Papua Land is a region that has abundant natural resources. In the forestry sector, Papua’s forests cover an area of 32.4 million hectares or 37% of Indonesia’s forest cover. This vast forest cover is home to biodiversity which is also a source of livelihood for everyday people, especially indigenous communities. Therefore, it is important for local governments in Papua to adopt forest-friendly policies and strengthen the role of indigenous groups in development.

PATTIRO, through the support of The Asia Foundation and the Climate and Land Use Alliance (CLUA), is encouraging the strengthening of forest-friendly policies in the Land of Papua. This program uses a jurisdictional approach (JA), namely an area-based approach to government administration through the formation and strengthening of a multi-stakeholder forum which is familiarly known as the Multi Stakeholder Forum (MSF). The hope is that through MSF cooperation can be built across sectors or stakeholders based on administrative areas in improving forest-friendly policies in Tanah Papua.

In implementing the program, PATTIRO collaborates with local partners, namely the KIPRa Foundation in Sarmi Regency, the Wasur Lestari Papua Foundation (YWLP) in Merauke Regency, and Pt PPMA in Jayapura Regency. This program is expected to strengthen and develop MSF, strengthen green leadership, and provide multi-stakeholder lessons learned in the three districts.