Tanah dan permasalahannya di papua

Abstract

Abundant natural richness and relatively small number of population of Papua make Papua a promising land of fortune for many outsiders to dome to make a better life. The presence of the migrants, on one hand, means extra burden to the land that has to feed more people than ever before. The migrants, on the other hand, help to contribute in increasing efforts in exploitations of Papua’s natural resources for the welfare of the people. The exploitations now cause problems to the land and the living environment. Firstly, land-clearing activities occurred because of careless way of the forest management. Second, destruction of the living environments happened as a result of the tailing form the mining operations. These problems are cause by two differing viewpoints concerning nature and its resources. Having emotional, socio-cultural and religious connections to the land the native Papuans cultivate it in sensible manner. However, for those living in an urban culture, or even those in metropolitan, land is a source of living and must be exploited to its maximum capacity for the sake of the well-being of the society.

Interesting to notice, in terms of land usage, a number of Papuans are turning to adopt the urban viewpoint that considers land as a commodity. For them land is not meant to be protected and preserved, but to be traded in. Even worse, in desperate need of money, there are cases where individuals forcefully claim a big sum of money over the sold piece of land