"Kita habis we will be gone": The politics of population, family planning and racialization in West Papua.

In the context of a steadily decreasing Indigenous population, active military occupation, and a documented history of human rights abuses perpetrated by Indonesian state security forces, Black Indigenous Papuans have uttered phrases like extinction, and we will be gone in public and private spaces. These utterances often follow an indictment of Indonesia's national family planning program as a key node of state apparatuses of domination and, by extension, genocide. Amid Indonesia's global health success story of a historically lauded national family planning model, I examine the emergence of a local pronatalist program in which health workers are both providers and deniers of access to birth control. Through highlighting this story of Indigenous refusal and racial survival in the terrain of women's reproduction the stakes of a necropolitical environment marked by occupation, population control, and fears of genocide are brought into high relief.

Haematological profile of children with malaria in Sorong, West Papua, Indonesia.

BACKGROUND: Malaria remains a major public health problem in Indonesian Papua, with children under five years of age being the most affected group. Haematological changes, such as cytopenia that occur during malaria infection have been suggested as potential predictors and can aid in the diagnosis of malaria. This study aimed to assess the haematological alterations associated with malaria infection in children presenting with signs and symptoms of malaria. METHODS: A retrospective study was performed by collecting data from the medical records of malaria patients at Sorong Regional General Hospital, Sorong, West Papua, Indonesia, both from outpatient and inpatient clinics, from January 2014 until December 2017. The laboratory profile of children suffering from malaria was evaluated. RESULTS: One hundred and eighty-two children aged 1 month to 18 years old were enrolled. The subjects were mostly male (112, 61.5%) with a mean age of 6.45 years (SD = 4.3 years). Children below 5 years of age suffered the most from malaria in this study (77, 42.3%). One hundred two subjects (56%) were infected with Plasmodium falciparum. Half of the enrolled subjects (50%) had haemoglobin level (Hb) between 5.1 and 10 gr/dL. A total of 41 children (53.2%) less than 5 years old suffered from P. falciparum infection. In the age group of 5-10 years, there were 34 children (57.6%) who suffered from P. falciparum, and in the age group > 10 years, 27 children (58.7%) suffered from P. falciparum infection. Only 4 subjects (5.2%) in the less than 5 years old age group had mixed malaria infection. Among eight predictors of the haematological profile, there were five predictors that were significantly associated with the diagnostic criteria, namely haemoglobin, haematocrit, leukocytes, platelets and monocytes (p < 0.05). Generally, clinical symptoms are not significantly associated with a malaria diagnosis, and only one variable showed a significant relationship, pale, with a P value of 0.001. CONCLUSIONS: Children with malaria had changes in some haematological markers, with anaemia, low platelet count, white blood count, and lymphocyte count being the most important predictors of malaria infection in the study area. These markers could be used to raise suspicion of malaria in children living in high endemic areas, such as West Papua.

Observations on Australian Humpback Dolphins (Sousa sahulensis) in Waters of the Pacific Islands and New Guinea.

The Australian humpback dolphin, Sousa sahulensis, has recently been described to occur in northern Australian coastal waters. However, its distribution in adjacent waters of the Pacific Islands and New Guinea remains largely unknown. Although there have been few studies conducted on inshore dolphins in these regions, the available information records humpback dolphins primarily from the Kikori Delta in Papua New Guinea, and Bird's Head Seascape in West Papua. Research in southern Papua New Guinea indicates that humpback dolphins are indeed S. sahulensis, based on cranial and external morphometrics, external colouration and the preliminary genetic analysis presented here. A similar situation exists for the Australian snubfin dolphin, Orcaella heinsohni, where it is assumed that the species also occurs along the Sahul Shelf coastal waters of northern Australia and New Guinea. There are anecdotal reports of direct catch of Australian humpback dolphins for use as shark bait, coastal development is increasing, and anthropogenic impacts will continue to escalate as human populations expand into previously uninhabited regions. Future research and management priorities for the Governments of the Pacific Islands and Indonesia will need to focus on inshore dolphins in known regional hotspots, as current bycatch levels appear unsustainable.

