CONSERVATION OF TROPICAL AND BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY IN EAST TIMOR

FAA 118 / 119 REPORT A. INTRODUCTION East Timor is located on Timor Island in the Lesser Sunda Islands chain. Its residents voted for independence from Indonesia in a referendum held in 1999. Immediately following the referendum, large-scale violence by the Indonesian Army and militia erupted that included massacres and wide-scale destruction of property. Sixty to eighty percent of public and private property was destroyed including schools and health clinics. There was a displacement of people into mountainous areas (UNHRC, 2000). Such violence destroyed the socio-economic base for the country’s development. The United Nations has helped to support the development of this new sovereign state and in May 2002, East Timor became independent.... JUNE 2004

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