FMU in Biak Shaping Up the Basic Concept of Forests Development Partnership

The establishment of Eco-Tourism Management Body in Sebse – Village of Eastern Biak, Papua Province of Indonesia has shown how FMU in Biak gradually developed a good pathway on creating partnership scheme with customary community whose claim the rights over land, forests and resource inside the FMU designated areas. Founding of partnership scheme is an effort to acknowledging the specific Papua natural resources management problem in the appropriately positioning community rights in the official natural resources governance.

Making forests benefit to people and government within good governance are the main objective of the FMU Biak establishment. “Through KPH, I have vision to turn the current public paradigm that forests governance in Indonesia are far from good because it full of conflict, not sustainable, lack of community participation and lack of contribution to local economic development.” said Mr. Ariestoteles Ap – the Head of Forests Management Unit (KPHL) Biak Numfor on his welcoming words to the NORAD and Samdhana team visited KPH on January 2016. Holding the responsibilities to manage 206,016 ha of forests in Biak and Numfor Island he acknowledged that community are the main actors since customary right claim are strong in the islands.  

Eco-Tourism management body in Sebse with assisting by FMU and MNUKWAR (local Ngo based in Manokwari) will working on technical, social, business and legal components on managing the potency in the east coast of the Biak Island. From the full forests inventory that the FMU and Papua State University did in 2015, it’s found that this region is the home of 18 species of birds - 3 of which are the endemic paradise bird, 114 species of plants from 43 order, 10 different orchids and 8 mammals. The forest has also preserve the water and in harmony with karts stone creates beautiful lake “Opersnondi” that has high value for eco-tourism. Community and government on the Inauguration ceremony of the eco-tourism management body are welcoming this initiative and commits to move forward with concrete social-business concept/action of eco-tourism development.

Sharpening the partnership concept of legal management of eco-tourism within FMU has been putting as the priority intervention. Testing effective institutional development and professional community based business development that enable the creation of good benefit sharing mechanism are another big output that the supports in Sebse targeted by Biak FMU and MNUKWAR. Andi Saragih, the Director of MNUKWAR realized that this is just the beginning and there are a lot of challenges are waiting to be dealing to achieve what been built. Making sure that the communities are actively engage and lead the managerial activities until control and running the business are the attention that MNUKWAR is putting. Because he acknowledges that the pure partnership concepts of forests development partnership will working then the community are ready to engage and lead the process. But he believes that FMU and the community in Sebse has on track to get it. Emphasize this, the head of FMU noted that the works in Sebse are valuable for them to implement the long term management plan they have within an appropriate local partnership approaches. 

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Climate Agreement and Challenges on Local Action to Reduce Emission Reduction in Papua - Indonesia

A historical agreement was achieved in Paris COP 21 December 2015 when more than 170 countries approved the proposal on the efforts to mitigate and adapt to the impact of climate change. Forests and lands been highlighted part of the cores attention in the mitigation actions to prevent the temperature raised not over 2^oC by 2100. And again reducing deforestation and degradation of forests was emerged as global component of action. Most of the tropical country like Indonesia, Congo and Brazil were stood in the position on requesting the clear finance mechanism on forests and people for climate mitigation. Incentive and benefits should go to the appropriate action on saving the primary forests. Beside government the voices were also came up from civil society and indigenous people alliance to considered the rights of Indigenous people on the climate convention. They claimed the rights over 60% of world land that contain approximately 37.7 billion tonnes of carbon—29 times more than the annual emissions of the world’s passenger vehicles.

Indonesia with its large tropical forests up to 140 million ha plays important position in combating climate change impact through low emission land and forests development. The INDC raised in Paris by President JOKOWI emphasized new country commitment to reduce 29% of domestic emission by 2030. Highlighting forests moratorium and improve forests management on community based forests management as part of the national efforts on forests and land mitigation action. But it was remained contradictory with the facts that the government are trying to pushing up economic growth by creating economic policy package in 2015 that allow massive expansion of natural resources extraction in the country. The national targets on peatland protection has failed in 2015 by huge forests fires and oilpalm expansion in peatland areas. While the social forestry initiative facing the problems on limited forests availability for community and local government intention on developments. Allocation of forests to big concession are mostly be considered advantages to the government revenue.

For the provinces like Papua and West Papua, Paris climate agreement and national commitment on emission reduction would be a best chance to gets financial and non-financial incentive to the development by saving the forests. 42 million ha of the forests in the Island in which 70% are primary (**90 forests cover) could contribute about 38% of national forests and land use low emission development targets. Provincial action plans strategy on low emission development have now opened for implementation depending on how fast are the government then translating their program reflect to the global and national commitment on climate change mitigation and adaption. Particularly how the government could then control massive forests cover changes for road construction, public facilities and other land uses purposes because they are the main drivers of deforestation in the region emitted almost 53 million Ton of CO₂ per year. It is realized that there are a lot of challenge appear to be answered by Government and all actors in the region to meets good and benefiting forests governance to the people, states and global interests. 

Understanding the forests development are unique in each region, the Ministry of Forestry introduced and prioritizing forests management units (FMU/KPH) as the forests decentralization management scheme that be designed to bridge such national-local and global gaps. This sites specific scheme are then be formulated to solve the conflicts such as community/indigenous people rights claim over the forests in the region. Papua and West Papua Provinces are then responded this by designing 77 FMU that covers almost 23 million or about 60% of the forests in the island – 12 of which are now have been operationalizing. Recently the FMU policy was expanded to cover all types of forests include conservation which means about 80% of the Papua forests are potentially to be managed under FMU scheme. It is just one of several option on climate change mitigation and adaptation locus on the region. Another sustainability land uses and forests development practices outside of FMU are also crucial to gets special attention such as energy and agriculture sectors.

