The Manokwari Declaration of 7 October 2018 of the Governors of West Papua and Papua is a commitment to conservation and sustainable development with respect for indigenous communities. West Papua declared itself a conservation province in 2015, while Papua is implementing its ‘Vision 2100’ blueprint for long-term sustainable and low-carbon development. Both provinces are part of the Governor's Climate and Forests Task Force. These are strong commitments toward conservation and sustainable development by the two provinces.
In 2017, CIFOR started to develop the Papua Atlas. This is a geo-platform that links maps of forest change, plantation expansion and associated company-driven deforestation, derived annually from 2001 to 2018 using satellites, with land ownership data (concession maps), mill locations, administrative units, protected areas and roads. The aim is to verify the activities of plantation companies year after year and monitor trends in provinces, districts and protected areas. The atlas increases transparency, accountability and responsiveness and can be used to monitor land-use changes in the provinces.
CIFOR is now focusing on the broader topic of transparency, accountability and responsiveness in relation to decision making and the Manokwari Declaration. Activities here aim to support the governments of West Papua and Papua provinces in implementing the Declaration and other similar commitments. This will be achieved by developing the capacity needed to implement relevant policies and actions, such as reviewing the provinces' spatial structure plans, enforcing moratorium policies and permit reviews, and developing forest reference emission levels, peatland mapping and incentives for sustainable practices.
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