Jayapura (21/02)-In February 2014, the European Union-funded Participatory Monitoring by Civil Society of Land-use Planning for Low-emissions Development Strategies (ParCiMon) project implemented by the World Agroforestry Centre in collaboration with the Papua Low Carbon Development Task Force (PLCD-TF), Brawijaya University, Papua Conservation and People Empowerment Foundation (YKPM), and Papua Environmental Foundation (YALI) organized a series of training activities for working groups in the three districts of Jayapura, Jayawijaya, and Merauke. The training helped bridge scientific knowledge and local wisdom.

The working groups bring together key stakeholders, including local communities, to plan and develop participatory monitoring and evaluation of land-use planning for low-emissions development.

 The groups have two functions: 1) the planning groups are responsible for producing a set of strategic land-use plans for low-emission development; and 2) the monitoring and evaluation groups ensure that the planning and implementation processes are on the right track.

Support from the local governments in the three districts has been remarkable. The working groups in two districts namely Jayapura and Jayawijaya have been formalized through memoranda of understanding between ICRAF and the district governments. Meanwhile in Merauke, the working group has just recently been established and the legalisation process is still underway.

Jayapura’s working group has been one step ahead of those in Jayawijaya and Merauke. For example, Jayapura is already in the third phase of capacity-building activities and in June and September 2013, a training of trainers was conducted in the district.

The methodology that ICRAF developed for land-use planning for low-emissions development strategies (LUWES) has been introduced to all the working groups. The planning groups have been learning to create scenarios of low-emissions development using land-based data from their district and then producing a set of implementation strategies. Meanwhile, the monitoring and evaluation groups have built systems by first mapping the principles, criteria, and indicators for land-use planning, a green economy, and environmental services (including carbon stocks, hydrology, and biodiversity).

To ensure the local context has been properly accommodated in the monitoring and evaluation system, the groups held focus-group discussions with the local communities in each of the test village to gather various data, such as information about local biodiversity and the use of natural resources. Field training was also conducted in the test villages. The monitoring and evaluation working groups were trained to estimate carbon stocks in trees using a simple methodology and to monitor the quality of water. In the long run, it is expected that the working groups will be able to train local communities.

Embracing the local context has involved embracing local wisdom. In Papua province, local wisdom has long been applied in many villages. In Wambena village (the test village for land-use planning on low-emission development strategies in Jayapura district), for instance, the intimate connection between the local people and the natural environment is best reflected through the philosophy called ‘namengkong’ (literally translated as ‘mother’s milk’).

The people in Wambena believe that nature (forests, ocean, water, land, animals) is as priceless as the mother’s milk that supported their own growth. Without nature, they will not be able to survive. Informed by this local wisdom, which has been handed from generation to generation, the communities have acknowledged the urgency to protect natural resources.

Through the working groups, this example of local wisdom in action is expected to be integrated in both the land-use planning and monitoring and evaluation processes. With more advanced technical capacity now being built in the groups, it is expected that they will be able to provide scientific data that can complement, and help articulate, the importance of local wisdom.