Celebrating Success through Innovation and Adaptation

LEI recently submitted the fourth progress report of the Papua Spatial Planning program or PSP as it is referred to, operating in Indonesia.

Reporting on the past 6 months of project activities during 2021, the report reveals positive progress in the second year of the project with achievements against all of the key project indicators as detailed in the project Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Result Framework, including obtaining the approval of the spatial plan for West Papua Spatial Plan. This marks a tremendous achievement  by PSP.  The all-important cross sectoral meeting (Linsek), a statutory, multi stakeholder meeting of all interested parties, that is required to approve the plan, occurred on 6 December 2021 with Substance Approval following on 18^th January 2022.

Working with provincial government agencies and spatial plan revision team, PSP has successfully introduced a number of innovations to the spatial planning process. These innovations, described below, serve to elevate the importance of spatial planning as a critical tool in efforts towards reduced deforestation and land degradation, emissions reduction and climate change mitigation, sustainable livelihoods and green business development while directly contributing to project outcome indicators.

Firstly, the inclusion of Sustainable Development Zones as a component of the process. To our knowledge, this is the first time this has been accommodated. Inclusion of the zones provides an important mechanism designed to protect forest within cultivation areas which are considered important for ecological, social, economic, and cultural/adat value. This innovation has been very much accepted by spatial plan revision team and has received strong support from West Papua Government. The inclusion of a Sustainable Development Zone as a component of the West Papua spatial plan provides a practical basis for government and adat communities to promote tenure security of the communities, practice sustainable livelihoods, and promote green investments through social forestry or other schemes. Secondly, and complimenting the inclusion of Sustainable Development Zones, , is the integration of customary (adat) territories into the spatial planning process.  While featuring as a focus of PSP activity for some time, adat integration is only measured once Substance Approval of the spatial plan is obtained. Intensive PSP technical assistance in support of the revision of West Papua spatial plan resulted in the achievement of over 8 million hectares of adat territory produced by local CSOs and adat communities which are integrated into the 2021 West Papua spatial plan approved by Ministry of Agrarian and Spatial Planning (MASP).

The achievement and innovation of the past year are all the more noteworthy given the ongoing challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to the pandemic PSP has continuously demonstrated adaptability and flexibility. PSP has constantly adapted program implementation to take account of the COVID-19 situation in Indonesia. Activities such as workshops, focus group discussions, on-the-job-training and coordination meetings have been delivered using hybrid online and in-person audiences, taking full advantage of the technologies that allow activities to continue even when in person gatherings are not possible.  Use of new online collaboration tools has allowed PSP to continue implementation activity, including the provision of online support to provinces and districts governments to complete their spatial plans. While each location presents its own challenges in terms of difficulties related to internet connection and the capacity of  of  government staff, PSP’s approach using a combination of online and offline assistance  has resulted in measurable  impact on knowledge improvement for government officials as beneficiaries. The team work flexibly to account for days where internet connection is too limited to continue training or support. In addition, counterparts in Boven Digoel and Kaimana Districts in Papua and West Papuan provinces respectively are supported by PSP staff on the ground to facilitate the PSP team coordination. Close monitoring of the COVID-19 situation in the areas that PSP is working has allowed PSP to react quickly to opportunities to deploy additional technical staff to the field when it has been safe to do so.

Notwithstanding ongoing challenges related to COVID-19, we anticipate PSP continuing to build upon the successes of 2021 during the coming year, working towards the finalization of spatial plans in Papua, Boven Digoel, Kaimana, Jayapura and Raja Ampat.

(The PSP project is established by the UK Climate Change Unit in Indonesia, (recently renamed Low Carbon Development Group (LCDG)), under the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and is being implemented by Land Equity in partnership with Daemeter Consulting)

Image: Cross-sectoral meeting for West Papua spatial plan on 6 December 2021 in Jakarta.