Application of Indigenous Community-based Environmental Service

Fees in the Availability of Clean Water in Jayapura City, Papua

Province

Anwar Saragih

Universitas Cenderawasih, Indonesia

Keywords: Clean Water, Compensation for Environmental Services, Environmental Politics.

Abstract: The availability of clean water is an absolute, non-negotiable element in the life of households or individual

communities. There are fundamental problems related to water resources that have been used by the Regional

Drinking Water Company (PDAM) of Jayapura City which has been damaged by illegal logging, forest

encroachment, land conversion, and illegal mining. So that there was forest destruction in the Cyclops

Mountain area of Papua which resulted in the destruction of the watersheds (DAS) that flowed 11 points of

water sources in Jayapura City. This study aims to solve the problem of the difficulty of clean water in

Jayapura City due to environmental damage. The research method is qualitative with a critical paradigm. The

results of the analysis of this scientific article are to find the concept that you want to offer related to the

implementation of Payment for Environmental Services (PES) based on indigenous communities in Jayapura.

In simple terms, Payment for Environmental Services is a concept of payment for environmental services or

services in the form of incentives offered to the community for their commitment and services in protecting

the environment. Where the stakeholder sector provides compensation to indigenous communities through

customary leaders (Ondoafi) in each customary area in Jayapura to protect the forest and not to change land

functions in the upstream area of clean water resources that affect the availability and quality of clean water

managed downstream Regional Drinking Water Company of Jayapura City.

1 BACKGROUND

The availability of clean water is an absolute and non-

negotiable element in the life of households or

individual communities. So that the main focus of

every government policy in the era of regional

autonomy related to the development and utilization

of water resources must emphasize the principle of

sustainable management in order to meet the needs of

clean water for the community (Qodriyatun, 2015).

Although in its implementation related to water

resource management, it often encounters complex

obstacles, both in terms of accessibility, service

standards, equity, supervision and support from every

stakeholder (Phillips, Rhonda and Robert H. Pittman,

2008).

This problem has also been faced by the people of

Jayapura City, Papua Province in the last 10 years

having difficulty accessing clean water (Jubi.co.id.

25/2/2020). In addition to the reasons for

development and population growth which reaches 2-

3% per year which is automatically directly

proportional to the increase in the need for clean

water in Jayapura City. There is a fundamental

problem related to water resources that have been

used by the Regional Drinking Water Company

(PDAM) of Jayapura City which has been damaged

due to illegal logging, forest encroachment, land

conversion, and illegal mining (kabarpapua.co,

13/8/2019). As a result, forest damage occurred in the

Cyclops Mountain area of Papua which resulted in the

destruction of the watersheds (DAS) that flowed

through 11 points, namely Anafre, Bhayangkara,

Ajend/Kolfkamp, Kali Kamp, Entrop, Borgonji,

Kojabu, Wolker Camp, Korem, Buper and Pos 7

Sentani. Where these points are the main source of

water discharge which has been channeled by

Regional Drinking Water Company Jayapura to

residents' homes.

This means that in an effort to maintain the

availability of water in Jayapura City, protection is

needed through social, cultural, political and

economic approaches to the Cyclops Mountain Area

Saragih, A.

Application of Indigenous Community-Based Environmental Service Fees in the Availability of Clean Water in Jayapura City, Papua Province.

DOI: 10.5220/0011823700003460

In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Social and Political Development (ICOSOP 2022) - Human Security and Agile Government, pages 405-410

ISBN: 978-989-758-618-7; ISSN: 2975-8300

 2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

405

and Watershed (DAS) as a source of clean water for

Regional Drinking Water Company of Jayapura City.

Where the series of management does not stand in

one direction but involves a reciprocal relationship

between Natural Resources and local communities

with efforts to overcome environmental damage

while increasing people's welfare. One of the

concepts to be offered relates to the implementation

of Payment for Environmental Services (PES) based

on indigenous communities in Jayapura. In simple

terms, Payment for Environmental Services is a

concept of payment for environmental services or

services in the form of incentives offered to the

community for their commitment and services in

protecting the environment (Wunder, 2013).