(Not) getting political: indigenous women and preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV in West Papua.

This paper builds on critiques that call for a more nuanced and contextualised understanding of conditions that affect HIV prevention by looking at West Papuan women's experiences of prevention of mother-to-child transmission services. Drawing on qualitative, ethnographic research with indigenous women and health workers, the paper demonstrates that women experience poor-quality HIV education and counselling, and that indigenous practices and concerns are largely not addressed by HIV services. We attribute this to a combination of national anti-indigenous and anti-separatist political concerns with donor-led interventions that result in limited localisation and reduced effectiveness of HIV prevention measures. In West Papua, services are needed that enhance cooperation and shared commitment, and that acknowledge and work to overcome existing inequalities, ethnic tensions and discrimination in the health system. Beyond Indonesia, donor-led HIV programmes and interventions need to balance avoidance of politically sensitive issues with complicity in perpetuating health inequalities. Translating global health interventions and donor priorities into locally compelling HIV prevention activities involves more than navigating local cultural and religious beliefs. Programme development and implementation strategies that entail confronting structural questions as well as social hierarchies, cleavages and silences are needed to render more effective services; strategies that are inherently political.

'Forgotten': a personal comment and communiqué on West Papuan refugees.

OBJECTIVE: To raise awareness of the ongoing human rights violations of the Indigenous residents of West Papua and their mental health consequences. METHOD: The author, herself a refugee from West Papua, provides a summary comment from a presentation to the Leadership in Mental Health: Island Nations course, based on personal experience in West Papua and Papua New Guinea, and a telephone survey of West Papuan refugees resident in Australia. RESULT: A communiqué in solidarity from all course delegates was produced and is included. CONCLUSION: Human rights violations continue in West Papua, and the plight of its indigenous residents and West Papuan refugees in Papua New Guinea and Australia are dire and should not be 'forgotten'.

Modeling the impacts of oil palm plantations on water quantity and quality in the Kais River Watershed of Indonesia.

Oil palm plantations can impact hydrological processes in many tropical watersheds. The rapid conversion of tropical rainforests for commercial operations in recent decades has been associated with water scarcity, flooding, and polluted rivers. However, this widespread and emerging issue is less studied and underreported due to limited data availability, modeling complexity, and the remote nature of these landscapes. Ecohydrologic modeling enables us to investigate changes in watershed conditions caused by large-scale land cover changes from plantations. This study examines the impact of oil plantations on water quantity and quality using the SWAT+ model in the Kais River Watershed, West Papua, Indonesia. The objective is to assess the hydrological changes concerning land cover conversion to oil palm plantations. Results show that establishing oil palm plantations increased surface runoff by 21 %, and sediment yields rose by 16.9 % compared to the baseline. There was also a significant increase of 78 % in mean annual total nitrogen and 144 % in total phosphorous after the plantations' establishment. The results show that forest conversion to oil palm plantations in the Kais River watershed is a primary driver of change in hydrological regimes, resulting in the deterioration of water quality. There is a need for conservation strategies to mitigate the impacts of significant landscape changes in watershed ecosystems.

Seasonal dynamics of Fasciola gigantica transmission in Prafi district, Manokwari Regency, West Papua, Indonesia.

