Land and food security

East Java mudflow disaster

Down to Earth No. 71, November 2006

Thousands of people have been forced from their homes since May 29th, when hot mud started spurting from the ground near a gas exploration well in Sidoardjo, East Java. Over the following weeks, villages were submerged, farmland was ruined, businesses and schools closed and livelihoods lost, as the mud inundated the surrounding area. The government has done little to help, although the mud continues to flow, perhaps because the company responsible was owned by a senior member of the government.

Disaster tourism in Sidoardjo

Down to Earth No. 71, November 2006

The following account is by a member of DTE's staff who visited Sidoardjo in October.

Disasters can become tourist attractions and that's what has happened at the Sidoardjo mudflow in East Java.

The hot mud, which has now inundated the villages of Siring, Jatirejo, Renolenongo, Kedungbendo, Mindi, Kedungcangkring, Besuki and Pejarakan, has been turned into a new source of livelihood by some local people.

Farmers arrested in Perhutani land dispute, East Java

Down to Earth No 66 August 2005

The following is the translation of an urgent action appeal from the Indonesian human rights NGO ELSAM. It is another case in which the state forestry company, Perhutani, is associated with brutality against farmers. Previous cases have been well-documented - see for example KaKKaPP letter, DTE 60.

On the morning of 7th April, 7 villagers from Krenceng (East Java) were detained by police from Kediri.

Non-existence within existence: a case study of the excessive burden placed on women peasants in two villages in the Halimun Ecosystem

Down to Earth No 63 November 2004

By Ulfa Hidayati, RMI (The Indonesian Institute for Forest and Environment). (Abridged translation by DTE)

The capitalist economy has dominated ecological, social and cultural aspects of local peoples' lives in the Halimun ecosystem which covers part of Bogor, Sukabumi and Lebak districts, West Java.

New plantation law - more land conflicts predicted

Down to Earth No 62 August 2004

Indonesia's new plantation law, aimed at providing legal certainty for investors, will do nothing to address conflicts between local communities and companies. It could well make things worse.

The Plantations Bill was endorsed by Indonesia's national parliament on 12th July, two years after it was tabled.

Land poverty - no reforms in sight

Down to Earth No 60 February 2004

Indonesia's peasant farmers are being forced off their lands to make way for large-scale plantations, mining, forestry and industrial projects.

A letter to Perhutani...

Down to Earth No 60 February 2004

The following position statement by KAKKaPP was sent in January 2004 to the forestry authorities in Randublatung and the head of police in Blora, with copies to the head of Indonesia's Chief of Police, the chair of the National Commission for Human Rights, the chief executive of state forestry company Perhutani, all police chiefs and governors in Java and the district administrator and head of the district assembly for Blora.

It concerns human rights abuses by Perhutani against local people relate

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