The UK support for biodiversity conservation in Papua Barat Daya (Southwest Papua) is taking a distinctly local shape, linking the protection of forests in Tambrauw with the marine ecosystems of Raja Ampat while creating opportunities for communities whose lives and livelihoods depend on natural resources.
British Ambassador to Indonesia Dominic Jermey visited Papua Barat Daya on September 10, 2026, to see conservation activities and meet local communities involved in sustainable livelihoods. The visit placed the Darwin Extra Ridge-to-Reef Conservation project at the center of a wider Indonesia-UK partnership on climate, biodiversity, and sustainable development.
The project brings together the Government of Indonesia, the Papua Barat Daya provincial government, Fauna & Flora International Indonesia, Yayasan Konservasi Alam Nusantara, or YKAN, and local partners.
Its central idea is relatively simple but significant for a region as ecologically diverse as Papua: forests, rivers, coastlines, and coral reefs cannot be managed as completely separate systems.
What happens in the highlands and forests can eventually affect ecosystems farther downstream and in the sea.
For Papua Barat Daya, that relationship is particularly important. Tambrauw’s forests and Raja Ampat’s marine ecosystems form two very different landscapes, yet they are connected through water, communities, economic activity, and ecological processes.
Jermey said Papua Barat Daya is home to some of the world’s most extraordinary biodiversity, from the forests of Tambrauw to the waters surrounding Raja Ampat. He stressed that protecting those ecosystems requires strong local leadership and partnerships between government and communities.
A Visit Built Around the Ridge-to-Reef Approach
The ambassador’s visit was not presented simply as a diplomatic tour.
It was designed to show how international environmental commitments can be translated into projects on the ground.
The Darwin Extra Ridge-to-Reef Conservation project covers two important landscape and seascape areas in Papua Barat Daya: the Tambrauw Mountains and the Raja Ampat Islands.
The “ridge-to-reef” concept treats the environment as a connected system.
Rather than managing forests, coastal areas, and marine ecosystems in isolation, the approach considers relationships between upstream and downstream areas.
In practice, this means conservation planning can take account of what happens in inland forests as well as what eventually reaches coastal and marine environments.
For Papua, where communities depend on forests, rivers, fisheries, and coastal ecosystems, the approach also brings an economic dimension.
The objective is not simply to place environmental protection above local economic needs. Instead, the project seeks to develop sustainable livelihoods alongside conservation.
According to ANTARA, the partnership aims to improve the effectiveness of conservation-area management, expand community-based conservation, and develop sustainable sources of income.
That balance is central to the project’s rationale.
Communities Become Part of Conservation
During the visit, Jermey met with Genman Hasibuan, head of the Papua Barat Daya Natural Resources Conservation Agency, as well as communities involved in conservation and sustainable livelihood activities.
The community component is important because conservation policies can be difficult to sustain when local residents see environmental protection as something imposed from outside.
The Darwin project instead seeks to involve communities directly.
Local participation includes conservation activities as well as the development of products such as processed food and handicrafts.
These activities provide an economic connection to environmental protection.
If communities can generate income from sustainable activities while maintaining the ecosystems around them, conservation can become part of the local economy rather than an external restriction on it.
Jermey said biodiversity protection and economic opportunities for local communities can move together.
The British ambassador also emphasized the need to mobilize long-term financing.
That point matters because conservation is rarely achieved through a single short-term project.
Forests need continued protection. Marine ecosystems require monitoring. Community programs need training and markets. Local institutions need capacity to manage conservation areas over time.
Without sustainable financing, even successful conservation initiatives can struggle to continue after project funding ends.
Indigenous Access and Natural Resources
The conservation discussion also intersects with a broader issue in Papua: the relationship between development, natural resources, and Indigenous communities.
The British engagement came amid discussions in Papua about the role of Indigenous communities in managing land and natural resources.
On September 9, one day before Jermey’s Papua Barat Daya visit, representatives of the British Embassy met with the Papuan People’s Assembly, or MRP.
