3 Things West Papuans Can Do To Face Climate Change as Part of Their Environmental Development in West Papua
As part of the 2015 Paris Climate Change, what can Indonesia do, since this is also related to the environmental development in West Papua?
Climate change has been a serious issue for decades. Greta Thunberg, a young Swedish activist, has started reminding and warning all government officials around the world to take it more seriously. She has gathered many students to cut school for a day for a street rally.
Many others have been doing plenty for climate change awareness. How
about Indonesia? To be more precise, how is it going with the environmental development in West Papua, their
youngest province?
The 2015 Paris
Climate Change
As part of the 2015 Paris Climate Change, one of Indonesia’s long-term
commitment to the environment is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions up to 41%.
The UN Intergovernmental Panel on climate change had addressed their concern.
They elaborated that if the accession of global warming rose over 1.5 C, there
would be greater risks, such as:
·
Extreme drought.
·
Massive floods.
·
Extreme heat.
·
Poverty.
These four major risks will affect hundreds of millions of people around
the world.
Still, another warning has also occurred. Even though the whole
committees are working together to lower the greenhouse gas emissions, the
global temperature will still rise up to 3.1 C by 2100.
The Vast Green
Areas In Papua and West Papua
Obviously, Papua and West Papua still consist of vast green areas. Their
mangrove forests are vital to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. When the two provinces
are joined together, their green areas – alias the forests - will be up to 33
million ha. This covers almost 80% of the whole island.
In 2018, the Manokwari Declaration was signed by both the Papuan and
West Papuan governments. Based on the declaration, the two governments have
committed to allocating about 70% of the land as a protected area. This will
definitely meet the target of the 2015 Paris Climate Change.
Of course, this effort will also need a lot of active participation from
every citizen.
3 Things
So, what are the three (3) things that people can do to face climate
change as part of their environmental
development?
1.
Conducting ongoing, collaborative studies to bring a better perspective
in the plan.
These collaborative studies must always involve local governments,
academic institutions, private sectors, and also NGOs and CSOs. Everyone has to
make sure that during the environmental
development, nobody will get
left behind or forgotten. That way, everyone will reap the benefits of this
plan.
There are factors to consider too, regarding the analysis:
·
Spatial aspect.
·
Economic aspect.
·
Sociocultural
aspect.
·
Ecological aspect.
2.
Conducting a training series in order to strengthen the planning skills
to develop the environment.
These planning skills should be for both the government and the people
themselves. The training includes System Thinking and System Dynamics. The
details of both are like this:
·
The system thinking.
The system thinking is how one looks at phenomena as a system. This
system shows that an inter-relationship exists between the components.
·
The system dynamics.
The system dynamics is a method that one can use to understand that a
system gets to change over time. This modeling lets us do an assessment
regarding different policies outcomes. From here, we can figure out how to find
the best scenario regarding the achievement for developing goals, like:
- Delivering a target on an emission reduction.
- Meeting the target for economic growth.
It is even better if the best scenario can help to achieve both targets
above.
3.
Enhancing data availability and accessibility.
These two can—and must—be done through a platform development. This will
help to capture the necessary data that will work to develop an evidence-based
development plan. The data must include all of these below:
·
Economic growth.
·
Population growth.
·
Human development
index.
·
Deforestation.
·
Forest
degradation.
·
The use of land.
·
Land cover.
·
The land-based
concession.
·
Emission factor from
sector to sector.
The Progress in
the Environmental Development
As part of the long-term commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emission,
West Papua has already signed the Low Carbon Development Initiative (LCDI). With this initiative, there have been
policies identified to balance:
- Economic growth.
- Human welfare.
- Environmental sustainability.
If LCDI is working well and all parties involved are doing it right,
Indonesia may reach an average GDP growth rate up to 6% per year until 2045.
The greenhouse gas emission may be reduced down to nearly 43% by 2030. This
will exceed Indonesia’s current national climate targets.
When it comes to environmental
development, the role of the
stakeholders is crucial. The national low carbon development must bring equal
welfare to all Papuans and West Papuans – and also meet this country’s targets
for climate action.
In short, people must work together to protect their green area on the
island. That way, the environmental
development in West Papua and Papua will work out, and the greenhouse gas
emission can be reduced.
Sources:
https://wri-indonesia.org/en/blog/3-ways-west-papua-can-develop-evidence-based-development-plan
https://medium.com/@350Pacific/climate-change-and-west-papua-83c5bda9fa34
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