T

he Papua and West Papua provinces are considered among the global priorities for biodiversity conservation, partly because of the species-rich forest environment of the Australopapuan fauna, as well the many unique New Guinean species. It is home to 146 mammals, 329 reptiles and amphibians and also 650 birds that represent 50 percent of Indonesia'€™s terrestrial animals.

The north-western part of Papua is also part of the Coral Triangle Marine Protected Area, containing the world'€™s greatest diversity of coral-reef fish, with more than 1,650 species in eastern Indonesia alone.

Papua has also huge reserves of natural resources of oil, gas and minerals and continues to retain some 80 percent forest cover, including large reserves of commercially valuable lowland rainforest.

Mining is the most profitable but unsustainable economic sector because from 50 to 60 percent of the total gross domestic product of the provinces is derived from it. The largest natural gas project, Tangguh liquefied natural gas, is positioned to extract the natural resources from a field in West Papua'€™s Bintuni Bay area for export.

However, as reported by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), until March 2013 West Papua was among the eight provinces with the highest poverty rate (26.67 percent) '€“ second after neighboring Papua (31.13 percent).That is why the governments depend on extractive industries such as mining and logging to generate revenues.

Uncontrolled exploitation of the natural resources changes the landscape through erosion, flooding, run-off of top soils to the beaches, landslides, earthquakes, forest fires and other things that affect local livelihoods.

Most coastal and marine ecosystems within the provinces are also severely threatened by a combination of the effects of climate change, such as extreme weather events, sea level rise and ocean acidification.

Aware of the threats to terrestrial and marine ecosystems, on last Oct. 19 West Papuan Governor Abraham O. Atururi and local leaders declared the entire province a '€œconservation province'€.

The stated goal is to start down a path of sustainable and equitable development that recognizes and conserves the province'€™s globally significant natural capital and supports the rights of customary communities.

The governor established a working group to oversee the conservation province process.

Why is being a conservation province so important?

Biodiversity must be accessible and people must have some rights to use it. For example, instead of buffer zones serving primarily to protect core areas in parks, protected areas can be established and justified by their ability to help sustain tangible local benefits, such as breeding grounds for animals and sources of pollinators, seeds, clean water or valued products, within a larger landscape.

Working closely with local communities rather than fencing them out should be urgently implemented. It goes beyond most (though by no means all) previous community, participatory, or development efforts intended primarily to win local acceptance of other people'€™s conservation agendas.

Partnering can also build local institutions and develop people'€™s sense of their own worth and that of their environment.

Working with local people to identify local needs can build trust. By building a basis for mutual understanding to protect the environment, oversights and misunderstandings can be avoided.

A conservation province should also be reflected through its short-, middle-and long-term action to show how such a province benefits people and local administrations.

Along with modern industries, a potential conflict between the community-based natural resource utilization and increased commercial scale activities such as mining, logging and oil palm cultivation should be monitored and evaluated to minimize conflicting interests among stakeholders.

More importantly, the taskforces and local administrations should also improve the competence of officials at all levels to enable them to run a conservation province. Good governance practices would be a better way to achieve its goals.

Despite more than 100 laws and regulations related to natural resources management in Indonesia'€™s various ecosystems, the lack of capacity, coordination and understanding of the essence of the relevant legal instruments by local officials hinders law enforcement.

Furthermore, conflicts of interest among local government agencies at the provincial level on land use should refer mainly to the Spatial and Regional Planning (RTRW) of the province.

Institutions like the agencies of public works, forestry, mining, agriculture, the regional environmental board, Conservation of Natural Resources Bureau and universities need to plan together the designated areas for logging, mining, plantations or road networks and special protected areas as well as for the use of local communities.

A pilot project by the Institute of Research and Community Services Universitas Papua (UNIPA) is assisting communities along the '€œbird head'€ around Sorong in agricultural products processing and non-formal education as part of community development in the turtle conservation program. UNIPA has introduced a health program, vegetable demonstration plots, environment awareness and animal husbandry with local governments and NGOs.

Identification of terrestrial and marine ecosystems in the Special Economy Areas (KEK) that significantly contribute to the low-level economy is essential for developing commodity clusters in each regency of West Papua.

It is urgent to link KEK as an engine of economic growth in the province to the '€œmaritime axis'€ envisioned by President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo. West Papua has three special economy areas: Sorong for the management of maritime industries, Teluk Bintuni for smelters and petro-chemist industries and Raja Ampat for marine ecotourism.

We can benefit from KEK and the maritime axis to promote our fishery, sea transportation, marine ecotourism, maritime industries and mining sectors as West Papua lies along the international trading route connecting Indonesia to the Asia-Pacific and Australia.
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Agustina YS Arobaya is head of the Conservation and Environment Laboratory School of Forestry.
Freddy Pattiselanno is a researcher at the Center of Excellence for Sustainable Development, Institute of Research and Community Services Universitas Papua (UNIPA) in Manokwari, West Papua.