Experienced “Jungle Clearers” Required for Prospective RSPO Plantation in West Papua

Recent job adverts for an Estate Manager and an Assistant Estate Manager for PT Henrison Inti Persada (PT HIP) - a large oil palm plantation in West Papua Province - shine an illuminating light on what plantations involve on Indonesia’s half of the island of New Guinea - massive deforestation to produce “sustainable palm oil”.

Rogue Traders Bisnis Hitam Penyelundupan Kayu Merbau di Indonesia (EIA/Telapak) Versi Bahasa Indonesia

SORPATOM Statement on MIFEE - August 2010

This month, despite numerous reports of journalists receiving death threats for reporting on environmental problems in Indonesia, and the suspicious death of a journalist in Merauke, campaigners in Merauke, Papua province have been brave enough to publicly reject MIFEE. The statement below was issued by SORPATOM this month. While some of the data seems to be wrong, and some of the political analysis is difficult to qualify, the wider concerns raised are legitimate. 

For more information on SORPATOM, visit their website:  Here is the Statement.

Tales Timber Traders Tell about Papua's Log Controls

The traders who admit (in EIA and Telapak's latest film and report, "Rogue Traders") smuggling large volumes of merbau wood out of Papua and Indonesia give some valuable insight into the realities of the timber trade in Papua. Three major lessons include:

• Papua province's log shipment controls are not being implemented;
• Criminal traders bribe the military to act as security when buying logs to be shipped out of Papua;
• Forestry, customs and other officials in Makassar, including members of the security apparatus must be systematically bribed with $15,000 for each barge of logs arriving from Papua province.
  
  

Rogue Traders: The Murky Business of Merbau Timber Smuggling in Indonesia (EIA/Telapak, August 2010) - English Version

Tifa TV

A film by Tifa TV: Bencana dan Harapan (Disaster and Hope) about exploitation of forests and local people by the logging company PT Wana Irian Perkasa, is available at this link http://www.tifatv.com/

Noble Savages Papua's Forests

The Noble Group is to savage 32,000 hectares of forests on the Mooi people's land in Sorong, West Papua province, following its June 2010 purchase of 51% of shares in PT Henrison Inti Persada, an oil palm subsidiary of the notoriously criminal Kayu Lapis Indonesia Group (KLI). What made these Noble executives enter such an ignoble deal with such crooks?