Defending land has always been a way of life in Papua
 New Guinea. But today it’s not just quarrelsome
 neighbours the Pacific islanders are having to fight off,
 but multinational predators keen to cash in on their rich
 tropical forests and mineral resources. HELL IN THE
 PACIFIC investigates three separate conflicts between
 local Papuan landowners and subsidiaries of the mining
 conglomerate, Rio Tinto Zinc (RTZ). Clashes between
 police and villagers over gold extraction rights in one
 remote region led to RTZ’s abrupt departure - together
 with most of the gold. Pollution from RTZ’s copper mine
 on the island of Bouganville has been a focus of
 seething resentment since 1988. And now, overriding
 local objections, extractors have moved in,
 unannounced, to develop a new island gold mine using
 cyanide.

 Could DNA from the blood of indigenous people’s hold
 the secret of new drugs to treat ravaging human
 diseases like AIDS or motor neurone disease? Genetic
 scientists working on the worldwide Human Genome
 Biodiversity Project believe it’s possible, and in the
 remote rainforests of northern Colombia they’re
 
 

 collecting blood from the Ahuaco and Asario Indians to
 provide DNA - the genetic chemical code that defines
 and individual’s genetic characteristics - for their
 labs.They aim to gather the genetic blueprint of 700
 pure-blooded tribal peoples’ before they become extinct
 or lose their unique genetic make-up through
 intermarriage. But, as Luke Holland’s fascinating film
 underlines, there is a dilemma. New drugs can earn
 massive profits, and, community leaders ask, who will
 benefit? The Indians, or the wealthy pharmaceutical
 companies?

 Known as ‘The Amazon of Asia’, West Papua occupies
 the western half of the largest island in Asia-Pacific
 region and is home to some of the world’s most ancient
 cultures. But in 1963, when the Dutch colonists finally
 left, Indonesia seized control of the territory, declared
 West Papua its 26th province, and launched a
 controversial transmigration policy to move Indonesians
 into West Papua. Outlawing cultural individualism, the
 Indonesian government instead promotes the forced
 assimilation of indigenous groups to make "one kind of
 mankind" and ruthlessly suppresses any opposition.
 The result is that the 70,000 Asmat people who inhabit
 the world’s largest alluvial swampland have had their
 territory confiscated by the state, while the 200,000
 strong Dani people face extinction as the government
 presses ahead with road development.