West Papua
Bird's Head Peninsula with world's 3rd-largest rainforest, Raja Ampat diving, and BP's 7.6Mt LNG amid unresolved autonomy tensions.
The Bird's Head Peninsula holds the world's third-largest rainforest after the Amazon and Congo, plus the underwater paradise of Raja Ampat. It also holds BP's Tangguh LNG facility, pumping 7.6 million metric tonnes of gas annually since 2009. The tension between extraction and preservation defines West Papua's modern history—a province where Melanesian Indigenous peoples have waged a low-level independence struggle since Indonesia took control from the Dutch in 1962.
Special Autonomy status since 2001 promised that 70% of oil/gas revenue and 80% of mining revenue would remain in Papua. The reality proved more complex. Despite abundant resources, Papua remains among Indonesia's poorest regions with high rates of illiteracy and infant mortality. In June 2024, Jakarta announced plans to convert 5 million hectares of customary forest into sugar cane plantations in Merauke. The autonomy law was extended to 2041, but critics argue development remains top-down.
Raja Ampat's marine tourism and West Papua coffee farming represent alternative development paths. By 2026, the province will test whether programs like Papua Muda Inspiratif can build local capacity—or whether the extraction model that enriched Jakarta continues while Papuan communities watch resources flow outward.