Notes from Tambrauw - WMK [associates]

Just returned home from Sausapor, the temporary capital of the Regency of Tambrauw, West Papua Province. It’s a short trip, to meet the Regent (Bupati) of Tambrauw, along with Cristi Nozawa, Director of the Samdhana Institute, and Yunus Yumte, the Samdhana Institute’s Papua Coordinator. Although I’m a fellow of Samdhana, I gave a short presentation for the Regent of Tambrauw on Urban and Regional Development Institute (URDI) behalf. Although this visit was very short, it turned out very effective and productive. The beautiful scenery along the road from Sorong to Sausapor makes us ignore the tiredness of sitting in the car for four hours.

The Regent of Tambrauw warmly greeted us, and expressed his support to our intent to assist the Tambrauw Government on sustainable investment. He said that Tambrauw needs sustainable investment since the regency has been declared as a Conservation District (Kabupaten Konservasi), and the Regent shows strong commitment to protect tenure rights of the Tambrauw communities. The regency is rich in biodiversity. Besides having a large expanse of primary forest, Tambrauw has Jamursbamedi beach, which is known as nesting beach of Leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea).

This is a very promising step forward. We also agreed to work together with local government staff as well as technical teams who have been assisting the Bupati’s work.

Warm regards.