My Ideas and Stories About PAPUA

Making the rich and beautiful resources in Papua become the social economic strength for Papuan has become the long home works. Many people believe that the early start to find the answer is by understanding how Papua looks like, their communities and their special strength. And it can be realize by directly in touch with them. This blogs provides you chance to touch and gets insight ideas, trends and stories about Papua.
  • Stories About Beautiful Papua

    Every Single Place In Papua Have Its Stories To Be Shared To Build Other People Understanding About This Island

  • The Last Frotier Primary Forests

    With 42 Million ha of forests, Papua play crucial rules in Indonensia forests development targets.

  • Women and Natural Resources

    Forests or land right are not only about Man. So understanding the roles women and the impact of forests changes to women are also crucial

  • Our Traditional Value

    Papuan Community Have Been Living for Centuries with Their Knowledge and Wisdom in Managing Natural Resources and Practice Best Conservation

  • For Papuan Generation

    Every Works We Do Now Must Be Dedicated To The Future Papuan Generation

  • Dependency to Forests Resources

    Practicing Good Forests Governance in Papus About Understing the Right of Indigenous People and Their Dependency to Natural Resources

  • All Are Wonderful

    You Will Get Good Scene That You May Not Able Somewhere Else - Only In PAPUA

  • Bitter Nut Is Papuan Favorit Gums

    Bitter Nut or In Papua We Call 'Pinang' Is The Local Gum You Can See In Every Corner of the Cities. Papuan People Love To Chewing It. Sometime People Consider It As Contact Material When You Travel to The Village

  • Papuan Traditional Conservation Practices

    For Centuries, Papuan Has Practicing Local Wisdom to Sustainaible Use of Natural Resources. They Have Traditional Education System to Teaching Them How To Interact With Human, Spiritual Power and Understanding The Words Of Nature

Sabtu, 28 Oktober 2017

Acceleration of Customary Boundary Mapping for the Revision of West Papua Province Spatial Plan

Keys messages: 
  1. It is crucial for the government both province and district level to established the regulation that recognize and protect the rights of Papuan IPs and their assets in West Papua. 
  2. Sets up mechanism, procedures and system of integrating rights into official land use and forests development are crucial in West Papua to enable administrative security and arrangement towards right of IPs and their mission to manage their resources. 
  3. A multi stakeholder platform is urgently needed in province to works on acceleration customary boundary mapping (at tribes and clan level) and continues mentoring and capacity building to customary community organisation/assembly to be able to take parts in the current development demand.


Coalition of CSO/NGO in West Papua whose works for IPs Land Right issue on their last meeting has criticized the development and implementation of West Papua spatial plan that not transparent and ignores the participation of the public as mandated in National Spatial Plan Law - law no 26 of 2007. This plan also considered has ignore the existance of Papuan IPs and their legal right as regulated in Special Autonomy Law - Law No 21 of 2001 and it doesn't clearly regulate about the position, roles and benefits to the IPs. They also criticized that the plan are tend to reflect the interests of policy makers and natural resources extractor concession without build proper safeguard system to the community and environment. By the time according to them massive social and environmental destruction will happen if the government not doing quick revision, evaluation with this facts.

The conversion of Forests for the Residences Building in Manokwari 

West Papua Province Government is been challenged and called to re-build the proper spatial plan development that reflect both economic growth interests with the protection of IPs right and environmental function. This should works in participatory approaches by enggaging different stakeholder includes IPs in the development. Now days problem in poverty and inequity of benefit can become the starting points to reflects on the revision process. Stakeholder needs to come with the same understanding that "forests is about us, sustainability is about future and benefits is about community". In this dilemma, of course both NGO/CSO Coalition and government needs to seats in one table to discuss and formulates what tools do they use and apply to ensure the revision of spatial plan are reflected the worries about social and environmental collapse in the province.

CSO/NGO should also be brave to says that integration and acceleration of customary boundary maps can helps government get the information about community, their land uses practices and their vision of management. So land allocation, protection and production zone in the spatial plan also reflect to the community interest and their long term management vision. Customary boundary mapping has widely applied in West Papua for about 15 years with several key results. From my data, about 8 organization have worked for in the last 8 years and produced 1,2 million ha of tribes customary boundary maps or about 12% of total west Papua Province administrative area. As addition about 11 clans boundaries have also been mapped. Some of them in the cases of Sira and Manggroholo village in South Sorong, were used by the communities to get legal access to manage the resources in their customary territory. Of course the homework now is about mainstreaming and integrate mapping in the government agenda for spatial plan and the detail land uses plan implementation.

