changes. In the hand-over ceremony from Marzuki Usman, he pledged to build on the foundations laid down by his predecessors rather than introduce new programmes.