Background and Aim: Indonesia's farming practices are a perfect setting for establishing an infection with Fasciola gigantica which can result in economically detrimental. The objectives of the current study were to describe and analyze the transmission dynamics of fasciolosis (F. gigantica) in Prafi District, to provide information on effective control strategies and to identify risk factors associated with fasciolosis in cattle. Materials and Methods: Fecal samples were purposively collected from the rectum of 60 beef cattle in Prafi District, Manokwari Regency, West Papua Province, Indonesia. The samples were collected once a month for 8 months from April 2019 to November 2019. Furthermore, the samples were taken from two rearing system groups: 30 stall cattle and 30 cattle in a palm oil garden. The presence of F. gigantica eggs in the fecal samples was examined using a modified Danish Bilharziasis Laboratory technique-sedimentation. Meanwhile, the antigenic diagnosis of Fasciola in the fecal samples was analyzed using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit to perform an indirect sandwich assay on feces. Snails were collected from an irrigation canal, rice field, and palm oil garden canal around Prafi District. These snails were examined for infection with cercariae larvae of F. gigantica by cercarial shedding and crushing techniques. Results: The peak occurrence of F. gigantica infection was identified in August (65.00%) and the lowest in June (35.00%). The highest prevalence of fasciolosis in cattle was recorded in August and November (90.00%) and the lowest was in May (40.00%). Moreover, the highest prevalence of fasciolosis in cattle exposed to the palm oil garden was recorded in April (53.33%) and the lowest prevalence of F. gigantica infection was recorded in June (23.33%). In total, 2046 snails were screened by the cercarial shedding and crushing method; of these, 426 (20.82%) were found to be positive for trematode cercariae. The prevalence of F. gigantica infection in Lymnaea spp. snails was highest in November (47.46%) and lowest in April (9.28%). Conclusion: The current study shows that beef cattle grown in two types of rearing systems in Prafi District were infected with F. gigantica during the dry and rainy season. It was revealed that Lymnaea spp. are common snails found in and around Prafi District, and can act as intermediate hosts with an infective stage of trematode. The transmission to cattle was highly effective, despite the short activity period, the low infection rate of snails, and the incidental anthelminthic treatment.

Factors influencing consumption of traditional diets: stakeholder views regarding sago consumption among the indigenous peoples of West Papua.

Background: The indigenous people living in the province of West Papua may experience potential food insecurity, in part attributable to increased local adoption of, and reliance on, imported foods such as rice. At the same time, the consumption of sago, a traditional local food, is lower than other types of carbohydrate foods such as wheat and cassava. Various factors may act as influential drivers of local diets and related agricultural practices, such as local socio-economic and agronomic factors, as well as cultural practices which in turn may be influenced by the attitudes and opinions of stakeholders with interests in the supply chain. Methods: Qualitative methodology (semi-structured interviews) was applied to understand the various factors perceived by a selected number of stakeholders that influence sago consumption among the indigenous peoples of West Papua. These stakeholders included politicians, local and national civil servants, academics, sago farmers, and food activists (n = 18). Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Results: The results indicate that the stakeholders perceive that the majority of the West Papuan people regard sago as a traditional food that is critical to, and inseparable from, local culture and food production practices. The results suggest that the stakeholders interviewed support the consumption of sago to improve food security for the indigenous people in West Papua, with a need for future policy to be developed to support this. Conclusions: The evidence presented here suggests a diverse range of local stakeholders support the continuation of sago production and consumption, both from the perspective of improved food security, and in order to conserve cultural associations and activities within local communities. According to the stakeholders interviewed, this can be best achieved through improved engagement of local communities with sago production policies, innovation in current practices, and agronomic management. Local policies should be developed to ensure that sago remains an integral component of the Papuan people's culture, and develops into a significant commodity with economic value which simultaneously contributes to environmental targets. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40066-022-00390-5.

Eating and Being Eaten: The Meanings of Hunger among Marind.

In this article, I explore how Marind communities in West Papua experience and interpret hunger. Drawing from Indigenous discourse and practice, I examine how agro-industrial expansion and commodified foodways provoke multiple, conflicting hungers among Marind - for sago, "plastic" foods, money, and human flesh. In tandem, Marind themselves are subjected to the insatiable appetite of various invasive entities - corporations, the government, roads, cities, and oil palm. I argue that hunger constitutes a symbolically charged, culturally constructed, and morally laden experiential mode through which Marind characterize and contest capitalist modernity and its more-than-human dynamics of eating and being eaten.

Analyses of interlinked actors in determining the potential business beneficiaries of small-scale pig farming systems in West Papua, Indonesia.

