Amungme

The Amungme are a Melanesian group of about 13,000 people living in the highlands of West Papua, now the Irian Jaya province of Indonesia. They practice shifting agriculture, supplementing their livelihood by hunting and gathering. The Amungme are very tied to their ancestral land and consider the surrounding mountains to be sacred. This has led to friction with the Indonesian government, which is eager to exploit the vast mineral deposits contained there. The greatest problem faced by the Amungme today is an enormous mine, owned by the United States and Great Britain, situated in the heart of Amungme territory. Extensive gold and copper mining have destroyed the landscape and led to countless protests, which have been violently suppressed by the Indonesian military.