2) Tambrauw students reject illegal mining in Kwor District
3) Ministry to hold cross-border festival in Jayapura
https://en.jubi.id/south-papuan-youths-voice-the-dangers-and-threats-of-deforestation/
1) South Papuan youths voice the dangers and threats of deforestation
News Desk - Deforestation
23 March 2023
Merauke, Jubi – South Papua Youth Movement for Indigenous Land Care (GPPSPTA), a group of young people in South Papua Province’s Merauke Regency, voiced the dangers and threats of deforestation to the community and local government.
GPPSPTA Coordinator Mario Mere in a written statement received by Jubi on Wednesday, March 22, 2023, said that in commemorating the World Forest Day on March 21, his party held a discussion on deforestation in the South Papua region.
“We held the discussion at LBH Papua Pos Merauke and it was supported by the Pusaka Foundation. In the discussion, we agreed that forests had a very important role in the climate crisis and global warming,” said Mere.
In general, Mere said, the natural forest in the southern part of Papua has been widely cleared for oil palm plantation, namely in Merauke Regency (Bupul, Muting District) and partly in Boven Digoel Regency (Asiki and surrounding areas).
Deforestation was caused by, among others, conversion of forest areas especially for state agendas such as the National Strategic Program, National Economic Recovery, Special Economic Zones, and food security.
“Conservation and protected forest areas in Indonesia are currently under threat. The level of seriousness of the government in this matter is questionable because there are still policies that do not favor the protection and sustainability of natural ecosystems including peatlands,” he said.
The threat of deforestation in Merauke in particular, said Mere, began in 2007. The Merauke Administration at that time proclaimed that year as the year of investment. Merauke was used as a rice barn to meet the needs of rice in Papua under the program MIRE (Merauke Integrated Rice Estate).
Furthermore, in 2010, the central government through the Ministry of Agriculture launched the MIFEE (Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate) in Sirapuh hamlet, Semangga District. The birth of this mega project stems from MIRE.
“The presence of this large-scale investment has led to degradation of natural resources and the environment because it is accompanied by an uncontrolled conversion of forests to agricultural land,” he said.
“The Minister of Environment and Forestry has indeed issued Decree 168 of 2022 on the 2030 Indonesia’s Forest and Other Land Use Net Carbon Sink Operation Plan for climate change control. The goal is to reduce the rate of deforestation and forest degradation. But in our opinion the Ministry’s steps will have no impact to inhibit the rate of deforestation, especially in Papua,” he added.
Mere said forests were very meaningful to the people of Papua. In the southern region, the people are still very dependent on nature and treat the forest as a “supermarket”.
“We ask the government to immediately curb companies that have had their concession licenses revoked, so that forests can be restored to their former glory. The state must also respect and protect the rights of indigenous peoples to control, regulate, manage and utilize customary forests, by producing and implementing policies and programs for indigenous peoples and fair and sustainable management of customary forests,” added Mere. (*)
Jayapura, Jubi – Solidarity of Tambrauw Regency Students in Jayapura rejects illegal mining in Kwor Village, Barar Village, and Orwen Village in Kwor District, Tambrauw Regency, Southwest Papua Province. The students held a press conference in Tambrauw Dormitory on Monday, March 20, 2023.
One of the students, Theo Esya, said illegal mining started to operate in early 2023. They operate not far from residents’ housing in the three villages.
“The illegal mine is managed by non-Papuans who come from Manokwari Regency. They mine at locations that are not far from residential areas,” he said.
Esya said the local government was ignorant of these illegal miners despite the local community having voiced rejection of illegal mining.
“Many parties, including the community, youth, intellectuals, have openly addressed this problem in the mass media. Local indigenous people urge the government and security forces to immediately stop illegal gold mining that disturbs residents in Kwor District,” he said.
Esya said illegal mining would have a negative impact on the local community. Moreover, the mining process is around settlements and near rivers, so it can be a serious threat to the sustainability of the environment as well as the local community.
“We students ask the local government and the West Papua Police to immediately come to Kwor to arrest illegal miners because they do not have permission from the local community to operate,” he said. (*)
Head of the Jayapura Tourism Office Matias Mano said that Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno expressed his intention to conduct the festival during a visit to the border post in Skouw village on Tuesday (March 21, 2023).
"Aside from the cross-border festival, other activity to rouse tourism in Jayapura city is the ten-km run competition," he added.
The ten-kilometer race will involve Indonesians and Papua New Guineans living in the city, he informed.
“So, the setup of the competition is five kilometers in Indonesia, then five more kilometers in Papua New Guinea," he said.
Mano informed that the race has been designed with such a setup so that people will become interested in coming to the Indonesia-Papua New Guinea border in Skouw village.
He also disclosed that the ministry is intending to make Jayapura a creative city, just like Ambon city in Maluku, which is known for its music.
"This is also in accordance with President Joko Widodo's directive when he established Papua Youth Creative Hub in Jayapura city on Tuesday, March 21, in which he expected a Jayapura street carnival event (to be held),” Mano said.
He informed that the carnival will kick off in June as part of the Sentani Lake festival, which will take place in Jayapura.
"(This initiative) can serve as a direction for us in creating Jayapura as a city of fashion, on top of other choices from Jayapura municipal government should they wish to make Jayapura a city of dance, it is possible," he said.
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"We appreciate the steps been taken by the regional governments, both the provincial government and the district/city governments in West Papua and Southwest Papua in dealing with extreme poverty and stunting," Effendy noted in his statement in Jakarta, Thursday.
Menko PMK assessed that regional governments in the local area have coordinated and synchronized policies intensively to address these two priority issues.
"Kemenko PMK continues to remind that program coordination and synchronization is the main key in suppressing these two priority issues," he stated.
Effendy called for the need to concurrently handle extreme poverty and stunting, as the two are co-related.
According to the minister, this aims to support the government's target of reducing the prevalence of stunting nationally to 14 percent in 2024 and eliminating extreme poverty, from four percent in 2021 to zero percent in 2024.
Based on reports from the local government, the extreme poverty rate in West Papua Province has decreased, from 10.28 percent in 2021 to 9.43 percent in 2022.
Meanwhile, in Southwest Papua Province, the extreme poverty rate dropped, from 9.05 percent in 2021 to 7.37 percent in 2022.
Sorong District is one of the areas that has experienced a reduction in the extreme poverty rate, from 14.86 percent in 2021 to 12.09 percent in 2022.
Assistant of Government and People's Welfare of Sorong District, Suroso, remarked that the decline was triggered by the partnership program and increased access to basic services and regional connectivity.
"Our efforts to intervene in accelerating the eradication of extreme poverty are to strengthen coordination and synergy with all relevant parties," he remarked.
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