West Papua Province, previously known as West Irian Jaya Province, was expanded from the province of Irian Jaya (Papua) through Law no. 45 of 1999. Based on Government Regulation No. 24 of 2007, the name West Irian Jaya was changed to West Papua. It has an area of 102,955.15 km2, a province with a population of 1,134,068 people (2020 data), spread over 13 Regencies and 1 City rich in natural resources. Perdasus (Special Regional Regulation) No. 10 of 2019 concerning Sustainable Development in West Papua Province on November 29, 2019. In realizing the goal through this Sustainable Development Province, the Province of West Papua is committed and willing to continue to use the Indigenous Law Community approach in which there are important elements of the Papuan Indigenous People (OAP) in realizing West Papua Province as a Province of sustainable development. This is reinforced by the issuance of Perdasus No. 9 of 2019 concerning Guidelines for Recognition, protection, and empowerment of customary law communities in West Papua Province.
With the 2 Perdasus that have been produced, of course, it will not necessarily be able to realize what is the ideals of West Papua as a Province of Sustainable Development. It takes hard work from all parties (multi-stakeholder) both the Government in this case all Regional Apparatus Organizations (OPD) within the scope of West Papua Province as well as local partners as well as national and international Development Partners.
KEMITRAAN through the BERKILAU (Bersama Kita Protect Tanah Papua) Program seeks to play a role in improving multi-stakeholder coordination and consultation to enhance the sustainable development of the Land of Papua. Including how to effectively harmonize the main national and regional policy instruments from Presidential Instruction No. 9/2020 which focuses on Sustainable Development and the Environment. KEMITRAAN seeks to bridge all stakeholders in West Papua so that they can synergize to achieve the mandate in the regulations that have been set. In addition, it also harmonizes development policies at the national and regional levels.
On August 21, 2021, KEMITRAAN held a Discussion Forum between Regional Apparatus Organizations for Sustainable Development in West Papua. The event was attended by the Regional Secretary of West Papua Province, Drs. Nathanael Mandacan M.Si. In his remarks delivered at this online activity, he stated that in developing a province for sustainable development, it is not only focused on natural resources but also human beings so this must involve all sectors or all cross-departmental organizations. The important role of all sectors from finding, managing and sharing data is an important key to the success of sustainable development in West Papua.
This was also agreed by the head of the West Papua TPH Bun (Food Crops and Plantation) Office, Dr. Jacob S. Fonataba, “Usually, land clearing is not followed by complete data. In fact, land clearing is very important and is part of the data required by the agriculture office. We need to do mappings of the location of sustainable agriculture.”
The role of indigenous peoples in Papua and West Papua is very important in sustainable development. Soni Sumarsono as the representative of KEMITRAAN said, “Low carbon development must be formulated with the involvement of indigenous peoples. Presidential Instruction 9 of 2020 means nothing without indigenous peoples.”
This discussion was closed by the Regional Secretary of West Papua Province with the message, “Change is not easy and fast but it takes a very long time. Establishing good cooperation with KEMITRAAN will encourage the acceleration of low-carbon development in the province of West Papua.”