Where the stakeholder sector provides

compensation to indigenous communities through

customary leaders (Ondoafi) in each customary area

in Jayapura to protect the forest and not to change

land functions in the upstream area of clean water

resources that affect the availability and quality of

clean water managed downstream by Regional

Drinking Water Company, Jayapura City.

Meanwhile, Ondoafi or traditional leaders in Jayapura

have great authority, rights, duties and

responsibilities with the consequence of power over

forests, rivers, seas, lands and natural resources,

socially, economically and politically. Ondoafi has

the authority to resolve disputes that occur in his

customary territory as well as have the responsibility

to protect and protect the community from all

problems. In short, in an effort to overcome forest

damage and damage to watersheds through the

application of Environmental Service Fees, it actually

looks at Ondoafi and the indigenous people in

Jayapura. Therefore, a research proposal with the

title: "Implementation of Indigenous Community-

Based Environmental Service Fees in the Availability

of Clean Water in Jayapura City, Papua Province"

becomes very important in completing a series of

research related to the Politics of Water Supply in

Indonesia.

2 RESEARCH METHOD

Methods This research uses descriptive analytical

with a qualitative approach. The use of this method is

intended, referring to Creswell who said that the

phenomena that occur can be focused on the attention

of researchers on problems or phenomena that are

actual at the time the research is conducted, then

describe the facts about the problem being

investigated as it is accompanied by a rational and

accurate interpretation. This method will help

researchers to understand the reality that occurs in the

field. The collection of research data is also carried

out through a process of reviewing the results of

interviews as primary data for stakeholders,

especially traditional leaders or Ondoafi in Jayapura

related to overcoming the problem of damage to the

Cyclops Mountain area in Papua and the Alisan River

area (DAS) which is the upstream source of clean

water managed by Regional Drinking Water

Company of Jayapura City.

Then the secondary data of this research was

obtained by the author from journals, books and

documents or reports related to the research focus.

The author then analyzes the case phenomenon

inductively related to the problem of decreasing water

discharge managed by Regional Drinking Water

Company of Jayapura City due to environmental

damage. At the end the author recommends

conceptual steps related to the formulation of

compensation for the application of Environmental

Service Fees and the economic benefits obtained by

the Jayapura indigenous community in the

application of Environmental Service Fees in the

availability of clean water in Jayapura City.

3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Environmental Service Fee

Concept

Since the 1990s, Payment for Environmental

Services (PES) has become a popular policy tool for

managing natural resources in more than 60

countries. In general, Payments for Environmental

Services have been applied to four ecosystem

services: biodiversity conservation, watershed

services, carbon sequestration, and landscape beauty.

Hundreds of Rewards for Environmental Services

programs have been implemented around the world.

Environmental Services Program) follows a similar

payment approach in terms of beneficiaries, payment

methods, and mechanisms.

Thus, the existing Rewards for Environmental

Services program only focuses on three main

ecosystem services: water, biodiversity, and carbon.

There are main categories of Environmental Service

Fee mechanisms including direct payments based on

voluntary agreements between recipients of

environmental services and suppliers of

environmental services (Hieu, Thuy & Nam, 2020)

There is a growing anthropocentric understanding

of natural resources providing flows of services that

ICOSOP 2022 - International Conference on Social and Political Development 4

406

provide economic value. Environmental services that

benefit society include carbon sequestration,

watersheds, maintenance of biodiversity, and

environmental beauty. Payment for environmental

services (PES) is a policy tool that is championed to

provide market incentives for the maintenance of

natural resources by the private sector that provides

environmental services to downstream users.

Payment for Environmental Services is defined as a

voluntary agreement between a buyer and a seller in

which payment is provided depending on the

environmental services provided adequately.

Many advocate the adoption of a Pay-for-

Economy scheme to develop new market-based tools

to combat deforestation and promote forest

conservation in developing countries rather than

alternative policy tools. In the absence of this

Payment for Environmental Services mechanism,

land users will gravitate towards commercial land

uses, often involving deforestation for agricultural

purposes, resulting in the destruction of natural

resources as humans have no way of realizing the

benefits of providing non-marketable services.

