West Papua: Deforestation

Lord Harries of Pentregarth Excerpts

Tuesday 14th October 2025 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Harries of Pentregarth]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to limit deforestation internationally, in particular in West Papua.

[Lord in Waiting/Government Whip (Lord Lemos) (Lab)]

My Lords, the UK has long been at the forefront of efforts to protect forests and halt and reverse deforestation, and we look forward to a strong focus on forests at the upcoming COP 30 in Brazil. Through our diplomacy partnerships and development programmes, we focus on forest governance, sustainable trade and investment, and mobilising finance to protect and restore forest biomes. We work across the tropics, including in the Indonesian region of Papua. We work closely with the Government of Indonesia to support sustainable development and Indonesia’s green transition.

[Lord Harries of Pentregarth (CB)]

I thank the Minister for his reply. West Papua has some of the greatest forests in the world. Unfortunately, they are rapidly being cleared to produce coconut oil and for other agri purposes. The other dimension is, of course, that West Papua is occupied by Indonesia and there is a heavy military presence. As a result of this, sometimes the local indigenous population are pushed off their ground to make way for these plantations. Will His Majesty’s Government make representations to the Government of Indonesia—the Minister just said they work closely with them—to protect the rights of the local people? As one placard of a protest group put it, West Papua is not an empty land.

[Lord Lemos (Lab)]

I thank the noble and right reverend Lord for his question on this important issue. The UK respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Indonesia, including the region of Papua. We support the efforts of the Indonesian authorities and civil society to address the needs and aspirations of the Papuan people. All Papuans need to benefit from the development of the region. Where we have human rights concerns, we raise them, as we have done at both ministerial and senior official level. We continue to support a visit by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to the region. Our UK mission in Geneva raised this with the high commissioner’s office in April 2025, and we have encouraged both parties to agree dates.