Sam Perkins, the political counsellor at the British Embassy, attended the meeting. Discussions focused on Indigenous communities, the protection and empowerment of Papuan women, social and religious life, and the management of natural resources.
MRP Papua Chairwoman Nerlince Wamuar said the discussion provided an opportunity to communicate issues faced by Papuan communities and consider ways of improving conditions in the future.
She highlighted three principal concerns: Indigenous communities, women, and religion.
The discussion about natural resources was particularly direct.
Wamuar said Indigenous communities should not become spectators in development carried out on their traditional lands. She argued that programs implemented in Papua should involve Indigenous communities from the planning stage.
Her position was that consultation and participation could help prevent disputes while building trust between government institutions and communities.
The comments add an important social dimension to the environmental partnership.
Conservation is ultimately not only about forests, reefs, or species. It is also about the people who live around those ecosystems and depend on them.
Women and Local Economic Participation
The September 9 discussion also placed the position of Papuan women on the agenda.
Wamuar called for greater attention to women’s health, economic opportunities, and empowerment.
That focus connects with the broader sustainable development approach outlined during Jermey’s visit.
Environmental programs often depend on local economic participation. Women are frequently involved in household production, food processing, handicrafts, and other community-based activities.
ANTARA reported that the Darwin project already includes local products such as processed foods and handicrafts as part of sustainable livelihood activities.
The connection between conservation and local enterprise could therefore become one of the project’s practical contributions.
Instead of measuring conservation only through hectares protected or species monitored, success can also be considered through whether communities gain durable economic opportunities while maintaining the natural resources on which those opportunities depend.
The available reports do not provide quantitative figures for income generated through the project, so it would be premature to claim a measured economic impact at this stage.
What is clear from the sources is that sustainable livelihoods are an explicit objective of the partnership.
Government Partnership at the Centre
One feature of the project is the range of Indonesian institutions involved.
Britain is working with the national Indonesian government, the Papua Barat Daya provincial government, the Fauna & Flora International (FFI) Indonesia, the Nusantara Nature Conservation Foundation (YKAN), and local partners.
That structure places the project within a broader government-to-government relationship rather than presenting conservation as an isolated foreign initiative.
Jermey described the cooperation as part of the strategic partnership between Britain and Indonesia.
The stated aim is to translate commitments on climate and environmental protection into action at the community level.
For Indonesia, international cooperation can bring additional technical knowledge, networks, and financing to conservation programs.
For Britain, working through Indonesian institutions and local organizations provides a way to support environmental goals while responding to local conditions.
The model also reflects a wider trend in international conservation: global environmental objectives increasingly depend on local implementation.
Raja Ampat and the Value of Marine Conservation
The inclusion of Raja Ampat gives the project an especially important marine dimension.
Raja Ampat is internationally known for its marine biodiversity, while its coastal communities depend on the surrounding sea for food, transport, and economic activity.
The ridge-to-reef approach acknowledges the inseparable connection between marine conservation and land activities.
Forest ecosystems influence watersheds. Rivers connect inland areas with coastal environments. Coastal activities affect marine ecosystems.
The project therefore seeks to look across these boundaries.
YKAN is leading activities in the marine area, while FFI is responsible for activities in the terrestrial landscape.
This division allows organizations with different areas of expertise to contribute to a common conservation framework.
The long-term challenge will be coordination.
Environmental systems do not follow administrative boundaries, and successful conservation requires institutions to cooperate across sectors and jurisdictions.
Tambrauw’s Forests and a Different Conservation Challenge
The Tambrauw landscape presents a different set of conservation conditions.
Mountain forests are not only habitats for biodiversity. They are also part of the ecological systems that support downstream communities and coastal environments.
Protecting these forests can therefore have implications beyond the boundaries of the forest itself.
The Darwin project aims to connect those environmental relationships through its ridge-to-reef model.
It also provides a framework for linking conservation with community livelihoods.
That is particularly relevant in rural areas where economic opportunities may depend directly on natural resources.
