Central Papua boosts community economy through forest management

The Provincial Government of Central Papua is encouraging community economic improvement through sustainable forest management by developing non-timber forest products and strengthening the empowerment of indigenous communities around forest areas. Yan Richard Pugu, Head of the Environmental, Forestry and Land Affairs Office (DLHKP) of Central Papua Province, stated in Nabire on Monday that communities living around forest areas need to derive economic benefits from forest conservation so their welfare can improve without damaging the environment. “Communities need to be made aware of the importance of protecting the forest, but there also needs to be intervention to change forest management patterns. For example, through the utilisation of non-timber forest products such as sago and rattan, or the development of tourism areas to provide economic value,” he said. Central Papua covers an area of approximately 61,073 square kilometres, with forest areas reaching around 3.9 million hectares, consisting of protected forests, production forests, and other land uses, he explained. Of this total, around 2.3 million hectares, or 58.7 per cent, are protected forest areas requiring protection and sustainable management. According to him, the provincial government has also empowered communities by establishing sago farming groups in several locations as an effort to create new income sources based on local potential. Besides sago, he said the provincial government is also promoting the utilisation of other non-timber forest product commodities, such as rattan, to provide added economic value for indigenous communities who have long depended on forest areas for their livelihoods. Furthermore, he said there are currently three companies holding Forest Utilisation Business Permits (PBPH) in Central Papua that are being encouraged to involve indigenous communities in every forest product utilisation activity. He cited the example of a PBPH company in Kiliarma, Mimika Regency, which regularly provides compensation to indigenous communities based on the harvested production results. In addition, companies are also encouraged to channel corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes, such as building educational facilities and community empowerment activities around forest areas. “We want the community not just to be spectators, but to also feel the economic benefits of sustainable forest management,” he said. He added that since Central Papua became a new autonomous region, supervision of forestry activities has been continuously tightened, resulting in a significant decline in illegal logging practices and illegal timber shipments out of the region. “We are conducting better inspections and supervision, so timber shipments out of the region have dropped drastically,” he said. According to him, sustainable forest management is an important step in supporting low-carbon development while maintaining environmental conservation in Central Papua, amid increasing global attention to climate change issues.