Pig production is a key livelihood sector and a source of economic and social beneficiaries, which has many interest and interlinked actors. The inventory which includes all resources and the roles played by actors is utmost important in pig farming system. Some stakeholders are interlinked in function, forming a complex system with multi-disciplinary actors. This research aims to distinctively map and provide clear involvement of actors or stakeholders in relation to their contribution towards pig business. As much as 32 institutions were interviewed based on the roles and resources of individuals working inside the organizations formally and informally. The parameters collected inlude the structure, status of law, and types of organization. As well as stakeholders' role, effect, importance, threat, and turn-back impact. The data obtained include resources sharing, duration, continuity, power, and interventions. Those related to intervention were policy, finance, space, time, access, satisfaction, knowledge, skills, threats, and power. In terms of innovation, the data collected include power, finance, space, time, access, satisfaction, knowledge, skills, threats, and power. And were stored in Microsoft excel worksheet and exported to Social Network Visualizer software version 2.5. The key and strategic stakeholder in pig business beneficiary were identified and determined based on power and interest. The following were identified in the first rank: crop farmers, private credit business, village officer, and local community. In the second rank, the factors identified include government (local and national), student community services, and security.

Evaluation of the Indonesian Early Warning Alert and Response System (EWARS) in West Papua, Indonesia.

Background: The Early Warning and Response System (EWARS) is Indonesia's national syndromic and early warning surveillance system for the rapid detection of infectious diseases and outbreaks. We evaluated EWARS in the remote West Papua province of Indonesia. Methods: Structured telephone interviews were conducted with 11 key informants from West Papuan health services. EWARS data were analysed for usefulness of reporting. Results: Most respondents reported that EWARS is important and useful in improving early detection of outbreaks. The system has led to increased disease control coordination among health jurisdictional levels in the province. However, respondents noted that the limited number of districts involved in the system affected representativeness, and some stated that only about 30-35% of districts in each regency were involved and trained in EWARS reporting, partly owing to lack of a mobile telephone network. Barriers to complete reporting and response to alerts included limited human and funding resources for surveillance, lack of epidemiological training, and technical limitations imposed by limited internet and mobile communication infrastructure in this remote region. Conclusion: Great progress has been made in integrating West Papua into a nationally consistent disease and outbreak detection system. Strategies for addressing barriers resulting from remoteness, constrained human, funding and laboratory resources, lack of training, and limited internet and communications infrastructure are needed if EWARS in West Papua is to advance.

Global HIV Interventions and Technocratic Racism in a West Papuan NGO.

In the era of scale up, global donor-driven HIV activities are transforming NGO work by demanding administrative, technical, and data-oriented activities. Drawing on interviews and participant observation in an NGO in the West Papuan city of Manokwari between 2011 and 2014, I attempt to understand why Indigenous Papuan NGO employees were steadily replaced by non-Indigenous migrant settlers, mainly of Javanese heritage, to deliver HIV services. I show that new rivalries, technical roles, performance targets and efficiency rhetoric intersected with existing racialization to produce a preference for Javanese employees, who were assumed to be more compliant and professional than their Papuan counterparts and to operate more easily within the technocratic regime imposed by donor expectations. I use the term technocratic racism to describe the way that global HIV rationalities intersect with ethnic stereotypes and gendered racial ideas to make possible certain HIV workers and not others. I contribute to anthropological literature on the delivery of HIV services by showing how a technocratic approach to HIV/AIDS intervention intersects with a settler-colonial context to gradually exclude Indigenous employees. Approaches that allow for relational, independent and flexible services would assist to decolonize HIV responses in West Papua.

Lost lovers linked at long last: elusive female Nanophyllium mystery solved after a century of being placed in a different genus (Phasmatodea, Phylliidae).