The challenge is to ensure that economic activity remains compatible with long-term ecological protection.
The sources do not claim that the project has already solved this challenge. Instead, the partnership is designed to strengthen conservation management and develop sustainable livelihood models.
Education Adds Another Layer to the Partnership
Jermey’s visit did not end with conservation activities.
He also visited Universitas Muhammadiyah Sorong, where he met academics and students to discuss climate change, international development, education, and international exchanges.
The university meeting broadened the scope of the visit.
Environmental conservation increasingly depends on scientific knowledge, public awareness, and a new generation of professionals capable of working across disciplines.
For Papua, strengthening local human resources can be particularly important because conservation programs require people with expertise in environmental management, research, community development, and sustainable business.
Jermey also encouraged more prospective leaders from Papua Barat Daya to take advantage of Chevening scholarships to study in Britain.
The scholarship reference connects education with the longer-term relationship between the two countries.
A conservation project may operate for several years, but trained local professionals can carry environmental knowledge into future government programs, universities, businesses, and civil society organizations.
From Diplomatic Engagement to Local Action
The sequence of events on September 9 and 10 provides a useful picture of how the partnership is developing.
On September 9, British Embassy representatives met the MRP Papua in Jayapura and discussed Indigenous communities, women, natural resources, and social and religious life.
On September 10, Ambassador Dominic Jermey travelled to Papua Barat Daya, where he met conservation officials and local communities involved in environmental protection and sustainable livelihoods.
He then visited Universitas Muhammadiyah Sorong to engage with academics and students.
The three settings were different, but the themes overlapped.
Land and natural resources require responsible management. Communities need to participate in development. Women need access to health and economic opportunities. Young people need education. Conservation requires long-term financing and institutional cooperation.
Together, these themes provide a broader picture of sustainable development than conservation alone.
A Partnership with Long-Term Implications
The environmental partnership between Britain and Indonesia comes at a time when climate change is increasingly influencing development planning around the world.
For Papua, environmental protection has an additional importance because communities depend heavily on natural ecosystems.
The challenge is therefore to avoid treating conservation and economic development as competing objectives.
Jermey’s comments suggest that the British government sees the two as potentially complementary.
The project aims to protect biodiversity while creating sustainable livelihoods. It also seeks to strengthen local management and access to natural resources.
The success of that model will depend on several factors: local participation, effective conservation management, reliable financing, market access for sustainable products, and continued coordination between Indonesian institutions and international partners.
The role of Indigenous communities will also remain important.
The concerns raised by MRP Papua show that participation and recognition of local rights are central to discussions about development in Papua.
Conclusion
The British ambassador’s visit to Papua Barat Daya has placed biodiversity, sustainable livelihoods, and community participation at the center of a growing Indonesia-UK partnership.
The Darwin Extra Ridge-to-Reef Conservation project provides a practical framework by connecting the forests of Tambrauw with the marine ecosystems of Raja Ampat. Its approach recognizes that ecological systems cross boundaries and that conservation requires cooperation among governments, environmental organizations, and communities.
The parallel meeting between British Embassy representatives and the MRP Papua added another dimension, highlighting Indigenous participation, women’s empowerment, natural-resource management, and social harmony.
For Indonesia, the partnership offers an opportunity to strengthen conservation while supporting local economic activity and developing human resources.
For communities in Papua Barat Daya, the critical measure will ultimately be whether conservation creates tangible and lasting benefits without weakening the ecological systems on which local livelihoods depend.
For Britain and Indonesia, the next stage will be turning cooperation into durable results on the ground.
That means maintaining funding, strengthening local institutions, expanding community-based conservation, and ensuring that local voices remain part of development planning.
Papua Barat Daya’s forests and seas are globally significant, but their future will be shaped locally.
The strongest conservation model may therefore be one in which biodiversity protection and economic opportunity are not treated as opposing goals but as two parts of the same long-term effort to protect Papua’s natural heritage while improving the livelihoods of the people who call the region home.
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