#GoodNews Three villages in Agats District, Asmat Regency, Papua agreed to allocate Village Funds for village forest and natural resource protection activities. The three villages are Beriten Village, Uwus Village, and Bou Village.
The Village Fund, which was disbursed in the February-March 2020 period, was managed by the Forest Guard Group (KJH) in each village. The funds are used to finance the conservation activities operational in the village. Ranging from patrols and forest monitoring, installation of warning boards, to socializing the importance of protecting forests as a source of livelihood for villagers.
Forest areas protected by KJH in these three villages include mangrove ecosystems on the coast, sago forests, to sacred sites that are part of the ancestral history of indigenous peoples. The success of funding advocacy for conservation activities in this village can be successful because of collaboration between the Village Government and the Community Empowerment Office and the Village Government (DPMPK) of the Asmat Regency through the support of the USAID LESTARI project.
In the future the Village Government and DPMPK are committed to budgeting the Village Fund for similar activities in the next fiscal year.
