Background

The Asmat Regency is one of four regencies in South Papua, an Indonesian province with abundant natural resources, among them tropical forest ecosystems, fisheries, mining, and inland aquatic ecosystems. Natural resource management and economic development are some of the key challenges facing the region and are often assumed to be in opposition to each other. 

Two weeks ago, I joined a webinar hosted by the World Bank for the Amazonia Viva team on the development and use of the Mining Impacts Calculator in the Amazon. There was strong interest from participants, and I was particularly struck by how IBAMA, Brazil’s environmental enforcement agency, is actively using the tool to impose fines on violators engaged in illegal gold mining.

Just one day after World Oceans Day, South Africa took a significant step toward global ocean stewardship when South Africa’s Minister of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE), Dr Dion George, signed the High Seas Treaty on behalf of South Africa during the United Nations Oceans Conference in Nice, France.