By Yuliana Langowuyo, director of SKPKC Fransiskan Papua, who has been visiting the community in Susun Village at least once a month since 2011 to carry out research and provide assistance.
Last year Indonesia’s forestry minister signed a decree to change the extent and function of the area officially classified as forest in Papua province. The move will see changes to more than six million hectares, including areas targeted by agribusinesses in the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE) development zone in the southern part of Papua.[1]
Indonesia’s Catholic Church leaders have expressed concern about the over-exploitation of natural resources and the resulting social conflict and marginalisation of vulnerable communities. Short-termism in politics and the denial of environmental justice makes matters worse, they say, calling on politicians, business and the Christian community to take steps to protect resources, livelihoods and the right to life of current and future generations.
Agrofuels are often promoted by the agrofuels industry, investors and government officials as a means of providing livelihoods for rural communities, but how does this square with the fact that agrofuels are part of the landgrabbing problem in countries like Indonesia?
In our special edition newsletter on Papua published in November 2011, DTE drew attention to the long and sorry history of top-down resource exploitation in Papua. Now, a whole raft of new development plans are being pushed through, under the government’s nation-wide effort to speed up development (MP3EI), launched last year. An additional layer of plans specifically for Papua is being promoted by UP4B, a special unit to speed up development in Papua.
gn [dot] apc [dot] org
