The Dynamics of the Green Policies in Papua Land: A Political Economy Study

Abstract

The provincial governments of Papua and West Papua have expressed their commitments and enacted policies to develop Papua Land in a sustainable manner through the issuance of Papua 2100 Vision, the 2019 Manokwari Declaration, and the ‘green’ spatial plan of Papua province. However, the implementation of these policies in balancing protection of forests and improvement of livelihood of indigenous Papuans has been slow. By employing a political economy approach, the study explores how interactions between the political economy structure, institutions, and actors have resulted in slow implementation of such commitments, particularly in reviewing the compliance of land-based industry licenses and acknowledging customary (adat) areas. The study was conducted between February 2020 and March 2021 and encompassed approximately 50 key informant interviews – including donors, civil society organizations, adat leaders, national and subnational governments, observers, academics, and journalists – and document review. The findings of this study suggest that the reform is mainly driven by development partners and limited numbers of bureaucrats that align with the indigenous Papuans’ interest to protect their land from outsiders. The small coalitions were successful in focusing their effort to enact green policies in the two provinces. However, the study highlights constraints faced by these actors to turn the policies into actions: (1) the existence of wide array of powerful actors – non-Papuans and Papuans – with strong economic and political interests identified at central, provincial, and regency level to hinder the enforcement of problematic land-based licenses and clarify adat areas; (2) the absence of broad-based political support. These have hampered the implementation of the green policies under the two aspects above. This study recommends reviewing policy at the national level to create enabling environment for green policies implementation in both provinces, e.g., to review the Omnibus Law, supporting the regency-level actors to accelerate issuance of the perda PPMHA and local-level regulations on adat-managed areas, supporting licenses review in Southern part of Papua Province to limit the operation of these businesses to expand in forest areas and disrespect adat rights over their lands, and exploring engagement with the opposing parties at all administrative level.