Another neighbouring tribe signed a deal to sell the land, without having the rights to do so. Today, it belongs to Posco International and is covered in palm oil plantations - which is used to make chocolate, toothpaste and other common supermarket products. Linus’s tribe set up roadblocks and protests outside Posco International’s plantation but the company refuses to acknowledge that it was an act of land grabbing. Many Indigenous communities live among the plantations but few profit from the land. It is a story that plays out in equatorial nations across the Global South. During our investigation, we obtained an original copy of a redacted report into Korindo by the Forest Sustainability Council, the main certification body that scrutinises timber supply chains. Their report found that West Papuan tribes lost $300 million in timber deals with Korindo. Many of these deals are mired in fraud and acts of land grabbing.
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