The submission calls on the UN committee to urge Indonesia to immediately suspend any part of the project that may put the Malind or other indigenous groups at risk and to provide support for affected communities.

“Disease and undernourishment are rampant,” said Sophie Chao, a project officer with the UK-based coalition member Forest Peoples Program, who visiting Zanegi in May. “[In] 2013 alone, five infants have died from malnutrition.”

“Generalised emaciation, water-related skin infections, infant and child lethargy and bloated stomachs are all flagrant evidence of the severe food insecurity faced by the community as a result of the loss of their customary lands and livelihoods to incoming investors,” Chao said.

Yosefa, a 31-year-old Malind woman from Zanegi village, said the malnutrition problems began after the company arrived, causing pollution and ecological changes that destroyed food supplies in the village.

“Before the company, there was little illness,” Yosefa said. “We would eat sago and walk the forest all day without being weary. Now, the sago dies and the earth is dry. The rivers are dark and oily, and the fish drunk on pollution. Our children are dying because our sacred mother land has been ripped away from us.

“Soon, the Malind people themselves will cease to exist. When the forest disappears, the Malind will disappear.”

Large-scale plantation expansion in Indonesia is part of a broader plan for economic development in the country, which Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has said is designed to be both “pro-poor” and “pro-environment.”

Without their land, indigenous communities are left with no choice but to relocate – usually without receiving any relocation assistance – or accept low-paying jobs on the plantations, a situation the coalition said may constitute forced labour.