About
Was founded January, 2022. Joined by several friends of varied backgrounds. YAPPENDA is the fruition of a lifelong dream to create an indigenous Papuan NGO, dedicated to conservation and sustainable development. We are formally registered in Indonesia, Papua with registeration number: AHU-0006309.AH.01.12.Tahun 2022
We are a new organisation, but our staff are all highly experienced in Forestry, Mangroves, Green Economy and Development work. Our board include Dr. Henni O’Hee and Evie Warikar, who lecture at UNCEN. Dr. O'Hee has a Doctorate in Biology from Germany’s University of Göttingen.
Vision:
A thriving Papua, where indigenous Papuans are empowered into protecting and restoring their natural environment for the benefit of their culture and livelihood.
Mission:
To protect, advocate for, sustain and restore the natural environment through empowerment of indigenous Papuans.
Goals:
Develop indigenous community-led projects that incorporate sustainable and long-term integrated forest, water, livelihood, and cultural restoration
- plans for at least three important sites by 2030
- Protect and sustainably manage 2700 ha of indigenous land by 2030
- Protect and empower indigenous co-management of 75,000 ha of protected areas by 2030
- Restore 2700 ha of important watershed and culturally important land by 2030
- Improve the livelihoods of 50,000 indigenous households by 2030
- Improve access to suitable education for 2,000 children by 2030
- Demonstrably enhance cultural preservation of at least two indigenous peoples by 2030
Principles:
- Guided by indigenous values and knowledge
- Deep and sustained local consultation
- Reliance on traditional Papuan methods of reaching agreements and receiving support
- Act as a collaborator, bringing government, civil society, religious groups, corporations, academic institutions, donors, and others together in support of indigenous Papuan needs and desires
- Diverse representation including gender, culture and religion, and tribal groups
Programs:
- Reforestation and restoration
- Livelihood development
- Education
- Protected Area establishment and indigenous co-management management
- Wildlife crime prevention
- Exploration, science, and monitoring
What We Do
In July 2023, YAPPENDA participated with the local university (UNCEN), government partners BBKSDA and BRIN in an Oxford University led expedition on Mount Cyclops (Jayapura, Papua). This expediition redicovered Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus attenboroughi). Unrecorded since 1961,
Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna, named after famed broadcaster and natural historian Sir David Attenborough and known in the local Tepera language as ‘payangko,’ is one of Re:wild’s top 25 most wanted lost species.
In addition to Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna, the team also obtained the first media documentation since 2008 of Mayr’s honeyeater (Ptiloprora mayri), a bird named after famed evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr.
Also found were an entirely new genus of tree-dwelling shrimp , at least two new frog species, and countless new species of insects including blind spiders, blind harvestman, and a whip scorpion, all new to science, in a previously unexplored cave system.
We are working with local authorities to have the echidna placed on Indonesia’s legally protected list as well as plans to conserve and protect said species.
We are also planning a significant, large scale, bio-diversity study of the high mountain central cordillera of Papua. Significant anecodtal evidence supports the hypothesis that a thylacine (or similar mammal) remains in this area. This would be a signicant discovery should we be successful and drive further conservation efforts for the region.
Where We Work
- Yali indigenous territory (Yahukimo Regency, Heluk Valley)
- Cyclops Mountains (Tepera and Ormu language groups)
- Lake Sentani