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Papua at A Glance : Ecology, Biogeography and environment of Papua

Papua at A Glance :

Ecology, Biogeography and Environment of Papua

(This paper is prepared only for the inauguration of the headquarters management of Tanah Papua ecoregions in Biak-Numfor)

Ir. Noak Kapisa, M.Sc

Head of the Natural Resources and Environment Agency of Papua Province

History of Western Explorers

The first Europeans to sail the coastline of Papua were Portuguese, in the 1500s, and they were followed by the whole cast of exploring nations (Spain, the Netherlands, then England). These explorers were seeking trade routes as well as products to trade. This exploring era lasted from the 1500s to the early 1800s. It was followed by a period of regular trade (bêche-de-mer or trepang, bird of paradise skins, turtle shell, massoi bark, etc), which, in turn was followed by initial settlements (trade-driven), then missionary activity.

Early naturalist/explorers included Alfred Russel Wallace, who visited the Bird’s Head and Raja Ampat Islands in the 1840s, and Odoardi Beccari and Luigi d’Albertis, who visited the Arfak Mountains in the 1870s. The Dutch made a preliminary claim to New Guinea west of the current border of 141^o East Longitude in 1826, but this infamous border was not formalized with the colonial powers of British until 1895 (in the south) and with Germany in 1910 (in the north). What followed was a rather weak attempt to establish government outstations, some rather stronger efforts to explore the interior (1900-1930), and to surmount Papua’s forbidding high peaks. Remarkably, the highest summit in Papua was not successfully ascended until 1962, by Austrian Heinrich Harrer.

Dutch, British, and American biological expeditions were conducted into the remote interior in the 1930s. Most famous was the Snow Mountains Expedition led by Richard Archbold, who discovered the populous Baliem Valley in 1938 during his aerial reconnaissance flights that allowed the expedition to successfully ascend high into the interior mountains.

The plantations and logging operations would be concentrated around Papua’s coastal fringes, leaving the interior to sustainable development options and conservation.

Such a “smart” plan for developing Papua would keep the extensive interior forest lands in large blocks rather than dissecting them. It would protect the important ecosystem services produced by major catchments. It would ensure the survival of Papua’s wildlife riches. And it would balance intensive development in the urban areas with conservation in the interior wild lands. After all, Papua’s wild lands are among its most valuable assets. It is its wilderness and its indigenous forest peoples that make Papua unique on earth. As the world becomes more and more urbanized and more uniform, the wild lands and traditional cultures will become more and more precious for their global existence values. Making Papua more like the rest of the developed world is not smart development. Keeping Papua unique culturally and environmentally will prove a winner in decades to come.

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Papua at A Glance : Ecology, Biogeography and environment of Papua