Research report SEFA/IDP
This research is part of a bigger goal to create an alternative integral investment plan for West Papua. The IDP Research committee, together with SDSP, PATO, Cargill and the Dutch ministry of Foreign Affairs, has created a business case in line with the UN Sustainability goals for 2030, to set an example for a new approach of international trade and economic development.
Download the webversion of ‘Social investment opportunities in the cocoa sector’ by the IDP research committee (pdf – 1 MB – opens in a new tab)
Introduction
This is a research report that is part of a comprehensive view of regional development for a part of the world that is still unknown to many. Nevertheless, it is meant to be used as an example of a transition to a sustainable form international trade as envisioned by five students from Amsterdam, with an undeniable interest in the choices society makes about economic, social and ecological development.
The world is a tumultuous place, and currently in a distressing state. 22,000 children die everyday of poverty. 805 million people go hungry every day. Climate change causes rising sea levels, droughts, biodiversity loss, and overall damage to the ecosystem. However, there is a growing community of organisations, institutions, scientists, politicians and entrepreneurs that not only realise that the current path we take as a society is a destructive one, but actively participate in the positive and sustainable reversal of it.
This particular research is part of a bigger goal to create an alternative integral investment plan for an region that is now mainly dominated by (unsustainable) mining and energy extraction. Together with Stichting Duurzame Samenleving Papua-Barat, PATO, Cargill, and the Dutch ministry of Foreign Affairs, we have created a business case in line with the UN Sustainability goals for 2030, to set an example for a new approach of international trade and economic development.
In line with the ambitions of those who have dedicated their lives and careers to build a world that we can be proud of, use this report to advance their aspirations and your own ambitions. Use it, copy it, correct it, criticize it, and share it.
Let’s not recoil from the future, but strive to solve its puzzles, speaking in measured terms, in prose not poetry.
Filipp Peresadilo
Chairman of the IDP research committee
Executive summary
The Why?
West Papua, with its 40 million hectares of rainforest, is one of the last true ‘green lungs’ of our planet. It is rich in natural resources such as gas, oil, copper and gold. Due to this, the area is under heavy pressure from the extraction industries to exploit these resources. Meanwhile, the local Papuans gain very little from the exploitation of the region. However, the natural riches of Papua can also be used in an ecologically and economically sustainable way by working in consort with the native people rather than by exploiting the region.
The How?
By investing in the West-Papuan cocoa sector. This sector is promising, since farming is a part of the traditional Papuan way of life and cocoa is a crop that can be produced in an ecologically sustainable manner. Furthermore, the region has a lot of potential for high quality cocoa cultivation due to very positive climate and soil conditions, as well as a proof of concept in the form of high quality cocoa from New Guinea.
The What?
Five concrete investment plans to help native Papuan farmers to achieve a level and quality of cocoa production that lets them access the domestic and international cocoa markets in concert with the investor in question. These five projects cover a range of investment lengths, amounts, and levels of difficulty.
The Who?
Made possible through a collaboration of non- and for-profit organisations, and young organisations as well as long-established names, this report was written for any organisation willing to invest in an ecologically, socially, and economically sustainable future of the Papuan cocoa sector. This can include both niche players looking for relatively small quantities of single-source, fine-or-flavour cocoa as well as larger bulk players looking for sustainable opportunities in a new region perfectly suited for cocoa cultivation.