After successful laboratory rearing of both males and females from a single clutch of eggs, the genus Nanophyllium Redtenbacher, 1906 (described only from males) and the frondosum species group within Phyllium (Pulchriphyllium) Griffini, 1898 (described only from females) are found to be the opposite sexes of the same genus. This rearing observation finally elucidates the relationship of these two small body sized leaf insect groups which, for more than a century, have never been linked before. This paper synonymizes the frondosum species group with Nanophyllium Redtenbacher, 1906 in order to create a singular and clearly defined taxonomic group. Five species are transferred from the Phyllium (Pulchriphyllium) frondosum species group and create the following new combinations: Nanophyllium asekiense (Größer, 2002), comb. nov.; Nanophyllium chitoniscoides (Größer, 1992), comb. nov.; Nanophyllium frondosum (Redtenbacher, 1906), comb. nov.; Nanophyllium keyicum (Karny, 1914), comb. nov.; Nanophyllium suzukii (Größer, 2008), comb. nov. The only taxon from this species group not transferred from the frondosum species group to Nanophyllium is Phyllium (Pulchriphyllium) groesseri Zompro, 1998. Based on protibial exterior lobes, this species belongs in the schultzei species group as described in Hennemann et al. 2009 and is therefore excluded from further discussion here. The rearing of Nanophyllium also yielded the male Nanophyllium asekiense (Größer, 2002), comb. nov. thus, enabling comparison of this male to the other previously known Nanophyllium species. Two new species of nano-leaf insects are described within, Nanophyllium miyashitai sp. nov., from Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea, and Nanophyllium daphne sp. nov., from Biak Island, Papua Province, Indonesia. With such distinct sexual dimorphism in Nanophyllium between sexes, which have only now been matched up via captive rearing, illustrated within are numerous specimens which might represent the unknown opposite sexes of the many currently known species of Nanophyllium. Due to pronounced sexual dimorphism in Nanophyllium, only future captive rearing or molecular analysis will match up the many unknown sexes. To conclude, with the description of two new Nanophyllium species, dichotomous keys to species for known males and females are presented.

The use of antimalarial plants as traditional treatment in Papua Island, Indonesia.

The residents of the Eastern part of Indonesia, specifically, Papua and West Papua provinces, are dependent on traditional medicines with the use of plants, which includes treating malaria. However, there are limited information on the diversity of medicinal plants in Papua Island. Hence, the Indonesian Ministry of Health put together a database of all the natural plant-based raw materials in Indonesia, to address part of the issues encountered as a result of the limited information on the diversity of plants. Based on this background, the aim of the research was to analyze the information on medicinal plants used by the traditional healers in Papua Island based on the results of research on medicinal plants and Jamu (RISTOJA), especially in treating malaria. Data were obtained through ethnomedicine research conducted in 2012 and 2017 involving 54 ethnicities in Papua. Based on the results, 72 species of medicinal plants from 67 genera and 40 families were used traditionally in treating malaria on Papua Island. The most common medicinal plants used as traditional antimalarial concoction are Alstonia scholaris (L.) R. Br., Carica papaya L., Andrographis paniculata (Burm. f.) Nees, and Physalis minima L. Similar to other ethnobotany research, the leaves were the most used plant parts in preparing the various traditional concoctions.

A new dataset on plant occurrences on small islands, including species abundances and functional traits across different spatial scales.

BACKGROUND: We introduce a new dataset of woody plants on 60 small tropical islands located in the Raja Ampat archipelago in Indonesia. The dataset includes incidence, abundance and functional trait data for 57 species. All islands were sampled using a standardised transect and plot design providing detailed information on plant occurrences at different spatial scales ranging from the local (plot and transect scale) to the island scale. In addition, the dataset includes information on key plant functional traits linked to species dispersal, resource acquisition and competitive strategies. The dataset can be used to address ecological questions connected to the species-area relationship and community assembly processes on small islands and in isolated habitats. NEW INFORMATION: The dataset yields detailed information on plant community structure and links incidence, abundance and functional trait data at different spatial scales. Furthermore, this is the first plant-island dataset for the Raja Ampat archipelago, a remote and poorly studied region, and provides important new information on species occurrences.

