fPcN interCultural:

friends of Peoples close to Nature

With the renewed illegal logging activities in Sierra Madre, a Church-based watchdog urged Environment Secretary Joselito Atienza to heed their long-time call for the formation of an independent citizen's probe body to stop the rape of the country's remaining virgin forest.

"Illegal loggers never stop even during the Yuletide season. The forest criminals continue their evil operations with impunity," Fr. Pete Montallana, chair of Task Force Sierra Madre, said over the phone Tuesday.

Tebtebba (Indigenous Peoples' International Centre for Policy Research and Education) is an indigenous peoples' organization born out of the need for heightened advocacy to have the rights of indigenous peoples recognized, respected and protected worldwide.

Established in 1996, Tebtebba seeks to promote a better understanding of the world's indigenous peoples, their worldviews, their issues and concerns. In this effort, it strives to bring indigenous peoples together to take the lead in policy advocacy and campaigns on all issues affecting them.

This is the 54th in a series of monthly reports that focus on developments affecting Papuans This series is produced by the non-profit West Papua Advocacy Team (WPAT) drawing on media accounts, other NGO assessments and analysis and reporting from sources within West Papua. This report is co-published by the East Timor and Indonesian Action Network (ETAN) Back issues are posted online at http://etan.org/issues/wpapua/default.htm Questions regarding this report can be addressed to Edmund McWilliams at edmcw@msn.com.

Summary:
* International Parliamentarian Group (IPWP) Concerned about West Papua Convenes in London
* Peaceful Papuans Beaten, Detained for Welcoming Launch of IPWP; Indonesian Parliamentarians Protest Launch
* Papuan Religious Leaders Call for Dialogue between Papuans and Jakarta over Fraudulent 1969 "Act of Free Choice"
* Greenpeace Calls for Moratorium on Logging in West Papua*
* The Failure of TNI "Reform"
* U.S. Academic Testimony to US Congress Regarding Impact of Freeport Operations on The Papuan People

The ongoing logging of the state forests in northern Finland for years has reached now the potential to wipe out very soon the Saami reindeer herding economy. The film describes the deforestation in Finland and the extinction of the Saami culture.

A month-long blockade of logging roads by indigenous people in the state of Sarawak, Malaysia set to protest illegal logging on their communal lands is about to be broken up by police.

More than 100 indigenous Kenyah people gathered at the blockade site on the upper Moh River on the island of Borneo claim that the blockade is their only way of calling on representatives of the Samling Timber Company and government authorities to have a consultation and meet with them to listen to their problems and demands.