Forests at Risk: Jayapura, Papua

By Barrie | August 22nd, 2007 | No Comments

Papua is home to 10 percent of the world’s remaining Intact Forest Landscape, but 2 percent of that is at risk of forest conversion, according to an NGO.

“Unfortunately, Papua’s tropical forest is threatened with being converted into plantations in the near future …,” said Greenpeace forest campaigner Bustar Maitar in Jayapura on Tuesday.

The provincial administration has proposed converting some of Papua’s forests into palm oil plantations to feed the demand for biofuel.

The Forestry Ministry has identified at least 9 million hectares for forest in Papua and West Papua provinces for possible conversion.

“Our data shows that 17.9 million hectares of forest are still intact. Only half would remain if 9 million hectares was taken, that is if there was a guarantee it would never be touched,” said Maitar.

Greenpeace and a joint forum of non-governmental organizations in Papua have reminded Papuans of the importance of healthy forests.

“We want to support the people and the provincial administration to preserve and reap as many benefits as possible from the forest, without turning it into palm oil plantations,” said Maitar.

– JP