West Papua is one of the best vacation destinations in Indonesia. However, this place is currently facing a serious problem. It is the deforestation problem. It has become the hottest West Papua news these days. Mostly, it is because the cause of this problem is exploitation by people. In this case, the palm tree plantation is the one that makes this problem occur.
The Indonesian Government Decision
The Indonesian government is the one that issued the permit for the palm oil companies to open palm oil plantations in West Papua. However, it seems that those companies have been using those permits to do illegal activity to expand their plantation. Thus, the deforestation and exploitation of the forest in West Papua keep growing and becoming even worse these days.
However, the Indonesian government has decided on this matter. Thanks to the cooperation with many organizations and environmental activists’ groups in West Papua, the government finally gets enough information to do something. Then, they decide to revoke the permits of those companies that failed to follow the environmentally friendlier manufacturing concept that they had agreed with at the beginning.
Currently, there are at least 12 palm plantation permits that have been revoked by the government. And, from that number, the forest size that can be saved is big. It said that those 12 palm plantations use the forest area twice the size of Los Angeles. Can you imagine how much biodiversity and wildlife that can be saved from rejuvenating that size of the forest? It will indeed contribute a lot to West Papua nature.
On the other hand, there is also interesting West Papua news. The companies that lost their palm plantation decided to strike back. They try to bring this case to the court to seek justice. However, the government committed and promised to follow what the West Papua people wanted. It is to save the forest that becomes part of their lifestyle, culture, and profession.
The Future of West Papua Forest
Even though the government has made a move to save the forest, many organizations are not satisfied with that movement. They want the government to make a further movement, which is maintaining and organizing the land that was used for palm plantation. Those lands need to be recovered from exploitation.
It will be meaningless if those lands will get another new investor that uses it again for palm plantation. That will create a destructive cycle for the West Papuan forest. The recovery process won’t be able to proceed. Then, forest conservation will be difficult to do. So, let’s hope that we can see the next move from the government as well as the locals to protect the forest.
Ecotourism
However, we have good West Papua news for you. Because of the problem above, many people in West Papua decide to promote, support, and collaborate to improve ecotourism in their area. It means that the tourist will have more chances to explore the natural beauty of West Papua. On the other hand, by exposing the West Papuan forest beauty, it also can attract more support from many organizations and countries to join the protection against palm oil exploitation.
Conclusion
That’s all for current West Papua news. We hope that the problem will meet the best solution soon and bring a good thing. And, people in West Papua will get their right back to the land and forest that went because of the palm plantation. If they can get that, we also have a chance to visit and enjoy many beautiful places, animals, plants, and cultures in West Papua.
