Former Kingdown School pupil Andrew Taylor recently returned from a visit to meet indigenous people in Indonesia as part of his work with the charity World Development Movement.

The 29-year-old, who has been working in the charity’s fundraising and communications team since 2008, spent several weeks in Indonesia in June researching the impact of coal mining on indigenous people in Kalimantan.

Mr Taylor, who has a Masters degree in International Relations from the University of Staffordshire, works on communicating campaigns for the World Development Movement and fundraising.

The film and information gathered on his trip will be used as part of the charity’s campaign to raise awareness of the effects of fossil fuel extraction on the local people, and to push for rules to prevent UK banks financing such projects.

Mr Taylor said: “It was a really productive and interesting trip and we gathered up a lot of research on the implications that coal mining has on the indigenous people in Indonesia, where it has become quite established in the last 15 years.

“There are huge human rights implications from the destruction that the coal mining is causing and we were investigating that and building up contacts with local organisations and activists.

“I also travelled to some remote parts of Indonesia, such as the island of Java, where they generate their own clean energy using micro-hydro turbines, harnessing the power of local rivers.

“The problem is wider than Indonesia, but it was really inspiring to meet these communities and look at how they have taken control of their own energy provision.”

On the Borneo leg of his trip Mr Taylor travelled with a film crew. The video can be viewed at www.wdm. org.uk/more-videos-how-banks-finance -climate-change