Paper prepared for the 'Right to Appeal' conference, calling for greater public accountability by the European Investment Bank.
In collaboration with the United Organisation for Batwa Development in Uganda (UOBDU) and the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), FPP submitted a supplementary report to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights to provide information to the Commission on the human rights situation of the Batwa in Uganda.
Thank you for this opportunity to address the Commission on behalf of the Forest Peoples Programme. May I first commend the Commission for its ongoing work on indigenous peoples and in particular the excellent sensitisation seminar on the rights of indigenous peoples in Africa organised by the Commission’s Working Group on Indigenous Populations, which took place in Yaounde, Cameroon in September 2006.
Oil palm plantations are expanding to meet escalating demand for edible oils and new markets for biofuels - of which Indonesia plans to secure a large share. But the widespread forest clearasnce to cater for this expansion has major implications for rural Indonesians, affecting settlements, ecosystems, trade activities and government agencies. This research documents the issues affecting local communities and their recommendations for national reforms to safegurad their rights under international law.
The 2nd Annual Conference of the National Forum of Forest People and Forest Workers (NFFPFW) commenced here with hundreds of delegates deliberating on diverse issues ranging from community control of forests, environmental politics and livelihood, privatisation of forests - role of International Financial Institutions and future of forest communities, and challenges before the youth.
The 2nd Annual Conference of the National Forum of Forest People and Forest Workers concluded with a unanimous resolution to bring community leaders from various forest movements into the forefront of the national struggle for achieving community control over forests. NFFPFW sees this as an historic juncture for the forest movement in the country and recognized the importance of bringing women and youth into the decision making process.
'It's as if we are ghosts on our own land. We have been so pierced through by the spines on the oil palm that we are almost dead, left haunting what was once our own land. We don't usually say this, but this is how it is really. We need to make our case ourselves and explain how the oil palm is hurting us.' The words of a participant at one of the many workshops documented in this illustrated book which addresses the principles and practicalities of standard setting in palm-oil production under the umbrella of the 'Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil' (RSPO).
THIS BOOK HAS BEEN ATTACHED HERE IN SECTIONS DUE TO THE SIZE OF THE FILES. THERE IS ALSO A PDF TEXT ONLY VERSION. HARD COPY OF BOOK AVAILABLE FROM FPP OFFICE IN BOTH ENGLISH AND BAHASA.