According to Omba, those devastating changes were triggered by the arrival of men who came to cultivate plantations of palm oil, a multibillion dollar crop used in a vast array of products around the world from shampoo to lipstick and pizza dough. They also happened without his permission, “even though I am the customary owner of the land and forest.”“This is still ongoing today,” says Omba, whose clan is part of the island’s indigenous Wambon Tekamerop tribe.“Rivers and streams became dirty, so we could no longer drink the water or wash and bathe in them because we would get sick.”
A palm oil concession in Papua, Indonesia. Photo: Ulet Ifansasti / Greenpeace
Portrait of Markus Aute, an elder from Wambon Tekamerop community, Mandobo tribe in Subur village, Boven Digoel, West Papua in June, 2019. The Wambon Tekamerop indigenous community of the Mandobo tribe has long been in conflict with various expansions of palm oil plantations in their customary territory. Photo: Nanang Sujana
A chart showing cumulative forest loss in Papua. Graphic: Vice World News
An aerial view of a palm oil plantation bordering the customary forest belonging to the Wembon Tekamerob community of the Mandobo Tribe in Selil Village, Subur District, Boven Digoel Regency, Papua in June 2019. Photo: Nanang Sujana
A small boat travels through marshes in Papua province, Indonesia. Photo: Ulet Ifansasti / Greenpeace
A palm oil concession in Papua, Indonesia. Photo: Ulet Ifansasti / Greenpeace
Campaigners say few benefits from this destructive development will reach the poorest in Indonesia, which has the sixth greatest wealth inequality in the world, even though they are on the frontlines of climate change. The poverty rate in Papua, which was subsumed into the Indonesian state in the 1960s, is the country’s highest – 27.53%, compared to 3.47% in the capital Jakarta.“The creation of palm oil monocultures is terrible for Papua,” says Timer Manurung, chairman of Indonesian conservation NGO Auriga. “But for politicians, there’s a huge amount of money to be made. Exploiting natural resources is seen by politicians as a way to fill their pockets and gain funds to win elections. It’s not benefiting Papuans.”
Aerial view of a palm oil plantation in Papua province. Photo: Ulet Ifansasti / Greenpeace
Franky Samperante, director of Pusaka, an Indonesian nonprofit documenting the effect of the palm oil industry on indigenous groups in Papua, said malnutrition and extreme poverty was increasing rapidly. “It’s been devastating,” he said. “They don’t have any income. They can’t pay for their children to go to school. They can’t pay for food.”The conversion of forest to palm oil has also caused a huge amount of conflict over land rights, community compensation and employment, according to findings by independent researchers. A report by the Consortium for Agrarian Reform (KPA), an Indonesian NGO, found the plantation sector accounted for the largest number of land conflicts in 2020, with 101 of these relating to palm oil.“People don’t know oil palm is coming. Consent hasn’t been given. It’s not acceptable. The livelihoods of Papuans are being destroyed at the hands of palm oil companies.”