DTE activities update

DTE wrote a section on BHP Billiton for this alternative annual report for shareholders, produced for the company's 2011 AGM

DTE 91-92, May 2012

DTE’s last activities update was in April 2011. Since then we have been working on the four overlapping themes of coal, agrofuels, Papua and climate change.

• In October 2011, DTE raised concerns about BHP’s coal mining activities in Central Kalimantan, together with other members of the London Mining Network. In Early 2012 DTE’s Andrew Hickman travelled to East Kalimantan to meet national and local CSOs working to defend community livelihoods from the excesses of the coal rush in the region (see also separate article 'An Indonesian coal company on the London Stock Exchange' for a recent report on Bumi plc). We took part in a ‘coal ceilidh’, to raise awareness in the UK of the impacts of coal mining in the UK, Indonesia and other producer countries.

• DTE contributed a section on BHP Billiton’s Central Kalimantan coal project to Dirty Energy, an Alternative Annual Report, prepared for shareholders attending the company’s October 2011 AGM in London. See http://bhpbillitonwatch.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/bhpb_report_sml.pdf

• The need for the EU to address the damaging impacts of its policies to reduce carbon emissions by encouraging agrofuels use for transport and power stations was highlighted in our agrofuels update in December 2011.

• In November, DTE launched a dual language film - Mpur peoples and development - produced by Papuan partners Mnukwar.   The film was one of the results of a series of workshops on climate change in West Papua in the first half of 2011. It highlights the concerns of local Mpur communities about large-scale development moving into their area, about climate change and the future of their rights and livelihoods.

• Our last newsletter was a special edition newsletter on the Land of Papua. The full Indonesian language edition was produced in December 2011 and was circulated in Indonesia and Papua. (Please contact dte@gn.apc.org if you are interested in receiving a hard copy.)

• Also on Papua, DTE raised concerns about the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estates (MIFEE) project in a joint CSO submission to the UN’s Universal Periodic Review which is reviewing Indonesia’s human rights situation this month. In addition, we also wrote to the new UK Ambassador to Indonesia to share concerns about MIFEE.

• Still on climate change, we finalised the translation of the second edition of Tebtebba’s Climate Change Guide for Indigenous Peoples - now available in Indonesian on our website. DTE also translated into Indonesian two articles on REDD from the REDD-Monitor website, as requested by partners in Aceh.

• On the organisational side, DTE is pleased to report the recruitment of our new coordinator, Cathy Scott, who started in March. Previous coordinator Carolyn Marr will continue work on publications.

• Finally, DTE was very happy to be at AMAN’s Fourth Congress (KMAN IV) in Tobelo, Maluku, in April. DTE’s Clare McVeigh was able to attend the national indigenous women’s meeting which set up Perempuan Adat, as well as take part in the KMAN workshops and observe the election of AMAN’s leader and council (see articles on KMAN).