Located in the easternmost part of Indonesia, the island with high biodiversity has to be careful about taking care of its nature. And surprisingly, one of the locations has decided to be a conservation province. West Papua proposed the name in 2015, but the commitment has not been easy to apply. There are challenges that the government and locals should pass to reach their goals.
Preserving 70 Percent And 50 Percent
Despite being the second province with the highest poverty level, the region wants to realize the ambitious conservation program. It was said that the initial program has started focusing on preserving the 7% of forest cover and 50% marine habitat. While it takes time, but the plan was part of the Perdasus (special regional regulation) number 10 of 2019.n
The socialization and the preservation plan were eventually stepped up as one of the greatest goals of the conservation province. It said that the plan was by the local vision and mission to reach a sustainable environment. The plan is oriented toward nature management that includes sustainability, justice, and strengthening the conservation instrument.
Not only to take care of the biota and natural habitat, but it also enforces the law on preventing legal use of natural resources. In this case, West Papua points out illegal mining, logging, and fishing. The movement also helped increase the economic value from biota and habitat preservation which later pushed the low carbon investment.
The cumulative effect can reach up to industry collaboration on increasing the local role in managing their natural resources. It eventually grazes upon the use of traditional rites and local wisdom in the practice. Thus, local will has their right and the replanning or mapping of the law will include local participation.
Replanning Conservation Areas Proportion
The province declaration in 2018 to commit to conservation was one of the good examples. However, the planning was filled with holes. There is no exact clear implementation, which ended with conflict and illegal management. That is why the ambitious vision should be followed by infrastructure development and nature conservation.
It also indicates that the conservation province and the idea of 70% land under-protected or conservation area will have a replanned proportion. In other words, the fundamentals of ecosystems and local development should be at par. The movement also turned west Papua and Papua into one, which has the same vision and mission to preserve nature.
When the two provinces work together, the conservation areas proportion planning will work along with the local community economy. In other words, the two regions will work together to elevate the local wellbeing, happiness, and quality as high as possible. At the same time, the Papuan island nature’s quality will stay intact.
The Challenge
Based on the two goals, it is safe to say that both regions should work together in elevating the local community’s wellbeing and preserving nature. The two goals do not work as simply as it is. Especially, when the region currently has a high rate of poverty. While replanning and mapping have been done, the government needs to highlight some challenges.
1. The Contrast Of Conservation And Economy
Conservation development and movement in the region are considered very ambitious. The 70% forest and 50% marine habitat conservation plan is a good example; however, it crashes with the local economy. Most of the local west Papua community income comes from natural resources, which total about 4 billion Rupiah.
It means that the sheer focus on conservation can hinder local community sources of income. The plan can give a huge effect on the local well-being, which is already considered as one of the provinces with a high poverty rate. Thus, a balance of conservation and local community development should be considered.
2. High conversion and bad condition
Based on the survey in 2015 in Teluk Cenderawasih national park, the initial initiative to make a conservation province did not work as planned. The national park with 1,45 million hectares was in bad condition. There are only 13-40% of the areas with hard coral coverage. The land coverage also converted to farm, ranch, and many other conversions (64%).
3. Omnibus Law
The last consideration should be the omnibus law of workforce law that decreases the clause of 30% minimal forest cover on each island. It means that the law will limit the West Papua land mapping for industrialization. With that in mind, the community, local, and central government need a further technical plan to analyze the risks related to the Omnibus Law.
The idea of being one of the first conservation provinces is not bad. It was a great innovation by the local government to preserve the island’s biodiversity. However, again it is not an easy feat to do. Challenges upon tests appear since the province also needs to support the local economy, wellbeing, and improve the poverty rate. Thus, without a doubt, the innovation will take time.