In the complexity problem of activities on the Ground, the forestry actors are now become panics and not comfortably working in the transition phase of Law No 23 of 2014 implementation. The law has clearly mentioning forestry in the ‘non mandatory responsibilities’ in which the district level forests administrative functions are no longer needed because it is not efficient. All of the asset and program are now moving to the province. Direct consequences will be a problem of services at the districts and willingness of forestry actor to responsible to the program in the region. Which means all low emission development action that working at the provinces are now under provincial responsibility that would high costs because it is centralistic governing. Authority of forests management are in provinces could create interest conflict between Governoord and Head of the Districts.


Political situation in Papua with number of Head of District election happening in 2015 until 2017 are another issues that would significantly influence the ways of land uses and forests development pathway. One risk that each environmental and people based projects intervention would face is where no political and program support from local government authority. REDD and any other locally forests and land development program are enormously influenced by local politics and government program. In cases like Tambrauw West Papua Province all the process are were well and be backed up by the government because the current Bupati’s has good will and concrete political commitment on conservation and rights recognition.

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Yospan – A Dancing in Harmony of Young Papuan

The sky is bright this afternoon in the beautiful sunny day in Manokwari. More than 10 groups of young people and teenager in pair man and women performing a beautiful moves of dancing following the nice local Papua music. Wearing fence and colorful dress they dances across the main of  Sanggeng in Manokwari. Yes, I then realized that they performing “Yospan”.

Yospan is one of the most famous dancing in Papua and are very often been performing almost in all the island. The dance was introduced by Biakness and Yapenness people that describing young people that still looking their girls and boys friend. This is why for Papuan, Yospan is also identic with young and has another call with “Tarian Muda-Mudi” or “the dancing of young people”. It combines the skills of body shaking, hands dancing and variance of move following the variance music tempo. A specific song in Yospan are describing the live scene of all the process on how a young man approaching his targeted young women with many challenges. There is one famous song that I never missed to hear in every Yospan performance I enjoy is “Mas Kawin” or “wedding gift”. It express how expensive are the wedding gift of Papuan women. The songs says that the gift even could be equal with the prices of water-motor-machine and big bulldozer. Hehehe. There are also another kind of song that describing the connection between human and nature.

With more than 250 tribes the Papua island of Indonesia are the home of big diversity of tradition, values, arts, ceremony and ways of expressing the relation. Dancing if one of the people treasure. A lot of traditional dancing with their specific names and meaning representing specific cultural values in the particular tribes. Song and dancing somehow become the tools of unity that bringing people in any relation to be interact in harmony.

Yospan this afternoon in Sanggeng – Manokwari is the yearly event that tourism department conducts in collaboration with all dancing groups in Manokwari. They said this is part of welcoming the joyful April and voicing up peace in Manokwari. I really enjoy this afternoon with this performance and expects that the event could then help increasing the tourism promotion of the city that recently only well known as the Gospel city.  

Video: Street Yospan in Manokwari 

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Inspiring Story: Baywatch “Pasir Putih” Manokwari

Broom stick, coconuts, inner tube and plastic carpets are the materials in the beach where we can easily know where the white sand (pasir putih) beach guardian is. ‘Decky Kadakolo’ is the man I meant. This Moi Man has moved and live in this place for more than 30 years together with his Mother which originally part of the Doreri tribe those who living and claim the rights over the coast city of Manokwari – West Papua Province of Indonesia. He is the important man behind the comfortable, clean and save of the beach.
Trash is remaining appears be the main problem of management of Pasir Putih as the mass tourism site in Manokwari. It come mostly from the bad garbage management in the city where people are mostly throw their trash in the main roads, small river and bank of the sea. When the rain comes, they are pushed down to the sea and then the wave took into the beaches. Garbage left by the tourist are also then come makes the beach are dirty. Here are the crucial parts of Decky and his groups contributions - spending hours every afternoon to clean the beach and burn the trash. He says “people in the city need wake up and aware that they have done a wrong thing. Together with the government they needs to create a good garbage managements so they not throwing them into the small river, main roads or sea”. People some time don’t aware that they enjoy the beach that covered by urban garbage. 

 As one of the nearest, beautiful and long white sand beach in Manokwari, this place is always become the main choice of people in the city to spent a holiday, recreation and relaxing. Not less than 1000 peoples are coming to this beach every week. The beautiful sand and low cost are always become reasonable why Pasir Putih are always in the main list of the weekend holiday for young, kids and adults people in Manokwari. Face to face with Mansinam island and the scene of Arfak mountain from the distances are also coloring this beach when the sunny day. But as consequences to be the mass tourism place, making sure that the environment are well maintain, security and comfortable of the tourist are guaranteed should become the main priority to make sure people are enjoying the beach and all economic vehicles are run equally each other. Here are why the roles of Pasir Putih guardian are crucial.

“We believe that the best ways to make Pasir Putih remain the main choice of mass domestic tourism sites in Manokwari is by keep it clean and comfortable for everyone” Decky added. Even though officially the beach has been bought by the government for public facilities but it hasn’t yet well managed. The problems in land tenure claims and un-clear benefit sharing has driven to not clear management of this tourism site. The government has built a good facilities and small houses for trading but it still not occupied. Decky said that the determined renting price is high so they can’t pay for it. The problem of Pasir Putih management are more complicated in the fact that no management unit for the business governance within an institution that having a concrete management agenda on ecological and social business perspective. Every year there is a chance of funding and physical supports that the government provided but it still not well managed. Decky and his colleague are often collecting money from the parking services. Some tourist are often complaining but they said this is the way to keeps the beach clean after visiting hours. The money they collected are using to paying people time in cleaning the beach from the remaining trash in the sand.

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