Iain Wilson was born, raised and resides in Indonesian Papua. He has a passion for conservation, especially in Papua Indonesia. He speaks and writes in English, Bahasa Indonesia, Melayu-Papua and Bahasa Yali (a highland Papuan language). He has over 19 years of experience in community development, capacity-building, indigenous rights, healthcare, and other sectors, with groups including the Clinton Foundation, PT Freeport Indonesia and Green Economic Growth Programme for Papua Provinces. He has a decade’s experience in air logistics and management in the aircraft industry and is a disciplined and motivating project manager, facilitator, trainer and evaluator who works across Indonesian, Papuan and Western cultures with equal ease and fluidity.

Iain is the co-founder of YAPPENDA, “Yayasan Pelayanan Papua Nenda”- a Papuan/Indonesian foundation working to protect, advocate for, sustain and restore the natural environment through empowerment of indigenous Papuans.  Iain is currently completing a contract with a programme under the British Government’s United Kingdom Climate Change Unit (UKCCU) called the Green Economic Growth Programme for Papua Provinces. The programme was born from genuine concerns that Papua may follow the same development pathway as other forest resource rich provinces (e.g., Sumatra and Kalimantan) that have led to wholesale destruction of the forest resource. Papua has the largest area of intact natural forest in South East Asia (31 million hectares). Papua is currently on a high-risk, carbon-intensive growth trajectory, and at risk of further unplanned extraction of its natural resource assets (this sector accounts for 80 percent of Papua’s economy). The most disturbing aspect of this situation for indigenous Papuans is the on-going and unsustainable trade in illegal logging, palm oil and mining sector, which is overwhelmingly under the control of non-Papuans.

The programme supports a portfolio of nascent Papuan agribusiness smallholders and SMEs that will be the basis for a more comprehensive green investment strategy for both provinces in Papua. The success of selected small holder farmers (SHFs) and micro, small medium enterprises (MSMEs) should catalyse more green investment by leveraging successful Programme interventions to attract support from other donors, local government funding and ultimately private finance to support potential green enterprises in both provinces.