Following two years of program implementation, the Tambrauw Mountains legacy landscape has made meaningful progress in strengthening environmental and social safeguards through the advancement of key environmental and social action plan (ESAP) measures. Currently, around 63% of the actions are in the initiation phase, with the remainder moving steadily through advanced stages of implementation. Notably, there are no delays across the ESAP measures, and the majority of activities are on track, reflecting strong program delivery and commitment to safeguard standards.
Strengthened grievance mechanism
- A site-specific grievance and redress mechanism (GRM), known as Tanah Papua GRM, has been formally established and fully operationalised since August 2023. Tailored to the socio-environmental context of the landscape, this mechanism serves as a critical platform for addressing and resolving concerns related to environmental and social impacts across the program area.
- The GRM is continuously updated to address emerging issues and incorporates input from key stakeholders, including subject-matter experts, to ensure that resolutions, particularly for serious incidents, are contextually informed, inclusive, and socially accountable.
- A diverse range of grievance channels—including phone, SMS, WhatsApp, email, written letters, and in-person reporting through three field offices located in Fef, Kebar, and Aimas—ensures the mechanism is widely accessible. All channels have been used so far, with in-person reporting method being the most commonly used. Dedicated representatives stationed at each office are available to receive complaints and inquiries, with particular attention to ensuring inclusive access for vulnerable and marginalised groups across the landscape.
- The GRM has been fully integrated into general or thematic FPIC processes to support inclusive, transparent, and rights-based participation. Clear information on types of grievances accepted, contact numbers of female and male grievance redress officers, office locations and possibility of anonymous request is proactively shared with communities, local partners, government stakeholders, and third parties to ensure broad awareness and accessibility.
Embedding free, prior and informed consent
- A comprehensive, program-level FPIC guideline for inclusive and community led programming has been developed incorporating strategies, to promote inclusive participation and equitable decision-making. The adopted measures include scheduling meetings at accessible times and locations, facilitating gender-segregated discussions with same-sex facilitators, embedding facilitators within quieter groups to elicit input appropriately, ensuring cultural sensitivity in the participation of men and women, and providing preparatory materials for participants with limited prior experience.
- Around 13 FPIC processes have been carried out across 23 villages within the TMLL, engaging 202 Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IP&LC) members – of whom 32.2% are women.
- Community consent secured through a robust FPIC framework that underpins village‑level intervention—for instance ecotourism ventures to social‑forestry schemes—by combining continuous consultation with participatory field studies (biodiversity, livelihood, and governance assessments) to identify context‑appropriate initiatives that reflect local socio‑environmental realities and community aspirations.
- The FPIC process is conducted on an ongoing basis, both at individual and group levels, carefully adapted to the evolving social dynamics and cultural context of Papua, and functions as a key component of grievance resolution, ensuring that consent and community voice remain central to addressing concerns.
Institutionalising safeguards and building capacity
- A total of 19 safeguard instruments have been developed and institutionalised by the Tanah Papua Programme to establish a comprehensive system for environmental and social risk management, with integrated mechanisms for grievance redress, stakeholder engagement, informed consent, and compliance, all of which have been mainstreamed into operational procedures to ensure consistent implementation and accountability across all levels of the program. At the national level, standard operating procedures for staff and consultant recruitment have also been revised to align with environmental and social safeguard standards.
- About 29 safeguarding training sessions had been conducted for 278 participants, including IP&LC (56.1%), casual workers (19.8%), staff (10.8%), consultants, government partners, and sub-grantees, with women comprising 26.9% of attendees. Participation in safeguarding induction is mandatory for all staff and associates upon joining the organisation (100%). Held between September 2023 and June 2025, the sessions covered environmental and social safeguards, risk assessment, the Tanah Papua GRM, FPIC protocols, emergency and response protocols (ERP), gender equity and social inclusion (GESI), and relevant codes of conduct and standard operating procedures (SOPs)—strengthening accountability and inclusive practice across the program.
Inclusive stakeholder engagement
- Approximately 100 stakeholders, including rightsholders—such as IP&LC, and vulnerable groups—and duty-bearers, including government institutions, civil society organisations, private sector actors, and research bodies have been identified and analysed as part of stakeholder engagement strategy. Tailored engagement approaches were developed to ensure inclusive, rights-based, and context-specific participation.
- Fauna & Flora maintains a strategic partnership with the Southwest Papua BBKSDA as the main implementing agency for the TMLL program, working collaboratively to safeguard the rights, wellbeing, and cultural integrity of IP&LC particularly those living in and around conservation landscapes.
- A targeted stakeholder engagement framework is being developed for three out of five Indigenous communities in Sorong and Tambrauw, informed by a recent collaborative ethnographic and socio-economic studies. This work includes mapping traditional governance structures, decision-making processes, and gender roles to ensure culturally sensitive and inclusive engagement at the village level.