Struggles Against Tree Monocultures

Corporate profit drives land grabs to install industrial tree monocultures. Where industrial plantations take root, communities' territories and lives are violently invaded, their forests destroyed and their water polluted. When communities resist, companies tend to respond with aggression. Despite this extreme violence, communities around the world are resisting, organizing and joining forces to defend their territories. Every September 21 the International Day of Struggle against Monoculture Tree Plantations is celebrated.

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Country

Mobilization of peasants from the Buol Plasma Peasants Forum in Indonesia (Photo: FPPB)
Bulletin articles 22 October 2025

"We will fight until our lands are returned", Peasant resistance to oil palm plantations in Indonesia

We are peasants from Indonesia, the world’s largest producer of palm oil. In recent decades, we have witnessed the spread of oil palm monocultures in our territory, an expansion driven by multinational companies with government support. False promises led us to accept plantation partnership schemes that put us at risk of losing our land. What was once forest and traditional crops have been replaced by monocultures that have left us with food shortages, debt, and the threat of floods. For this reason, we organized ourselves to end this exploitation and restore our traditional way of life. And here we share the story of our struggle.
Earthworm
Bulletin articles 24 June 2025

A brief reflection on Earthworm Foundation’s public reply to a recent WRM bulletin article

WRM Bulletin 274 included an article on the work of the Earthworm Foundation, entitled: ‘NGOs at the service of plundering territories: the Earthworm Foundation case’. It describes how corporations which are causing conflict in the territories where they operate profit from cooperation with groups like Earthworm Foundation, while violence against community activists, landgrabs and sexual assaults of women continue.
B271
Bulletin articles 22 August 2024

The insane expansion of industrial oil palm in the land of Papua, and the resistance struggle of Kampung Bariat

Just like the Dutch colonizers in the past did, the Indonesian government, companies and investors consider the land of Papua to be a vast empty territory, a new frontier for extraction and profiteering However, the land of Papua is not empty, but rather home to hundreds of Indigenous Peoples—including the women and men of Kampung Bariat village, who are struggling to ensure control over their ancestral territory and keep it free of oil palm plantations.
water indonesia
Bulletin articles 12 September 2022

From Asia to Africa: Tentacles of Oil Palm Plantations are Squeezing Communities Dry

There is no other crop that has grown faster globally in the last decade than palm oil. This almost uncontrollable expansion leaves a deep trail of destruction and conflicts around its giant areas of plantations from Southeast Asia to West and Central Africa. As companies take over more community land, they also grab the water sources from them.
APP
Bulletin articles 16 June 2022

Expansion of Pulp and Paper Companies APP and APRIL in Indonesia: More Deforestation and Violence

More than 10 million hectares in Indonesia are controlled by the pulp and paper industry, mainly by two giant corporations: APP and APRIL. Despite the companies’ commitments to protect forests and peatland, both keep being associated with deforestation, forest fires and to a business model of violence, criminalization and dispossession of forest communities. (Available in Bahasa Indonesia)
SE asia
Bulletin articles 23 March 2022

The Concession Model in Southeast Asia: Coming Full Circle?

Colonial and anti-colonial movements’ have deeply shaped the patterns and impacts of concessions in SE Asia. In some cases, communities have experienced dispossession through land grabs dressed as concessions. In others, concessions are part of a re-concentration of land holding. Either way, the concession model fits well with ideologies of modernisation.
Bulletin articles 27 September 2021

A Dangerous Place for Women. Stories of Indigenous Women Working in Oil Palm Plantations in Papua

Oil palm plantations are one of the most unsafe spaces for women, not only because of their vulnerable working status packed with injustices and precarities, but also because of the potential for sexual violence and harassment. (Available in Indonesian).

compilacion indonesia
Publications 6 April 2021

Attacks on Forest-Dependent Communities in Indonesia and Resistance Stories

WRM Bulletin Compilation. Available in English and Indonesian.

Indigenous Kinggo papua
Bulletin articles 9 March 2021

The Indigenous Kinggo’s Struggle to Defend Papua's Customary Forest

The Korindo Group cleared Kinggo’s Indigenous People’s forests for its industrial oil palm plantations. Petrus Kinggo and other community leaders were persuaded to give up customary forest land with misleading and false promises. Now they are fighting against the FSC-certified Korindo. (Available in Indonesian).

Bulletin articles 14 January 2021

Indonesia: Legalizing Crimes Under the Slogan of “Creating Jobs”

The government of Indonesia endorsed the criticized Omnibus Law by saying that it is “crucial to attract investment and ultimately create jobs.” The Law is a direct attack on the territories and communities resisting the increasing destruction that has been ongoing for decades in Indonesia. (Available in Indonesian).

Other information 22 December 2018

Estonia: Government decides to terminate pulp mill spatial plan

Bulletin articles 9 July 2018

Indonesia: Forest burning and punished victims. The tragedy of the Delang indigenous community in Lamandau, Central Kalimantan

Despite that most forest fires in Indonesia started within expanding oil palm plantation concession areas, companies are not being persecuted. (Available in Indonesian).