Merauke, October 12, 2011-As an effort to realize sustainable development in Merauke, the Government of Merauke Regency in collaboration with WWF-Indonesia Papua Program held discussions with stakeholders and development partners in a workshop entitled "Integration of Development and Conservation in Merauke Regency. " The workshop, held for three days from October 12-14, 2011, was officially opened by the Regent of Merauke Regency Drs. Romanus Mbaraka, MT, Wednesday (12/10).

The workshop aims, among others, to build a common understanding and commitment of the parties regarding the direction and policy of sustainable development in Merauke Regency, identify issues and strategic programs and work plans for low carbon economic development in Merauke Regency.

Merauke Regency and its surrounding areas are ecologically known as the TransFly Ecoregion which stretches from the monsoon forest area in Merauke to the territory of Papua New Guinea. The ecosystem types in this region consist of mangrove, reparian, savanna and monsoon forest ecosystems. Especially for the monsoon forest type, it is one of the ecosystem types that only exists in this region in Papua. TransFly is a unique low-lying area with good accessibility that also poses a threat to the clearing of protected forest areas and surrounding water source areas.

This accessibility factor and large area is also the reason why the central government plans to allocate a large amount of land to support the development of the agricultural and plantation sub-sectors in Merauke Regency, which is currently a priority issue. Through the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estated (MIFEE) program, the central government wants to make Merauke Regency a food barn in this country. In addition, with the development of large-scale agriculture, it is expected that in the future it will contribute to supporting the development of alternative energy, especially those derived from vegetable materials.

Director of WWF-Indonesia's Forest and Freshwater Conservation Program, Ir. Anwar Purwanto, in his speech reminded that it is no longer the time to conflict between development and conservation, but now is the time to integrate development and conservation. He further added that sustainable development can be achieved if it is well planned and supported by data and information. At the end of his remarks on behalf of WWF-Indonesia, he expressed his gratitude for the initiative of the Regent of Merauke and all related SKPD and hopefully this workshop will produce follow-up actions that will benefit the government and the community in Merauke Regency.

While the Regent of Merauke Regency Drs. Romanus Mbaraka, MT in his speech before opening the workshop expressed his hope that the workshop would be able to generate a variety of constructive ideas that would be adopted in the future in government programs both at the central level and in Merauke and increase the positive synergy between local governments, non-governmental organizations and investors (private sector). "I also hope that development in Merauke still refers to green investment and also refers to the spatial guidelines that have been established," he added.

One form of the Merauke district government's commitment in synergizing development and conservation is the sacred place mapping program in collaboration with the local government and WWF that has been implemented. The workshop was attended by Bapeda Papua Province, SKPD and related agencies as well as district heads in Merauke Regency, Non-Governmental Organizations, Donor Agencies in Merauke and Universities, with resource persons from Bappeda Papua Province, Bappeda Merauke Regency and WWF-Indonesia.