Food Security and Land-Use Planning in Papua and West Papua

With support from UKCCU, through a program called “A Scientific Advocacy Support Mechanism for Sustainable Development in Papua and West Papua”, CIFOR and partners are undertaking a number of activities aimed at supporting the provincial governments of Papua and West Papua in realizing their commitments as stated in the 2018 Manokwari Declaration, particularly in regard to food security and land-use planning.

In response to the West Papua Provincial Government’s need to assess the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on food security in West Papua, CIFOR has collaborated with the West Papua Provincial Research and Development Agency (Balitbangda) to conduct three surveys on disruptions to food systems. The first survey assesses general impacts on food value chains, the second survey assesses impacts on food producers living in forested areas, while the third survey assesses impacts on food consumers in West Papua.

CIFOR in collaboration with the Papua Provincial Development Planning Agency (Bappeda), have been working to develop a Papua Province Strategic Area Land-use Plan or Rencana Tata Ruang Kawasan Strategis Provinsi Papua (RTR KSP) for Merauke and surrounding districts. Efforts are being made to incorporate sustainability and environment principles, as specified in the strategic environment study or Kajian Lingkungan Hidup Strategis (KLHS) developed by the Papua working group, into the RTR KSP land-use plan. The RTR KSP serves as a detailed guideline for land allocation and uses for economic development, including facilities and infrastructure. It indicates areas for agriculture, settlement and food estate development – an ongoing large-scale program promoted by the central government – as well as areas for protection and conservation.

CIFOR is also assisting the National Development Planning Agency’s Papua Desk in carrying out its mission to accelerate development in Papua and West Papua provinces under a new five-point framework covering: human resource excellence; economic transformation; infrastructure development; environmental conservation and disaster resilience; and governance and bureaucracy reform. This enables the Papua Desk to make informed and sensible cross-sectoral development decisions, using thematic, holistic, integrated and spatial approaches. In particular, CIFOR is helping enhance the Papua Desk’s capacity to collect, analyze and present spatially explicit information on various development sectors across the two provinces.

Objectives

The objectives of the webinar are to share and discuss key findings, to recommended options for addressing food security and land-use planning issues, and to solicit input on priority research agendas.

The online seminar committee will send registered participants a link and instructions so they can join the seminar.

This online seminar will be held in Bahasa Indonesia without translation.

For more information, please contact Heru Komarudin, h.komarudin@cgiar.org

28 April