Environmental Issues

In West Papua illegal logging accounts for over 80% of the timber harvested every year. Most of the illegal supply is sent overseas to Malaysia and China. A local person might get $10 for one tree; in China it fetches $1500. There are vast profits to be made. The Indonesian Government has declared that one third of Papua's forests are to be targeted for replacement by Palm oil production. An extra 120,000 transmigrant workers are to be relocated for this purpose. The destruction of existing forests is leading to increases in greenhouse gas emissions. Indonesia is ranked the third largest contributor to this problem, mostly due to deforestation. At the last round of Kyoto talks in Bali in 2007, a proposal was discussed to financially compensate countries that save existing forests. Australia has already committed $200 million to this idea. West Papuan support groups, particularly AWPA-SA are very supportive of this but we will need to remain alert because of the level of corruption and the slowness of change. Very recently, in late 2008, Greenpeace sent a boat to West Papua and by helicopter flights were able to document illegal logging that was supposed to have ceased.

For more information on environmental concerns:
Visit Greenpeace International at www.greenpeace.org
And Down to Earth at www.dte.gn.apc.org top

HIV/AIDS

The spread of the disease in Indonesia has been increasing, but in West Papua it has reached epidemic proportions, with some reports of it reaching 20 times the Indonesian average. It has spread past the usual high risk groups of drug users, gay contact and prostitutes and is now prevalent in the general population. For instance, on the island of Biak, there are 300 housewives who are infected. It is spread largely through the military run prostitution businesses where condom use is not promoted. Recently Australia and the US have put in $2M and $8M, however to date AusAID has not had ready access to the country to monitor programs

For more information visit United Nations Development Program at www.undp.or.id
or University of Sydney, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies
at www.arts.usyd.edu.au/centres/cpacs top

Free and Open access

Human rights activists such as Amnesty International and International Crisis Group are not allowed in to West Papua. Also banned are a large number of academics, aid organisations, journalists and members of parliament. In April 2009, the International office of the Red Cross was forced to close its office in the Papuan capital of Jayapura. top

What you can do

If you want to find out more you can contact AWPA-SA
at info@awpa-sa.org.au
And join our email newsletter or 3 monthly newsletter. top