CO2 Emissions from Forest and Land Fires in Papua & West Papua

Papua Island is one of Indonesia's most forest-rich regions. The forests of Tanah Papua are also the heart of life for biodiversity and indigenous communities. However, forest and land fires (karhutla) threaten the sustainability of these forests.

Karhutla causes an increase in carbon emissions that are harmful to the environment. Meanwhile, the forests of Tanah Papua represent Indonesia's last remaining intact forests. This is because the forests of Tanah Papua serve as a major carbon sink and are also the lungs of the world.

Data from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry's (KLHK) forest and land fire monitoring system, SiPongi, recorded CO2 emissions produced in Tanah Papua from 2015 to 2020 totaling 78.12 million tons of CO2e. The highest emissions were produced during the 2015 karhutla, with 38.85 million tons of CO2e in Papua and 5.02 million tons of CO2e in West Papua. These emission figures have tended to decrease after 2015.

In 2020, emissions in Papua amounted to 1.8 million tons of CO2e, significantly lower than the previous year's 6.65 million tons of CO2e. Meanwhile, in West Papua, the figure increased to 2.7 million tons of CO2e from only 0.9 million tons of CO2e the previous year.