DTE activities update

DTE 93-94, December 2012

DTE’s last activities update was published in our last newsletter, in May 2012. Since then, we have:

• attended the first London annual general meeting of Bumi plc, the coal-mining company led by Indonesian businessman Samin Tan, the Bakrie family and British financier Nat Rothschild. Bumi faced tough questions from DTE, London Mining Network and War on Want at the June meeting. Click here for more information.

• published and distributed our book, Keadilan Iklim dan Penghidupan yang Berkelanjutan, an updated version of our Indonesian language compilation of DTE newsletter articles on climate change and sustainable livelihoods. To order a hard copy, contact dte@gn.apc.org.

• written to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso urging him not to bow to industry pressure to water down sustainability criteria for agrofuels targets – see letter.

• contributed to a joint briefing for British parliamentarians published in advance of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s visit to the UK in October. In a statement on raising concern about the takeover of more and more of the country’s land and resources by large businesses and the further marginalization of Indonesia’s indigenous peoples and local communities, DTE called on the British government to:

• reform the regulation of UK listed companies to include accountability for ethical, environmental, and human rights concerns;
• ensure that human and biodiversity rights are included as key criteria in UK and EU agrofuels sustainability legislation;
• ensure that UK Government policies, programmes and support for British investment in Indonesia answers the call of civil society in Indonesia for climate justice and respects the rights to resources and livelihoods of Indigenous peoples and local communities.

Click here for the Indonesian version of the statement

• also participated in a demonstration to mark the state visit of Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, with protests on behalf the victims of abuses in Papua, Timor-Leste and elsewhere and to challenge the British Government about its policy of increasing arms sales to Indonesia, its training of anti-terror police implicated in the killing of Papuan leaders, and its promotion of unsustainable business interests in Papua and elsewhere. Images of the demonstration can be found here.

• raised questions about plans for coal-mining in Central Kalimantan by BHP Billiton at the company’s Annual General Meeting in London, October. DTE’s questions and the company’s responses can be found here.

• with Papuan partners LP3BH, Bin Madag Hom and the Papua Barat NGO Advocacy Network, co-organised a three-day community workshop on top-down natural resources exploitation in Bintuni, Papua Barat. The workshop discussed the impact of the giant BP Tangguh gas project on communities in Bintuni Bay and communicated their concerns to the company and a local government representative.
   
• held a review of DTE’s work with key partners, to evaluate work so far under our current three-year strategy and discuss future plans. The review was held in Bogor and Jakarta in November and involved all DTE staff. Many thanks to everyone who responded to questionnaires or participated in other ways.