Aim / Tujuan

Around nine million hectares of forests in Tanah Papua were converted to land-based concessions, including forestry, palm oil plantations, and mining. An inventory and analysis of land-based licenses, especially palm oil plantations in eight districts, was conducted to assess the compliance of concession holders' licenses, conformity with spatial planning, protection of indigenous people, and protection of Tanah Papua's primary forests.

 

Where / Di mana

Papua Province, South Papua Province, Central Papua Province

 

Why / Mengapa

Prior to the establishment of the new autonomous regions (DOB), Papua Province was the largest province in Indonesia, covering 31.5 million hectares with the highest percentage of primary forest cover (81%). The province has licensed 4.5 million hectares of land to private companies in the form of oil palm, forestry and mining concessions.  

Most of the licenses are still natural forests, located in indigenous territories with high biodiversity. However, most of the licenses granted are not yet operational. Possibly, these could be used as land investments for future conversion. Land-based concessions must be reviewed so that Tanah Papua's forests and its biodiversity are protected, maintaining its large-scale carbon sinks utility while still providing benefits to indigenous communities and contributing to local revenues.

 

What We Do / Bagaimana

The licensing analysis and inventory process is part of the accelerated implementation of the OneMap Policy on palm oil plantation licenses under the coordination of the National Strategy for Corruption Prevention (Stranas PK) and the Papua Provincial Government before the provincial expansion.  

WRI Indonesia provided technical support to the Papua Provincial Government and the government of eight districts in developing a legal review framework by codifying existing regulations into 34 legal indicators and 12 spatial analyses, classifying violations into several categories, and providing legal recommendations in accordance with laws and regulations.  

The Papua Provincial Government has compiled data on 54 oil palm plantation companies in Papua based on those standardized by the Geospatial Information Agency (BIG) and submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture (ATR/BPN) for spatial map integration and synchronization. From this process, it has recommended the revocation of oil palm plantation licenses with an area of ±500,000 hectares. As of mid-2024, the Papua Government has revoked and shrunk oil palm licenses covering an area of 85,490.82 hectares.    

 

Partners

Papua Provincial Government, District Governments (8 districts), Stranas PK KPK, Geospatial Information Agency (BIG), Ministry of Agriculture.