See: https://tapakbatas.blogspot.co.id/2017/09/ingin-tahu-apa-saja-pendekatan-pemetaan.html


Spatial Plan and Demand on Land For The Development 

As the poor and backward region in Indonesia, the government has putting a lot of attention and funding to speed up the growth and access of benefit to the people. Infrastructure building, providing of public facilities and establishing of new autonomy region are came of as the priorities for Papua. Direct implication of this policy and priorities program are definitely in increasing demand to land and resources that support the the acceleration of the development and target of economic growth. Here the spatial plan playing it crucial roles to frame and regulate extent to which are land allocation can be applied but not create new social and environmental problem.

West Papua spatial plan has moved with the official judgement by the approval of Provincial Regulation No 4 of 2013. No proper consultation, public assessment and landscape check had been criticized as the act against the big spatial plan law. the exclusion of IPs participation for the Papua People Assembly (MRP) was the ignorance of the the right if Papua IPs. No information about IPs right was emphasized that government is not serious see Papuan as the land lord and owner of the resources - express the MRP representative in the CSO/NGO Meeting, 2014. This ignorance will lead to serious impact especially social conflict that may easily to appear when there is any development that applied in one particular areas with out proper FPIC and negotiation to the appropriate right holder.

It was an ironic; by the time IPs land right information are missing, the government prioritized the allocation of land and forests to the attractive concession by inviting them in putting their data and information. Allocation of forests function (protection, production and no forests allocation) are highly influenced by the active plan and on going demand from private concession. As reported by Forests Designation Body (BPKH) on their 2015 report that there are 18 active logging concession in the areas of 2,595,940 ha and allocation for non forests uses (plantation) in the areas of  356,436.10 belong to 23 concession.

By the time Provincial Government conducted the public assessment there was not any intend to seats with keys government leader and stakholder whose working on the ground to create project of forests allocation for community. Gaps between village development units, protection of communities assets and simple thinking of big concession driven on economic growth seem has putted aside the willing to to analysis on how pro community forestry or pro community land uses program must be included in the provincial development plan.

As addition to that the decentralize and village development priorities has emerge as another layers of spatial development challenge. Establishment of new village, sub districts and even demand of new province have and will directly implicates to the forests reserve and the rights assets of IPs. In the last 10 years at leas there about about 5 new districts established in West Papua of of which hundreds of new villages and thousand KM of roads are build to connect the region. Tablod Jubi.com article of 26 February 2016 mentioned another new plan in the national government to establish 10 new autonomy region (District and provinces).

Process of Developing Customary Boundary Maps in Baliem Valley - PAPUA


Customary Boundary Mapping Can Be a Tool To Help Putting Community Land Right and The Resources Management Vision In The Official Land Use and Forests Development Plan

Papua Special Autonomy Law No 21 of 2001 word no 43 has straightly note that Papua and West Papua Provincial Government must recognize, protect, empower and promote the the right of IPs and legally access to manage the resources within their territorial right. So putting customary right and and the resources management vision of Papuan IPs in West Papua Province become the core part of implementing special autonomy law. Maps with all detail information it can presented has been acknowledge as the best tools to realize this. Proper customary boundary maps can provide at least information about : (1) who are the right holder, (2) local traditional community zoning, (3) important place for community both social and economic, (4) vision of long term resources management and (5) agreement from surrounding community to prevent land right conflict. In many cases maps and mapping process has become a vehicle to build the social unity and consolidation within customary community.

Until today, from my inventories there are 6 tribes and sub-tribes in west Papua those who territories have been mapped - of which they cover are of 1,2 million ha and cross over all forests function regulates by the government. One of which is Maps of Knasaimos Tribe in South Sorong where community in the tribes had long experienced with massive illegal logging and become a victim of forests concession. Mapping was initiated to protect their territories and puts sustainable vision to manage it. Until today two clan in Two villages: Sira and Manggroholo have moving with they 3,800 ha of Social Forestry Sites designated in 2014.

What NGO/NGO are learning from Knasimos is maps has lead to bring community engage in official forests development agenda has helps community to sets the sustainable use plan to generate economic and social benefit.

Integration of IPs maps into official forests and land use development plan in cases of Papua Province have helps government to control the allocation of land, optimizing the role of community to monitor the implementation of any particular forest and land uses concession and a reference to assess the division of forests function. Village development, security of land right assets have emerging as the new discources that the province government will do by using the customary boundary maps been developed so far.



Reference