Newsletter articles

Down to Earth No. 74, August 2007

DTE interviewed Dr Afrizal, a sociology lecturer at Andalas University, Padang, West Sumatra. His thesis, entitled 'The Nagari Community, Business and the State', is a detailed examination of the relationship between these three elements through the example of oil palm plantations.

Down to Earth No. 73, May 2007

The giant copper and gold mine operated in West Papua by US-based mining company Freeport McMoran with substantial investment from the British multinational Rio Tinto has been under scrutiny once again.

The Freeport-Rio Tinto mine has been the subject of protests at local and national level in recent months. At the local level, thousands of Papuan workers at the mine went on strike for four days. Facing hundreds of military and police, they successfully demonstrated against discriminatory employment practices.

Down to Earth No. 73, May 2007

After a long and tortuous process, the working group given the task of agreeing the final version of Legality Standard for Indonesian Timber has completed its work. What its impact will be on the ground, where Indonesia's forests are disappearing fast, remains to be seen.

The final draft of the Indonesian Timber Legality Verification Standard was officially handed over to the Forestry Department at the beginning of February 2007.