TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - West Papua Governor Dominggus Mandacan announced that he is committed to preserving the forests in the province that cover a vast area of 9,730,550 hectares. In comparison, the forests cover 90 percent of the province that is 143,076 square kilometer.

“The forest areas in West Papua are more or less 200-times larger than the City of Oslo,” said Dominggus in his presentation during a seminar on tropical forests at the Scandec Holberg Hotel in Oslo, Norway, on Tuesday, June 26.

The West Papua Province has declared itself as a conservational province since 2015 and has contributed 8.12 percent of Indonesia’s total rain forest areas. The area’s ecosystem also holds numerous biodiversity from Asia and Australia.

The Governor also explained that West Papua’s forests have also contributed for the global society by storing 1,320 million metric tons of carbon. “This can be beneficial if it’s preserved properly,” said Dominggus.

Dominggus stated that there are 17 ocean and water conservation areas that extend to 4.2 million hectares.

“Almost every area here is still in great condition, which is an essential food source and reserve for the people of Papua,” said the Governor.

Despite its rich natural resources, the Papua Province and West Papua remains to be Indonesia’s poorest areas. “This irony becomes the greatest challenge for us to preserve our large portion of wealth that is still left,” said Governor Dominggus.

Linda Novi Trianita TNR