Payment for Environmental Services refers to the

principle that with clear property rights and low

transaction costs, bargaining can reach a socially

optimal level (Lee, Andersson & Smith, 2013).

Over the years although interest in Environmental

Services Fees has increased, there has been little

attempt to define the term. In this section, we first

define Environmental Fees and discuss their basic

logic. Fundamentally, Fees for Environmental

Services appear to be used as an umbrella for any type

of market-based mechanism for conservation,

including, for example, mechanisms such as

environmental certification and charging entry fees to

tourists. According to Wunder (2005) in defining

Environmental Service Fees, he explains several

indicators, namely

a. Voluntary transactions

b. A well-defined (or possibly used)

environmental service secures that service)

c. There are service buyers

d. There is a service provider

The basic logic of the Payments for

Environmental Services mechanism explains how

ecosystem managers, whether they are farmers,

loggers, or protected area managers, often receive

little benefit from land uses such as, for example,

forest conservation. These benefits are often less than

the benefits they would receive from alternative land

uses, such as conversion to agriculture or pasture.

However, deforestation can impose costs on

downstream populations, who no longer benefit from

services such as water filtration, and on the global

community, due to biodiversity reduction and carbon

storage (actual impacts will, of course, vary from case

to case).

Payments by service users can help make

conservation a more attractive option for ecosystem

managers, thereby encouraging them to adopt it (or,

in the case of protected area managers, providing

them with the resources to do so). Payment for

Environmental Services thus seeks to internalize what

should be an externality. Consequently, the

Environmental Service Fee program seeks to put into

practice the ultimate solution that the problem of

external effects can, under certain conditions, be

addressed through private negotiations between the

affected parties (Coase, 1960).

It is very important to understand that

Environmental Fees are not intended to be a solution

to any environmental problem. Ecosystems may be

mismanaged for various reasons, not all of which are

suitable for environmental issues and are suitable for

using the Environmental Service Fee as a solution.

Local ecosystem managers may not have the

authority to manage ecosystems, because they do not

belong to anyone or belong to the state (which is the

same number if the state cannot enforce management

rules) and thus tend to ignore even the on-site impacts

of their management decisions. The appropriate

response in this case is to ensure that local ecosystem

managers have appropriate tenure rights.

If ecosystem mismanagement is linked to a lack

of awareness or information about land use practices

that are in the financial interest of private landowners

to adopt, then education and awareness building are

appropriate responses. Similarly, if capital market

imperfections prevent landowners from adapting

personally beneficial technologies or practices that

improve the provision of environmental services, then

providing access to economic benefits is the most

promising approach. The scope of application of

Rewards for Environmental Services is in a series of

problems where ecosystems are mismanaged because

many of the benefits are externalities from the

perspective of ecosystem managers.

If most ecosystem benefits are externalities, other

voluntary approaches are unlikely to yield results.

Giving local managers ownership rights over the

ecosystem may not be enough, as they will only

experience a fraction of the total benefits, and this

may be less than the benefits of alternative land uses.

Likewise, training or awareness-building will not

suffice, for awareness of the benefits to others are

unlikely to outweigh the definite benefits to oneself

for all but the most altruistic actors.

Application of Indigenous Community-Based Environmental Service Fees in the Availability of Clean Water in Jayapura City, Papua

Province

407

In the case where applicable, an important

distinction can be made on the basis of whether the

environmental services provided are public goods and

not. It is often assumed that all environmental

services are purely public goods, i.e. that users cannot

be prevented from benefiting from the environmental

services provided (non-excludability), and that

consumption by one user does not affect consumption

by other users. This certainly applies to some

environmental services carbon sequestration, for

example, is perhaps the clearest example of a public

good (Engel, Pagiola & Wunder, 2008).

3.2 Clean Water Problems in Jayapura

The issue of clean water in Jayapura City, Papua

Province is an important issue that has received more

attention in the last decade. The reason is that the

people of Jayapura City often have difficulty getting

clean water due to the decrease in water debit

managed by the Regional Drinking Water Company

of Jayapura City is a Regional Owned Enterprise that

carries out the administration of Regional

Government affairs and is obliged to provide basic

services in the field of clean water to the community.

