Project
GEG aims to prevent wholesale destruction of forest resources in the largest area of intact forest remaining in South East Asia. Photo courtesy of Ekonomi Hijau
The forests of Indonesia are among its most valued – and exploited – resources. Many formerly forest-rich provinces such as Sumatra and Kalimantan mismanaged this resource, and forests there faced wholesale destruction at the hands of loggers and clear-cutting for palm oil plantations. There is concern that the Papua Provinces, which boast the largest area of intact natural forests of Southeast Asia (31 million hectares), are facing the same future: the current growth trajectory is high-risk and carbon-intensive, and illegal logging poses a threat to indigenous Papuans, 84% (around 1.8 million people) of whom are directly dependent on the forest for up to half of their income.
To meet this challenge, the Papuan Government has committed to pursuing an alternative set of growth policies. Their “Vision 2100” and “Blueprint for Sustainable Land Use” aims to offer an economic model that delivers both ecologically sustainable and equitable growth. Two key targets of these programmes are a goal of 90% forest cover as well as the reduction of areas earmarked for logging by 21%.
As a part of this initiative, at the end of 2017, the then UK Department for International Development [replaced by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)] launched the Green Economic Growth (GEG) programme in collaboration with the Government of the Republic of Indonesia. GEG was implemented under the Ministry of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Areas and Transmigration of the Republic of Indonesia with the UK Low Carbon Development Group (previously called the UK Climate Change Unit).
GEG's goal was both to promote sustainable economic development in the private sector and build the capacity of local authorities to manage this development and attract investors to the region.
NIRAS provided technical assistance to Papuan small-holder farmers and to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) to help build a sustainable and thriving local economic base which will not threaten the natural environment as it grows.
The accumulated value of the human, physical and natural assets developed by GEG interventions generated a wealth of GB£93 million across all value chains. When considered across the programme, the cacao value chain interventions generated the biggest wealth increase, followed by the seaweed value chain.
total value of overall wealth created by the GEG from April 2021 to March 2022
added value from target commodity value chains
of improved natural resource management delivered (22% directly related to GEG intervention)
GEG addressed five critical issues that prevent Papuan small-holder farms and MSMEs from developing sustainable agribusiness enterprises and viable small businesses:
This programme aimed to ensure that the Papua and West Papua Provincial Governments could manage green economic development at the local level and attract investment towards green businesses through a series of capacity building and mentoring, as well as increase access to financing for MSMEs in rural and urban areas in Papua. GEG focused on agricultural commodities and the value-added, down-stream products that can be developed from those commodities. As a part of this, it selected, trained, and mentored Papuan MSMEs to become successful entrepreneurs, or ‘agripreneurs’ who are trained in the full range of small business management skills. The programme supported farmers to increase their productivity and the quality of their commodities or products through technical assistance, training and appropriate technology / tools. It prioritised economic benefits for the community and household and ensured socially fair and inclusive processes by working directly with women and youth.
Yohanes Klemens is an exemplary cacao farmer from Klaisu village, South Gresi sub-district, Jayapura district. He was involved in many cocoa related trainings and shared what he has learned with his community. He has done several things consistently these past years:
Market Focus
A critical part of the GEG programme's approach was to guarantee markets for Papuan producers before they were asked to commit to a five-year journey with GEG. To this end, the GEG team sought collaboration with several companies in Indonesia, both large and small, asked for their technical support and guaranted markets by agreeing to buy the commodities and products that were produced by GEG's target communities and MSMEs.
The programme team also emphasised local Papuan markets (sago, cacao, coffee, virgin coconut oil, seaweed, nutmeg) instead of exporting to western Indonesian or overseas markets. This circulated money in the local economy while also creating more jobs and business opportunities, as well as reducing unnecessary import. GEG strived to maximise the impact and sustainability of its interventions on local economies by designing value chains that serviced domestic actors instead of external ones. The emphasis was on low volume, niche product, and high-margin markets.
Due to Papua’s challenging geography, logistical complications and additional costs often make it unrealistic for local products to compete against those from other parts of the country or region in the common commodity markets. Nonetheless, the programme’s outcome and progress cannot be captured by commodity production targets alone. GEG interventions have effectively increased the value added (e.g. product quality, process efficiency) and sustainability (improved capacity, stronger supply linkages) along the value chains, which is an important contribution to the Papuan economy.
Stakeholder Engagement
The GEG team also encouraged local governments to allocate counterpart funding to support green economic activities. The key issue was that the timing of GEG funding requests must synchronise with the budget planning and disbursement cycles of local governments. Thus, the programme responded quickly to these overtures and sent letters requesting local budget support for GEG activities to each provincial governor. As a result, the provincial government of West Papua agreed to discuss the allocation of Special Autonomy funds to support GEG activities, and the provincial government of Papua also agreed to discuss funding support for GEG activities.
The programme also actively engaged with agricultural facilitators who were employed by the programme’s main counterpart - the Ministry of Village, Development of Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration, the PPDM Programme (Independent Village Development Programme) - to request their help in organising and mobilising local youth to create small harvest contracting teams that could provide harvesting and post-harvest services to farmers who face a shortage of labour. Another discussion with the local government was to create similar groups by reviving the traditional harvesting groups so these groups could also be mobilised for plantation maintenance, nursery construction, and seedling planting.
raised from public and private sources for value chain investment
people benefitting from replication and scale up of the programme pilots
changes in levels of employment along the value chains
forest-dependent peoples' livelihoods improved
green businesses received training
beneficiaries serviced by stakeholders in non-GEG sites replicating GEG approaches
Lessons Learned
Great results despite challenges along the way
GEG faced various challenges, including access to isolated sites due to COVID-19 restrictions; delays due to the uncertainty around programme closure; change of core team composition and leadership; and finally a shift in programme priorities due to a change in donor funding source from FCDO (UK government) to USAID. This led to some reduction and adaptation of activities following a review of prioritisation by the programme team.
Despite these and other operational challenges, the programme largely achieved, and in many cases exceeded its targets. The aggregate contribution to the economies of the two Papuan provinces was estimated at £93 million from April 2021 to the end of 2022 (total value of overall wealth created by the GEG programme for the Papuan economy). This represents an increase from previous years primarily due to GEG’s additional investment in the cacao value chain.
In addition, GEG contributed to 31,414 hectares of “improved natural resource management” of which 22% was directly related to GEG intervention and 78% indirectly associated. A deforestation impact study confirmed that the programme was not contributing to further deforestation and, if sustained, would reduce local populations dependence on forests especially in the case of cacao and seaweed.