Australasian genus Crasilogia Warren (Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Larentiinae).

The Australasian genus Crasilogia Warren comprising the species C. dispar Warren, C. flavipennis Warren, C. fulvitincta Joicey Talbo, C. fumipennis Warren, C. gressitti Holloway, C. simplex (Prout), C. parasimplex, sp. nov., and C. diversisimplex, sp. nov. is reviewed based on the museum specimens, including primary types. Lectotype is designated for C. simplex.

A new species of Indo-Papuan groundsnake, genus Stegonotus Duméril et al., 1854 (Serpentes, Colubridae), from the Bird's Head Peninsula of West Papua, Indonesia, with comments on differentiating morphological characters.

We describe a new species of Indo-Papuan groundsnake (Stegonotus) from a single adult male specimen collected in 1953 near Kamro, a village in Maybrat Regency, West Papua, Indonesia. The specimen had been considered a member of S. batjanensis, a well-defined species from the northern Maluku Islands over 500 km to the northwest with which it shares the key characteristic of having the 3rd, 4th, and 5th supralabial scales touching the eyes. The new species can be differentiated from S. batjanensis as well as all other species of Stegonotus by having its 5th supralabial scale projecting forward from behind the eye to form a narrow contact zone with the eye. In addition, it is differentiated by the combination of the following characteristics: seven supralabials, the 3rd-5th touching the eye; eight infralabials, the 1st-4th touching the anterior genial; four scales separating the posterior genial and the first gastrostege; dorsal scales in 17 rows, diminishing to 15 posteriorly; a low number of ventrals (181 in the holotype) combined with a high number of subcaudals (105 in the holotype), the latter comprising 37% of the scales on the ventral surface, the highest proportion in the genus. The description of this species is of interest beyond adding to the species diversity of Stegonotus: it allowed us to explore additional characteristics to resolve taxonomic questions in a morphologically conservative genus, it illustrates the need for additional herpetological survey work on the Bird's Head Peninsula, and its initial misidentification serves as a reminder of the continued relevance and importance of natural history collections as repositories for specimens and data that influence our knowledge today by reaching out from the past.

A new leafhopper genus of subtribe Paraboloponina (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Deltocephalinae: Drabescini), with description of two new species from Papua New Guinea.

A new leafhopper genus Papuakutara gen. nov. is described from Papua New Guinea, with two new species, P. ficus sp. nov. and P. robustipenis sp. nov. Kutara lucidicosta (Walker, 1870) is transferred to Papuakutara comb. nov. A checklist of the genera in the subtribe Paraboloponina from Papua New Guinea and West Papua and a key for their separation are provided.

Contribution to the knowledge of the genus Visiana Swinhoe (Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Larentiinae), with the description of two new species from Indonesia.

The present study contributes to the knowledge of the Indo-Pacific genus Visiana Swinhoe based on historic specimens collected in Indonesia and deposited in the collections of the Natural History Museum (London, UK) and Naturalis Biodiversity Center (Leiden, the Netherlands). Two new species V. cyclopsensis, sp. nov. from the Cyclops Mountains (West Papua) and V. minahasensis, sp. nov. from Minahasa (Sulawesi) are described and illustrated. These belong to two different species groups. An updated checklist of the genus Visiana, comprising 18 species is included.

Discovery of the spider wasp genus Sphictostethus Kohl, 1884 (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae: Pepsinae) in New Guinea, with description of two new species.

Two new species of the genus Sphictostethus Kohl, 1884 are described and illustrated from New Guinea (Indonesia: West Papua). Both species, S. papua Loktionov Lelej, sp. nov. and S. arfak Loktionov Lelej, sp. nov. differ from congeners by their peculiar head and clypeus shape, the presence of tubercles on the mesopleuron and propodeum, and the well-developed metasomal petiole. The genus Sphictostethus is newly recorded from New Guinea as a new northernmost border for their distribution within the Australian Region. An addition to the key of Australian species is given.