That's why Regional Drinking Water Company of

Jayapura City in carrying out its service duties should

actually be oriented towards meeting the needs of the

community by providing the best service to the

customer community in the form of providing

adequate clean water in terms of quality, quantity and

continuity. Regional Drinking Water Company of

Jayapura City is currently experiencing many

problems, namely the small amount of water in

managed sources due to the damage the high rate of

water leakage reaching 54% and environmental

damage that has an impact on drought.

Jayapura City is one of the regions which is the

capital city of Papua Province with an area of 940

km2 or 0.30% of the total area of the province.

Jayapura City consists of 5 districts, namely Muara

Tami District, Abepura District, Heram District,

South Jayapura District, and North Jayapura District.

Furthermore, there are 25 sub-districts and 14 villages

in the Jayapura City area with a total population

according to the Jayapura City Central Statistics

Agency (BPS) reaching 362,998 people (Jayapura

City BPS, 2021).

As the sole manager of clean water, PDAM

Jayapura Regional Owned Enterprises (BUMD) in

2021 will at least serve 35,700 clean water customers.

A total of 31,700 customers are located in the territory

of Jayapura City and 4,000 customers are in Jayapura

Regency. According to data from PDAM Jayapura

City, in order to meet the needs of the community, at

least 895 liters of water per second are needed.

Currently, the water supplied by PDAM Jayapura is

only 778 liters per second from the original capacity

of 1075 liters per second. This means that there is a

significant decrease in water, which is 297 liters per

second due to damage to water resources in forest

areas (PDAM Jayapura, 2021). Seeing the significant

decrease in the water debit of Regional Drinking

Water Company of Jayapura City, if it is not

anticipated, this will certainly endanger the

community with the threat of drought and a prolonged

water crisis in Jayapura City.

Moreover, the need for clean water is increasing

every time. This is because the population growth rate

in Jayapura City, which was recorded in the last 5

years from 2017-2022, has experienced a rapid

increase which linearly will automatically have an

impact on increasing the need for clean water for

every community who lives and settles in Jayapura

City. That does not include people who stop by and

live temporarily in Jayapura City who also need clean

water.

There are at least eleven sources of clean surface

water scattered in Jayapura City and Jayapura

Regency. The coverage of the reservoir service area

varies based on the water source. These water sources

have water catchment areas in the Cycloop

mountains, so their sustainability automatically needs

to be maintained properly so that the water flow

produced remains maximal.

However, the obstacle faced in maintaining the

sustainability of water sources managed by the

Regional Drinking Water Company of Jayapura City

is the problem of deforestation, namely the felling of

forest trees by both indigenous/local communities

and by entrepreneurs who collaborate with

indigenous peoples or who obtain government

permits, lack of understanding of the importance of

maintaining forest sustainability and the lack of

supervision and socialization from the Jayapura City

government to maintain and preserve forests.

In addition, the problem of massive

environmental damage in the upstream area of clean

water sources is caused by the increasing number of

settlements in the buffer area irregularly at the

expense of trees. This also causes the condition of the

Cycloop Forest to be increasingly worrying with

many spots where there are almost no trees for

circulation and empowerment of clean water. Even

though the availability of water in the Cycloop is

getting thinner and the discharge is decreasing,

especially during the dry season (Musfira, 2018).

ICOSOP 2022 - International Conference on Social and Political Development 4

408

3.3 The Role of Indigenous Peoples

Indigenous peoples have a great influence on

environmental change and have a paradigm of

preserving nature. At the same time, indigenous

peoples also become agents of change. Where

indigenous peoples are critical to the success of

policies and actions directed at climate change

mitigation and adaptation, and equitable transition

policies. Another consideration is of course the main

dependence of indigenous peoples on natural

resources and ecosystems, with which they also share

complex cultural relationships. Since nature is their

core productive asset, their economic activities do not

allow it to harm the environment. Their livelihoods

depend on the values they derive from nature, such as

fish, bush meat, fruits, mushrooms, medicines, roots,

and construction and other productive materials.

