Lorentz National Park

Previous deliberations:
Twenty-third session of the Committee – paragraph - VIII.3, Section A.1, page 9.
Twenty-third ordinary session of the Bureau – paragraph – V.3, Section A, page 38

New information: A member of the Centre staff participated in a meeting to discuss the recommendations of the twenty-third session of the Committee, hosted by the UNESCO Office in Jakarta on 18 February 2000. The representatives of the UNESCO National Commission of Indonesia, Ministry of Forestry and Estate Crops, Ministry of Environment, Freeport-Moran Mining Company, Conoco (oil and gas exploration), WWF-International and WWF-Indonesia and the Indonesian Branch of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) attended the meeting. The site manager as well as the provincial staff of WWF and TNC were present.

All participants agreed to present to the UNESCO National Commission of Indonesia detailed statements on the human resources and financial commitments they are willing to make for the conservation of this site. The industrial concerns, namely Freeport Moran and Conoco, confirmed their interest to contribute to site conservation; Freeport Moran and WWF-Indonesia have already initiated negotiations to set up an Irian Jaya Conservation Trust and will further explore the specific financial commitment they would consider making to the conservation of Lorentz. The statements from the Government, NGOs and the Industrial enterprises outlining the specific contributions they are willing to make for the conservation of Lorentz are expected to be finalized before mid-2000. These contributions will be used to elaborate a three-year action plan, including definitions of expected outputs and indicators of success. The monitoring mission to the site foreseen in 2002, in accordance with the recommendation of the twenty-third session of the Committee (Marrakesh, 1999), will base its evaluation of the state of conservation of the site and the achievements of the three-year action plan.

The Secretariat will encourage the State Party and UNESCO, Jakarta to work with all stakeholders concerned to develop the three-year action plan and submit it for review by the Centre and IUCN before 15 September 2000. The Centre, in consultation with UNESCO, Jakarta, and IUCN will report to the twenty-fourth extraordinary session of the Bureau on the progress made in finalizing the three year action plan.

The Director of the National Park and a representative of the Freeport Mine presented a case study to the IUCN World Heritage and Mining Technical Workshop, held at IUCN Headquarters in September, 2000. Key issues noted include:

·         Close co-operation between the Lorentz National Park and the Freeport Mining Company. Specifically, the support from Freeport for biodiversity conservation studies and projects within the World Heritage site, as well as potential support for the establishment of a proposed Lorentz Trust Fund.

·         Environmental impacts associated with the mine site, particularly associated with the disposal of tailings. IUCN notes that the mill disposes tailings into a river system that transports tailings to the lowlands area and that the tailings flow toward the sea through the Freeport mining range and not through the Park. Waste is deposited in the sea and for most of the year this waste is pushed in a westerly direction, away from the Park; however, for a number of months a year the current pushes the waste eastwards toward the Park. This has potential impacts on the Park and this aspect should be further investigated and clarified. The Freeport Mine is developing ways to contain and treat this waste and is undertaking a health and ecological risk assessment study.

UNESCO, Jakarta and the UNESCO National Commission of Indonesia are continuing their efforts to urge the National Park Agency, WWF, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and industrial concerns, such as Freeport and Conoco, to co-operate to elaborate a three-year action plan for the conservation of the area, as they had agreed to do during a meeting hosted by the UNESCO Office in Jakarta, in February 2000. Furthermore, the Asia Pacific Focal Point (APFP) for World Heritage in Canberra, Australia, has been enquiring about possibilities for developing projects for Indonesia using Aus-AID support. Establishing a twinning arrangement between Lorentz and the Wet Tropics of Queensland may be considered as one potential component of such a bilateral co-operative project.