Papua

DTE works to supports human rights and ecological justice in Papua. This involves information, advocacy and capacity-building support work with partners to help local communities build sustainable livelihoods, in a deeply challenging context of global climate change, top-down investment policies and projects, a high level of militarisation and violence linked to the suppression of political dissent. [more]

Down to Earth No 78  August 2008

Plans to push ahead with oil palm expansion in Papua have run into opposition from local people.

Down to Earth No.78, August 2008


A food mega-project planned for a vast area in the Papuan district of Merauke is causing concern that indigenous people's land will be taken and their livelihoods destroyed. As global food prices soar, there is also concern that food exports could be prioritised over domestic needs.

Down to Earth No.78, August 2008

Posthumous award for indigenous leader

Bapak Raja J.P. Rahail, an indigenous leader from the Kei islands in eastern Indonesia was posthmously awarded the Asia Indigenous Peoples Prize at a meeting of Asian indigenous groups in July. He was praised for his role in strengthening indigenous institutions and for his handling of conflict in the area.

Down to Earth No.76-77, May 2008


This May marks the tenth anniversary of Suharto's fall from power. The former president, who headed a military regime which ruled Indonesia for 32 years, died in January this year aged 86.

Down to Earth No. 76-77 May 2008

Another year, another set of record profits from West Papua's mineral resources.

The Westminster conference centre just alongside the UK's Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey seem a long way away from the frontier town of Timika or, for that matter, the prawn fisherfolk of Bintuni Bay in West Papua. However, each year this is the scene of the Annual General Meeting of Rio Tinto PLC, a 40% joint venture stakeholder in the expanded Grasberg mine in the highlands of West Papua.

Down to Earth No.75, November 2007


Large areas of Papua's rich and diverse forests are being targeted by Indonesian and overseas investors for conversion into oil palm plantations. At the same time, discussions are in progress to reserve large areas of Papua's forest to generate carbon credits for trade on international markets.

Down to Earth No. 73, May 2007


It has been two years since Down to Earth's last detailed report on BP's huge Tangguh gas project in Bintuni Bay, West Papua. Surprisingly little has changed.


From BP's point of view much has changed at Tangguh - the project is now well into its construction phase (70% complete as of March 2007) and is due to go 'onstream' in 2008. However, the same issues, the same concerns, the same doubts keep surfacing. How can this mega-project possibly fit into the realities of West Papuan life?