Jayapura City consists of several groups of

indigenous people who inhabit an area. Land is an

important part because it is an inseparable part of the

customary system that is owned. This means that if

there is environmental damage in the Jayapura City

area or the Cycloop Mountains, of course the main

victims will be the traditional community because of

their dependence on nature conservation.

Thus, through customary law based on local

wisdom, the indigenous people of Jayapura must be

involved in every policy related to natural

sustainability including protecting clean water

sources whose upstream watersheds are in the

Cycloop mountains. placing indigenous peoples only

as a separate part but must be involved on an ongoing

basis. Regional Drinking Water Company of

Jayapura City as a water resource management

company through the Environmental Service Fee

policy formulates a practical policy, so that the

Environmental Service Fee is also economically

beneficial for indigenous peoples in Jayapura City. In

simple terms, the compensation for environmental

services carried out by Regional Drinking Water

Company of Jayapura City together with the local

government determines the value of the price,

whether it is monetary compensation or other

valuable values with a commitment to environmental

conservation in the Cycloop mountain area.

Prohibiting all illegal logging activities or forest

encroachment is the task of the data community who

gets supervision from the government then

indigenous peoples have full rights to access natural

resources in the Cycloop mountain area with a

conservation note.

Of course, the effort to implement the

Environmental Service Fee requires a foothold

through the institutionalization of laws because with

customary community-based environmental

conservation there is a lot of potential that can be

explored in the form of exploration, not exploitation.

This potential return for environmental services, if

managed properly, is certainly useful for improving

the welfare of indigenous peoples to encourage their

lives. Meanwhile, Regional Drinking Water

Company of Jayapura City interest is of course the

water debit that will be distributed to customers will

increase and Jayapura City will be free from drought.

3.4 Environmental Service Fee

Working Model

In the concept of Rewards for Environmental

Services in water resources in Jayapura City, there are

at least 4 (four) stakeholders (Tole, 2010), namely the

local government (provincial government/Jayapura

City government), Community Social Institutions

(NGOs), the private sector and the community.

custom. The damage in the Cycloop Mountains has

so far occurred due to forest encroachment by

businessmen (companies) to take wood and the

community. This means that the responsibility of

environmental destroyers is not only limited to

compensation, but is also responsible for the entire

process of repairing forest and watershed damage in

the Cycloop Mountains.

In an effort to anticipate environmental damage,

the government, Regional Drinking Water Company

of Jayapura City and other parties involved must

provide the cost of implementing the Environmental

Service Fee above the minimum payment required to

encourage the participation of landowners. This

means that the Environmental Service Fee program in

Jayapura City in the preservation of the Cycloop

Mountains will indirectly reduce the effectiveness of

the destructive environment.

In the Environmental Service Fee mechanism in

Jayapura City, the funds provided by the government

are given to customary communities from the budget.

Indigenous peoples in Jayapura City are then

responsible for managing the funds given in

accordance with the purposes and objectives of the

granting of funds. Activities carried out with

compensation funds are in accordance with the

agreement between the government and indigenous

peoples to carry out forest and land conservation

efforts through planting. maintenance, as well as

maintaining plants and carrying out a series of other

activities related to efforts to preserve the function of

the Cycloop Mountains watershed. The text of the

environmental service fee agreement is certainly

Application of Indigenous Community-Based Environmental Service Fees in the Availability of Clean Water in Jayapura City, Papua

Province

409

carried out by establishing an Upstream-Downstream

Relationship Mechanism in Efforts to Preserve Water

Resources in the Cycloop Mountains so that it

remains sustainable.

4 CONCLUSION

The problem of the clean water crisis in Jayapura City

must be resolved immediately. The root of the

problem is the destruction of the watershed in the

Cycloop Mountains, which is the origin of 11 springs

in Jayapura City. Indigenous communities in

Jayapura City have an important position in this

sustainability by being involved in the Environmental

Service Rewards program which is expected to be

implemented in Jayapura City. In conclusion, the

application of the Environmental Service Fee

mechanism provides a number of benefits, such as the

emergence of the role of indigenous peoples in

environmental conservation whose goal is to protect

forests from damage. Although there are indications

of an increase in the socio-economic value of the

participants of the Environmental Service Fee to

indigenous peoples, although it has not been seen

because this research is still only a policy

recommendation. Likewise, the impact of improving

ecological functions has not yet been seen clearly

because the land that participates in the

Environmental Service Reward mechanism has not

been mapped due to the extent of the forest that must

be protected. There is a need for a strategy that

considers the aspect of increasing the value of

compensation over time so that the benefits of the

Environmental Service Fee scheme for service

providers can be felt by indigenous peoples.

