October 15 2008: Teluk Cenderawasih, West Papua, Indonesia - Greenpeace Esperanza Expedition (sitios de interés)

Does money grow on trees?

We’ve now crossed the administrative border between Papua and West Papua and we’ve been anchored on the west side of Teluk Cenderawasih, a large bay which cuts into the Indonesian half of New Guinea, helping to create the distinctive 'bird’s head' feature. On the other side of the isthmus - the 'bird’s neck' - is Teluk Bituni and the largest mangrove area in south-east Asia.

Here, the helicopter crew surveyed an oil palm plantation where, although it is still being farmed, it doesn’t look like there are currently any attempts to expand into the surrounding forest. That’s good news, but how do we make sure the forest remains intact? Even if a protected area was created to cover every square inch of forest, there is not enough money or resources to properly enforce that protection and make sure no one sneaks in to start up a logging operation.

The solution is to make the rich countries of the world help fund the protection of forests, not just in Indonesia but also in the Amazon and the Congo basin. It's something Greenpeace has done a lot of work on and part of our work on this ship tour is to promote the Forests For Climate plan - a funding mechanism that will provide incentives to protect the world's forests, preserving the biodiversity and making sure the rights of forest-dwelling people are respected.

Oil palms where the forest used to be in West Papua, Indonesia.
© Greenpeace/Sharomov

© 2008 Greenpeace