• Contact
29 / 09 / 2023
International Coalition for Papua
  • News
  • About Papua
  • Human Rights Report
    • Quarterly Reports
    • 2021
    • 2019
    • 2017
    • 2015
    • 2013
    • 2011
    • 2009
    • Genocide Report
  • Resources
    • International Law
      & Norms
    • National Laws
    • Political History
No Result
View All Result
International Coalition for Papua
  • News
  • About Papua
  • Human Rights Report
    • Quarterly Reports
    • 2021
    • 2019
    • 2017
    • 2015
    • 2013
    • 2011
    • 2009
    • Genocide Report
  • Resources
    • International Law
      & Norms
    • National Laws
    • Political History
International Coalition for Papua

Indonesian Government plans to establish new plantations in Papua Province

17.11.2021
in 2020
Reading Time: 2 mins read
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

According to the news outlet Mongabay, the Indonesian government is planning to establish new large-scale agricultural plantations across the country. The plans are threatening Indonesia’s last untouched tropical rain forests. Observers fear that the project will also result in the disenfranchisement of indigenous peoples and small farmers.

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) announced on 23 September 2020 that the government’s “food estate program” would be expanded to the provinces of North and South Sumatra in the west of the country as well as East Nusa Tenggara and Papua in the east. However, Jokowi underlined that the government would focus on the plantations in Central Kalimantan and North Sumatra first, before expanding the program to the other regions. The food estate program follows the objective to secure national food supplies and end Indonesia’s dependence on imported food crops.

The province of Papua is the country’s least developed area. It is home to the world’s largest contiguous tropical rain forest outside the Amazon and Congo Basins. On 28 September 2020, a coalition of ten Papuan-based NGOs published a media release in which they reject President Widodo’s plan to include the Papua province in the program. The NGOs are concerned that the implementation of the program will cause the deprivation of indigenous Papuans’ rights over their land and resources.

The NGO coalition compared Jokowi’s program with the Merauke Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE) launched under former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. The MIFEE project was also designed to sustain Indonesia’s national food security. In reality, the program has drifted far from its initial objective. In the end, only 70,000 hectares (173,000 acres) of the all the concessions in the estate were used for food crops, compared to 594,000 hectares (1.4 million acres) for pulpwood and 266,000 hectares (657,300 acres) for oil-palm. Moreover, numerous indigenous communities living in the MIFEE project area have become victims of land grabbing, fraud and impoverishment.

In line with the president’s decision to expand the food estate program to the province of Papua, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry has been running surveys to identify potential areas for the implementation of the program in Papua. The agency is focusing on the regencies Merauke, Mappi and Boven Digoel. Environment and Forestry Minister Siti explained during a parliamentary hearing that the survey is still ongoing, hence the ministry has not yet decided which areas will be designated for the program.

Mongabay obtained a document according to which the government has identified nearly 1.7 million hectares (4.2 million acres) of potential plantation area in the three regencies. The document indicates that 1.04 million hectares (2.57 million acres) – currently designated as forest areas — could be converted into agricultural utilization areas for plantations by 2021. The Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry did not comment on the validity of the document, as Mongabay journalist attempted to verify the information.

Previous Post

Update on armed conflict in Intan Jaya – Government plans exploitation of gold reserves while residents face displacement and education crisis

Next Post

Military members show up in church during ordination of new priests

Related Post

WPAT/ETAN West Papua Report December 2014

WPAT/ETAN West Papua Report December 2014

18.11.2021

Child Dies in TNI-OPM Shootout

03.07.2013
Update on law enforcement process in multiple cases of human rights violations in Intan Jaya

Update on law enforcement process in multiple cases of human rights violations in Intan Jaya

17.11.2021

Category

  • 2013
  • 2014
  • 2015
  • 2016
  • 2017
  • 2018
  • 2019
  • 2020
  • 2021
  • About Us
  • Biennial Report
  • CCPR Review 2013
  • CESCR Review 2014
  • Human Rights Report
  • International Law & Norms
  • National Laws
  • News
  • Political History
  • Quarterly Reports
  • Resources
  • Special Reports
  • Uncategorized

Tags

new (17)

ABOUT PAPUA

West Papua is the western half of the New Guinea island and comprises the two eastern-most Indonesian Provinces (Province Papua & Province Papua Barat). After decades of transmigration from other parts of Indonesia, the indigenous Melanesian population makes up less than 40% of the population.

Links

  • News
  • About Papua
  • Human Rights Report
  • Resources

Instagram Feed

    Go to the Customizer > JNews : Social, Like & View > Instagram Feed Setting, to connect your Instagram account.

Recent Post

Update on legal processes in relation to attack on military post in Maybrat – Lawyers call upon judges to acquit juvenile defendant

Update on law enforcement process in relation to attack on military post in Maybrat – six defendants transferred to Makassar for trial

31.12.2021
18 September 2021 marks end of palm oil moratorium in Indonesia – NGOs demand extension

Palm oil company PT Subur Karunia Raya alleged of breaching multiple laws in Teluk Bintuni

31.12.2021

© 2021 ICP - Webdesign by ➤ digitaleformate

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Human Rights Report
    • Quarterly Reports
    • 2019
    • 2017
    • 2015
    • 2013
    • 2011
    • 2009
    • Genocide Report
  • Resources
    • International Law & Norms
    • National Laws
    • Political History
  • About Us

© 2021 ICP - Webdesign by ➤ digitaleformate

Manage Cookie Consent
We use cookies to optimize our website and our service.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
Preferences
{title} {title} {title}
Skip to content
Open toolbar Accessibility Tools

Accessibility Tools

  • Increase TextIncrease Text
  • Decrease TextDecrease Text
  • GrayscaleGrayscale
  • Links UnderlineLinks Underline
  • Readable FontReadable Font
  • Reset Reset