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Loggers rush to strip Siberut

Down to Earth No. 44, February 2000

Siberut provides a vivid example of the way the powerful combination of Indonesia's economic problems and changes to local autonomy and forestry legislation threaten the future of the country's forests and indigenous people. A UNESCO workshop on conservation and sustainable development for the Siberut biosphere zone brought various conflicting parties together to look for local solutions.

West Papua: Independence and exploitation

Down to Earth No. 44, February 2000

Companies which have profited from Indonesia's iron-fisted rule in West Papua, may be starting to feel jittery as calls for independence grow more insistent.

On December 1st last year celebrations took place in towns all over West Papua to mark the 38th anniversary of independence, declared when the territory was still under Dutch rule.

UNDERMINING THE FORESTS

Down to Earth No 44, February 2000

The need to control transnational mining companies. A Canadian case study.

Coal blight in South Kalimantan

Down to Earth No. 43, November 1999

In South Kalimantan province, coal mining - involving Australian companies - is continuing to disrupt the lives of local communities. In Hulu Sungai Utara district, the district head, Suhailin Muchtar said that both legal and illegal coal mining activities had damaged the environment. PT Adaro Indonesia's coal mine (part-owned by Australia's New Hope) operates in this district.

The demand for independence

Down to Earth No 43, November 1999


The push for an independent West Papua is gaining strength: mass protests met the government's decision to split the territory into three provinces and the vote in East Timor fuelled demands for independence.

NGO support for the indigenous peoples' movement

Down to Earth Special Issue, October 1999

The 1999 Congress was the result of a three year period of planning and organising involving indigenous peoples' groups and local and national NGOs which had supported indigenous communities' fight for their rights over a number of years.

By the mid-1990s there were an increasing number of opportunities for indigenous peoples to express their own views at

Forestry Act fiercely opposed

Down to Earth No. 42, August 1999