Home › Publications › Publication: Newsletter articles ›

International Financial Institutions

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.

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.

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.

Forest Law Enforcement and Governance (FLEG) conference

Down to Earth No 51 November 2001


The Nias tragedy - a grim reminder of the consequences of continued forest destruction - came at a time of intense public debate about how to reform forest management in Indonesia as a whole. From September 11th-13th, a high profile international meeting on illegal logging, organised by the World Bank, the UK and US aid agencies, was held in Bali.

Indonesia and Down to Earth - a 50th edition editorial

Down to Earth No 50 August 2001


Please note: this editorial was prepared before the change of president. To see our statement on this change please click here.

Indonesia today faces an uncertain future. President Wahid is expected to be forced out of power any day and, under a future President Megawati Soekarnoputri, democratic reform could be stopped in its tracks.

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.

Behind the Central Kalimantan violence

Down to Earth No 49 May 2001

The appalling ethnic violence in Central Kalimantan is rooted in the decades-long violation of indigenous rights and the wholesale destruction of natural resources in the province.

Tension remains high in Central Kalimantan following several weeks of ethnic violence in which an estimated 500 people have been killed and up to 80,000 have been forced to leave their homes. This is the latest bout in a long history of violence in Central and West Kalimantan.