WAHLI – The Environmental Watchdog of Indonesia

When it comes to the concerns of the environment within the vast archipelago of Indonesia it is the Indonesian Forum for Environment (WALHI – Friends of the Earth Indonesia) that are in the forefront of ensuring the sustainability of life and livelihoods in the islands. WAHLI works to defend Indonesia’s natural world and local communities from injustices carried out in the name of economic development and this is badly needed in an era where not only global warming is affecting the environment, but also the growing problem of big corporations blatantly carving up the lands for profit subsequently threatening the natural habitats of thousands of species of flora and fauna. Currently, Wahli is represented in 25 provinces and has over 438 member organisations. Wahli works in a number of areas in the archipelago on a variety of issues. These include forests, mining, fresh water management, pollution, foreign debt and corporate-driven globalization, coasts and oceans, disaster management, national policy and law reform, and good governance. Assisting community groups in Indonesia that are threatened by injustice is another. Whenever you read in a newspaper or a magazine that a region of pristine forest has been saved from the grind of a bulldozer, or where the habitat of a certain species has been saved, then you can virtually guarantee that Wahli is the guiding force in achieving this.

As their website explains: As a national member of Friends of the Earth International — which is the world’s largest grassroots environmental federation with 68 national member groups in as many countries and around one million individual members — WALHI conduct campaigns with the federation and with other international networks which have the same concerns on environmental justice.