Forests & forest fires

DTE 95, March 2013

Indonesia’s Catholic Church leaders have expressed concern about the over-exploitation of natural resources and the resulting social conflict and marginalisation of vulnerable communities. Short-termism in politics and the denial of environmental justice makes matters worse, they say, calling on politicians, business and the Christian community to take steps to protect resources, livelihoods and the right to life of current and future generations.

DTE 95, March 2013

A round-up of recent material about MIFEE, (first published in January 2013)

Indigenous communities living along the Bian and Maro Rivers in Merauke, southern Papua, have demanded the return of their customary lands taken for the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE) mega-project. A set of demands issued after four days of community discussions in December also called for the revoking of location permits covering their customary land and for the companies involved to restore the damage done and pay compensation to affected communities.

DTE 93-94, December 2012

Agrofuels are often promoted by the agrofuels industry, investors and government officials as a means of providing livelihoods for rural communities, but how does this square with the fact that agrofuels are part of the landgrabbing problem in countries like Indonesia?

DTE's new Indonesian-language book, Keadilan Iklim dan Penghidupan yang Berkelanjutan Jilid II (Climate Justice and Sustainable Livelihoods 2nd Edition) is updated from the 2009 book.

It consists of DTE newsletter articles on the themes of climate justice, climate change developments in Indonesia, energy and renewable energy; and sustainable livelihoods. 

To view the PDF version, click here.

To request a hard copy, please contact dte@gn.apc.org.

DTE 91-92, May 2012

In our special edition newsletter on Papua published in November 2011, DTE drew attention to the long and sorry history of top-down resource exploitation in Papua. Now, a whole raft of new development plans are being pushed through, under the government’s nation-wide effort to speed up development (MP3EI), launched last year. An additional layer of plans specifically for Papua is being promoted by UP4B, a special unit to speed up development in Papua.

 
An Agribusiness Attack in West Papua: Unravelling the Merauke
Integrated Food and Energy Estate is now online at:
(direct pdf download:

The letter follows DtE and fellow NGOs' participation in the Indonesia and East Timor Civil Society Human Rights Roundtable (7th February 2012), with the British Ambassador to Indonesia, Mark Canning HMA.