The Bitter Reality of the Last Forests

KOMPAS/HARRY SUSILO

The path leading to the Manawari sago forest in Sima Village, Nabire Regency, Papua Province, Monday (26/4/2021).

Editor's Note:

The indigenous people of Papua have a close relationship with the nature that has given them life. To take a closer look at this relationship, starting today, Kompas will present a series of articles on the Tanah Papua Expedition. An article will be published every Saturday for 10 weeks in Kompas and on Kompas.id. Each edition, published on Page 2 of Kompas, is worthy of collection because each contains a letter that makes up the word TANAH PAPUA (The land of Papua).

Forests in Papua, as the last stronghold of the country, continue to be degraded. In the last two decades, Papua has lost the equivalent of 42,000 football fields of forest every year.

NABIRE, KOMPAS — The forest cluster in Papua has become the largest natural forest in Indonesia following the sharp decline in the forest areas of Java, Sumatra and Kalimantan. However, the last bastion of the country’s forests has also begun to be degraded.

The forest is considered a mother for indigenous Papuans because it provides endless benefits to them. As a result, the degradation of the forest makes indigenous peoples suffer because they rely heavily on the forest and its biodiversity for their livelihoods.

Also read:

> Literacy Advocate for Papuan Children

> Residents and Refugees

> An OPM Village in PNG

Some of these problems were demonstrated in the coverage of the Tanah Papua Expedition, which was carried out by Kompas in cooperation with the Eco Nusa Foundation. The expedition team, which visited a number of locations in the provinces of Papua and West Papua in early 2020 and throughout 2021, discovered that the conversion of forest functions had affected the lives of indigenous peoples. The customary forests that have been cleared are mostly used for oil palm or corn plantations, forest concessions and food estates. In addition, the forest area has also declined in size due to illegal encroachment.

Kompas/Bahana Patria Gupta

Manawari sago forest, Sima Village, Yaur District, Nabire Regency, Monday (26/4/2021).

In Tambrauw Regency, West Papua, for example, the customary forest of the Mpur tribe has been transformed into a corn plantation owned by a private company. Residents are upset because the traditional land they depend on for their livelihoods has been destroyed. For the Mpur people, losing their forest also means losing their hope for the future. "What about eating and drinking for our children and grandchildren?," asked Sinauw Kebar, 36, a member of the Mpur tribe.

The loss of forest also means the loss of large trees, such as merbau, matoa and oil palms. Various medicinal plants have also disappeared. "I feel that the forest is my mother, who gives me food and life," said Veronika Manim, 35, another Mpur tribe resident, who lives in Arumi village, East Kebar district, Tambrauw.

Food estate project

In Merauke, Papua, the life of the Malind Anim tribal community in Zanegi Village, Animha District, has turned 180 degrees after the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE) began its food estate project. Before the project was opened, the company carried out a public campaign so that local residents would be tempted to give up their customary land. Zanegi village is one of the villages affected by the MIFEE project development. The project, which was launched in August 2010, occupies 2.5 million hectares covering two districts, Animha and Kaptel.

However, instead of being prosperous, the people are suffering even more. The lure of a better life has instead turned into poverty because they have lost the main sources of their food. “Life is getting more constrained. Companies and the government often cheat and persuade the citizens. In the past, when we were hungry, we just went to the forest,” said Bonifacius Gepze, 60, a traditional leader of the Malind Anim tribe.

Since the time of their ancestors, the Malind Anim people have relied on the forest as their main source of life. They go in and out of the forest every day to cut sago palm, hunt animals, harvest vegetables and even look for medicine. In short, forests for indigenous peoples are like a supermarket for urban residents.

KOMPAS/DOKUMENTASI DINAS KOMUNIKASI DAN INFORMATIKA KABUPATEN TOLIKARA

Residents of Tolikara Regency which is included in one of the areas in the central mountainous region of Papua. Tolikara was expanded from Jayawijaya Regency in 2002.

In Nabire, Papua, the customary forest of Kampung Sima residents, covering an area of 17,000 hectares, also disappeared after it was converted into oil palm plantations. As a result, the Yeresiam people not only lost their source of food because game animals were no longer available, but also had to suffer because of floods that hit their village every year.

"After the forest was gone, our village was always flooded during the rainy season," said Yulianus Awujani, 56, the head of government affairs at Sima village.

Sick mother

According to Indonesia Monitoring Coalition (KIM) data, based on analysis conducted by Forest Watch expert Hansen, the remaining natural forest area in Papua was 33.8 million hectares in 2020.

The same data shows that over the past two decades, Papua's natural forest cover has shrunk by 693,296 hectares. On average, 34,664 hectares of deforestation occurs every year in Papua, the equivalent of 42,000 football fields of forest. The highest deforestation rate occurred in 2015, in which 89,881 hectares of forest were destroyed.

Cenderawasih University anthropologist JR Mansoben believes that indigenous peoples will rely on the help of companies or other parties if most of the forests are converted into industrial projects. "They are in an

uncertain situation because they have lost the source of their livelihoods," said Mansoben.

West Papua Governor Dominggus Mandacan said that the provincial administration was determined to maintain 70 percent of the province’s total forest area. The local government has also revised the spatial and regional plans for the province as part of a deforestation reduction policy.

KOMPAS/HARRY SUSILO

Andreas (65), warga Kampung Sima, berdiri di Hutan Sagu Manawari, Kabupaten Nabire, Provinsi Papua, Senin (26/4/2021)

For this reason, the West Papua provincial government has promised that it will stop issuing a new permits for the opening of oil palm plantations.

"We will only rejuvenate the existing oil palm plantations and focus on plantation areas managed by the community or farmers," said Dominggus during an interview with Kompas at the West Papua governor's office recently.

The head of the Papua Forestry and Environment Service, Yan Yap Ormuseray, acknowledged that deforestation had worsened because companies that had obtained plantation business permits had also applied for timber exploitation permits (IPKs).

He said the requirements for companies to receive IPKs should be tightened to reduce deforestation.

According the deputy of the environment and forestry minister, Alue Dohong, Papua is the country’s last stronghold in terms of primary forest area. To protect forest cover in Indonesia from the threat of deforestation, including in Papua, the government has imposed a moratorium on the issuance of new permits for enterprises in primary natural forests and peatland in conservation forests, protection forests and production forests.

The moratorium is stipulated in Presidential Instruction No. 5/2019 on the termination of new permits and the improvement of governance for primary natural forests and peatlands.

"Secondly, what we have to do is, of course, enforce the law [and] strengthen our law enforcement in Papua," said Alue Dohong on Friday (7/1/2022).

(This article was translated by Hendarsyah Tarmizi)