Tablasupa Customary Forest, Protecting the Habitat of the Bird of Paradise

Nature Lovers Group (KPA) A'Memay is an Indigenous Community whose members are all natives of Tablasupa Village in Depapre District, Jayapura, Papua. The Indigenous Community of Tablasupa Village consists of 14 clans who live together in one area, namely the Serontow, Apaseray, Oyaitou, Esue, Nerokopow, Kromsian, Somisu, Demena, Awaitow, Demetouw, Yarisitow, Kawaitou, Seibo, and Kisiwaitou Clans. The Indigenous Community in Tablasupa Village has a customary forest area that is still well-maintained and contains high biodiversity within it.

An endemic animal native to Papua which is often referred to as birds of heaven or Birds of Paradise are still found in their habitat in their customary forests. KPA The A'Memay are committed to protecting the natural habitat of endemic animals, whose numbers are dwindling due to the rampant destruction of Papuan customary lands by large-scale plantation companies. They believe that only by securing their customary territories will the survival of these endemic animals be maintained. They also believe that protecting their customary territories ensures the survival of future generations.

Their efforts began with social forestry outreach activities, which led to the Tablasupa Indigenous Community agreeing to begin the process of submitting a request for recognition of their customary forests and territories to the government. First, the Tablasupa Indigenous Community agreed to establish a customary territory mapping team consisting of 16 Tablasupa members, divided into a spatial mapping team and a socio-cultural mapping team. This mapping committee received a team decree from the village head. 

The resulting indicative map of the Tablasupa customary territory covers approximately 2.000 hectares, all of which is land. Within these 2.000 hectares, there are 331 hectares of Other Use Areas (APL), 986,40 hectares of protected forest, 540,86 hectares of convertible production forest, and 144,51 hectares of nature reserve (Cycloop Mountain Nature Reserve). Furthermore, the mapping focused on the 307 hectares of customary forest designated for ecotourism managed by the A'Memay Nature Lovers Group. This ecotourism area mapping is the initial step towards the recognition of customary territories and forests in Tablasupa. It is crucial that the results of this mapping be followed up in the future to verify the boundaries of customary territories to prevent overlap with other areas, including neighboring customary territories.

KPA A'Memay offers special interest tours for observing Birds of Paradise. Another purpose of this mapping is to organize the group's institutions based on the results of participatory mapping for the subject (the Indigenous Community/landowner) and the object (the land and its area). Various requirements are also being prepared to promote the legality of the group's institutional structure as a legal entity.

KPA A'Memay currently has adequate facilities and infrastructure for developing a special interest tourism site for observing birds of paradise. However, the management of this business has not yet fully benefited the community. This is due to an unclear profit-sharing system, coupled with the lack of in-depth identification data on beneficiaries. This has undoubtedly impacted the development of business planning and the drafting of institutional articles of association (AD/ART). KPA A'Memay, determining rates/tour packages to promoting tour packages.

Through this initiative KPA A'Memay proposes the formation of a legal entity for the group through consensus with members, including drafting articles of association (AD/ART). This serves as the basis for strengthening the group's institutional structure, enabling fair, transparent, and measurable forest management.

These two initiatives represent the first steps for the Indigenous Community of Tablasupa Village to protect and preserve their customary forest. This serves not only as a source of livelihood but also as a way to preserve the natural habitat of endemic wildlife, whose existence remains threatened if not immediately protected.