Sustainable Cacao in West Papua
VIEW REPORT Sustainable Cacao in West Papua (pdf, opent in nieuw tabblad)
This research report aims at shedding light to a region of the world that is still unknown to many. This study, conducted by five students from the University of Amsterdam, has the objective to contribute to a comprehensive development plan for West Papua by focusing on sustainable cacao production.
What?
The International Development Project (IDP) is a project that exists to give students the opportunity to apply their academic skills in an international development project. This way they can help locals in third world countries where necessary. The goal of this year’s project is to set up two cacao farms in the West-Papua region in Indonesia.
Part of this goal is also to set up a connection between the local farmers and Dutch cacao importers, where the local farmers will receive a fair price for their goods. We also want to help the locals, by trying to give them more knowledge about environmentally friendly ways of farming and keep their ecological global footprint as small as possible.
Why?
The region in West-Papua has over 40 million hectares of rainforest, one of the largest rainforest on the planet. Only this rainforest is under immense pressure from outside factors, an ever-growing part of this rainforest is being cut down for environmentally unfriendly products as palm oil. The inhabitants of West-Papua say that they have not been informed well enough about the damaging effect of palm oil on the nature of the area. This project will help the locals with sustainable entrepreneurship and by doing this, we hope to have a positive influence on the lives of the people there and help them gain knowledge about sustainable ways to earn a living.
How?
Previous studies by Daan Goppel (2016) and the International Development Project have proven that cacao is the area where the biggest improvements can be made. The main focus of this study will be setting up two cacao farms using this previous knowledge. This will be done to help the Papua’s to get the best out of themselves. And in the end, by generating a product from a special area of the world, we hope that that will also raise extra awareness about the West-Papua region and their special culture.
Who?
Five master and bachelor students from the University of Amsterdam are part of the IDP committee of this year. Study association Sefa, where the committee is part of, facilitates in the operational part of the project. These students are Famke Braakman, Sandra Hovland, Corneill Spaapen, Cameron Rijnsburger, and Saad Rasheed.
Stichting Duurzame Samenleving Papua (SDSP) will have an advisory role and will help with connecting the committee with experts and other sources of information.