REFERENCES

Adhikari, B. and Agrawal, A., 2013. Understanding the

social and ecological outcomes of PES projects: A

review and an analysis, Conservation and Society, 11:

359–374.

Artikel di jubi.co.id dengan judul "Berbulan-bulan tak bisa

nikmati air bersih, warga protes PDAM Jayapura"

https://jubi.co.id/berbulan-bulan-tak-bisa-nikmati-air-

bersih-warga-protes-pdam-jayapura/ diunduh tanggal

28 September 2021, pukul 10.00 WIT

Artikel di Kabarpapua.com dengan judul "Air Tak Lancar,

ini Beberapa Sumber Air PDAM Jayapura yang

Terganggu"https://kabarpapua.co/air-tak-lancar-ini-

beberapa-sumber-air-pdam-jayapura-yang-terganggu/

diunduh tanggal 28 September 2021, pukul 10.55 WIT

Artikel di Tagar.id dengan judul "Jayapura Terancam Krisis

air Bersih". Ini Penyebabnya

https://www.tagar.id/jayapura-terancam-krisis-air-

bersih.-ini-penyebabnya diunduh tanggal 28 September

2021, pukul 10.55 WIT

Bayrak et al 2013. Restructuring space in the name of

development: The socio-cultural impact of the Forest

Land Allocation Program on the indigenous in Central

Vietnam, Journal of Political Ecology, 20: 37–52.

Coase, R.H., (1960). The problem of social cost. Journal of

Law and Economics 3, 1–44

Engel, S., Pagiola, S., & Wunder, S. (2008). Designing

payments for environmental services in theory and

practice: An overview of the issues. Ecological

Economics, 65(4), 663–674.

doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2008.03.011

Hieu, Nguyen Van , Dang Thi Thanh Thuy & Nguyen

Hoang Nam. (2020). Payment For Environmental

Service: An Application in Tourism in Vietnam SEAS

(Sustainable Environment Agricultural Science)

Volume 04, Number 01, April 2020, Pages: 77~87

Lee J. Alston, Krister Andersson & Steven M. Smith.

(2013). Payment For Environmental Services:

Hypotheses And Evidence. Cambridge : National

Bureau Of Economic Research

Munawir. 2009. Imbal Jasa Lingkungan DAS

Cikapundung. Disampaikan pada Working Group

Imbal Jasa Lingkungan DAS Cikapundung.

Bandung.Jakarta: LP3ES.

Musfira. 2018. Kajian Ketersediaan Dan Kebutuhan Air

Bersih Di Distrik Jayapura Selatan Kota Jayapura.

Jurnal Arsitektur Dan Planologivolume 8 No.1 Januari

2018

Phillips, Rhonda dan Robert H. Pittman. (2008). An

Introduction to Community Development. Taylor &

Francis E-Library. New York

Qodriyatun, S. N. (2015) .Penyediaan Air Bersih Di

Indonesia: Peran Pemerintah, Pemerintah Daerah,

Swasta, Dan Masyarakat. Jakarta pusat.P3DI Setjen

DPR RI dan Azza Grafika.

Stefanie Engel; Stefano Pagiola; Sven Wunder (2008).

Designing payments for environmental services in

theory and practice: An overview of the issues. , 65(4),

663–674. doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2008.03.011

Tole, L., 2010. Reforms from the ground up: a review of

community-based forest management in tropical

developing countries, Environmental Management, 45:

1312–1331.

Wunder, S., 2013. When payments for environmental

services will work for conservation, Conservation

Letters, 6: 230–237

ICOSOP 2022 - International Conference on Social and Political Development 4

410