As an archipelago with 17,508 islands, a sea area of 5.8 million km2, and a coastline length of 99,093 km (BPS Indonesia, 2016), Indonesia certainly has abundant marine resources in its sea space. This is supported by Indonesia's geographical location as the center of the world's coral triangle with a high level of tropical marine biodiversity including coastal ecosystems and a wide variety of other important marine species, as well as non-biological wealth contained in the bowels of the earth to the seabed such as minerals, oil and gas.

In 2016, the West Papua Provincial Government has started the process of preparing the RZWP-3-K document, but the process stages have not followed the rules outlined in the applicable policy. So it is considered that it cannot be used as a valid reference for marine spatial planning in West Papua Province. In 2017, the West Papua Provincial Government again began the preparation of the RZWP-3-K document through the formation of a Working Group as a first step outlined in KP Regulation No. 23 of 2016, with the composition of members who are not in accordance with the provisions in the policy.

In the same year, WWF-Indonesia with the support of the USAID Sustainable Ecosystems Advanced (USAID SEA) project encouraged the accelerated process of preparing the West Papua RZWP-3-K by holding a hearing that brought together the West Papua Provincial Marine and Fisheries Office (DKP) with the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (KKP). The hearing recommended that the Pokja composition be revised and adjusted to the applicable provisions and policies. In June 2017, the revised Pokja was legalized through Decree of the Governor of West Papua Number 050/107/6/2017 which is chaired by the Head of the West Papua Provincial Marine and Fisheries Service and consists of various related government agencies at the provincial level, institutions under the ministry, universities, and NGOs.

The Role of Pokja RZWP-3-K

Beginning the process of preparing the West Papua Province RZWP-3-K document, the Pokja had quite a lot of obstacles, starting from the Pokja's activeness at each meeting whose intensity was still lacking because they still did not understand the importance of marine spatial policies or RZWP-3-K. To overcome this, KKP staff provided technical guidance by attending a series of Pokja meetings and discussions to share the experiences of other provinces whose stages had already been carried out.

Technical guidance is expected to increase the Pokja's knowledge and enthusiasm to complete its task. After the Pokja understood the urgency of preparing the RZWP-3-K document, it then built Pokja cohesiveness by forming a small team as a Pokja representative to act as a cog in taking step by step in preparing the document. The Working Group was finally able to complete the Initial Document and Thematic Map of West Papua Province RZWP-3-K which was presented at the public consultation in April 2018.

The public consultation process was led directly by the Pokja who also acted as a facilitator to gather aspirations and input from invited stakeholders. Not only that, the activeness in the next meeting was quite increased and more often provided input and solutions for the RZWP-3-K preparation process in the next stage.

"I think the preparation of this RZWP-3-K is our chance to collaborate. Previously, all programs were more independent. When there is this zoning plan, we are reminded that it turns out that when we work there are other sectors related to our work. Like today, I see many institutions working together such as the KKP with the Environment and Forestry Agency (DLHK), the Regional Planning and Development Agency (BAPPEDA), the Transportation Agency, the Public Works and Spatial Planning Agency (PUPR) as well as the oil and gas sector and also tourism," said Santoso Budi Widiarto, Head of the Sorong PSPL Workshop.

As the technical person in charge of preparing the RZWP-3-K P document, Wahyu Ramandey also talked about the performance of the Working Group team that exceeded expectations during the process of preparing the West Papua RZWP-3-K, one of which was in the map development process by Filialdi Nurhidayat, the GIS team from the Sorong PSPL Workshop was able to complete 400 types of maps as a complete document. In addition, the WWF-Indonesia team, Deti Triani also gave appreciation to the Pokja who were always enthusiastic in the preparation of the RZWP-3-K. "I am always amazed by the enthusiasm of Pokja friends who from the beginning of the formation they always attend meetings. Then they enthusiastically became facilitators, jumping in to answer questions at the district table in every Public Consultation. They are even willing to work until 12 at night during FGDs with indigenous people," he said.