“Papuans call the forest mother, the coast child, and the sea father.
These are sacred relationships.”
-Albert, GKI-TP elder and conservationist
West Papua is home to some of the world’s richest ecosystems. Ancient rainforests, sprawling mangrove swamps, and coral reefs teeming with life.
Together with Papua New Guinea, this region holds the world’s third-largest rainforest, a vital carbon sink affectionately known among conservationists as one the lungs of the Earth, with the Amazon and Congo Basin.
For generations, Indigenous Papuans have lived in deep relationship with the environment around them, for food, water and survival, but also identity, spirituality and culture. Most families are subsistence farmers or fishers who understand the balance between nature and human need without ever speaking the language of climate science.
But today, that balance is breaking down—and families are going hungry.
Despite its natural wealth, West Papua is Indonesia’s poorest province. One in five children is malnourished. And climate change is making life harder for the poorest people.
Illegal logging, mining and the effects of climate change are reshaping both land and sea. Floods and erosion are washing away crops and homes. Mangroves that once protected the coastline are being cleared. And as the environment becomes more fragile, so too does life for the people who depend on it.
Coastal erosion is swallowing the built areas along the north coast of West Papua
One in five children in West Papua are malnourished or stunted.
A church that reaches every village
In remote regions like Tambrauw in the far northern coast—neglected by government services and difficult for aid agencies to access—there’s one institution present in every community: the church.
The Evangelical Christian Church in the Land of Papua (GKI-TP) has served West Papuan communities since the first missionaries arrived in 1855. Now fully indigenous, nearly 90% of congregations are in rural areas and the the majority of congregational leaders are women. When crisis hits, the church is already there. When others leave, church leaders remain.
With more than 800,000 members they are the largest civil society organisation in West Papua, with deep roots and significant collective and political power.
Already advocating for the protection of the environment and indigenous land rights, they now want to expand their support for communities struggling through poverty and the growing impacts of climate change.
UnitingWorld partners with churches like GKI-TP who are already leading change and transforming lives and communities. By working together, we can expand the reach of grassroots leaders and support long-term solutions to poverty, hunger and environmental degradation.
“This is the first time people have come to ask us about our challenges and the changing environment. Thank you.“
-Maria, community member
The GKI-TP Climate Team and UnitingWorld staff travelling to the remote Tambrauw Province of West Papua
When the GKI-TP team arrived in Tambrauw in the far north coast of West Papua to gather the perspectives of the community, Maria was quiet at first. Her eyes showed the weariness of someone who has endured too much.
But when women and men were separated to share their perspectives, she found courage to speak. And her words—thanking people simply for asking—revealed how deeply neglected these communities have been.
Maria is the mother of eight surviving children. Five others died during childbirth or early childhood.
She raises her family mostly alone, working from dawn until nightfall—tending her food garden, then working shifts at a co-op making moisturizer from a local fruit tree. She provides food, takes her children to school and church, hoping they might escape the poverty she has known.
But climate change is making everything harder.
“The wet and dry seasons are becoming more extreme. When it’s dry, we plant in the flat areas and must water constantly. When the rains are heavy, we can only plant on the hills.”
Maria’s story opened the door. Other women nodded in agreement. And what the team heard over the following days made it clear: poverty and climate change are making hard-working families like Maria’s utterly vulnerable to hunger, sickness and disaster.
Things are getting worse, but solutions are possible.
Papuan women are hit hardest by climate change because they’re already the most vulnerable. Imagine running an entire household, then overnight having your gardens destroyed by floods. With no savings, families must start again from scratch every time. That is the reality for these women. -Hermin Rumbrar, GKI-TP project facilitator and gender lead (pictured centre).
“Can we grow an economy from protecting nature rather than destroying it?”
-Albert, GKI-TP elder and conservationist
Leaders with a heart for people and place
GKI-TP’s statement of faith commits the church to caring for the environment to ensure the flourishing of future generations. The statement has had a huge influence, inspiring leaders to organise grassroots efforts to conserve the lands people depend on.
Albert is an example of the power of theology. He once spent 20 years working for one of the world’s largest mining companies operating in West Papua’s highlands. The job was secure. The pay was good.
But something gnawed at his consciousness.
He watched forests disappear. He saw communities displaced. He knew most of the wealth flowing out of the ground wasn’t staying in Papua.
“I started asking myself: Can we grow an economy from protecting nature rather than destroying it?”
So he left mining and dedicated himself to answering that question.
Now, as an elder in GKI-TP, Albert runs education programs teaching children and youth about the forests, rivers and reefs that surround them. He started his own foundation. He works with schools, government, and academics. He’s won awards for his conservation work.
“Conservation is a form of Christian faithfulness,” says Albert.
“It is a response of gratitude for God’s provision of the forests, rivers, and seas that feed and house us.”
“We papuans call the forest ‘mother’, the coast ‘child’, and the sea ‘father’. These are sacred relationships,” he explains. “But without good leadership, we are losing them.”
“It took just a few years to destroy the mangroves and coral.
It will take 30 years to get them back, but only if we start today.“
-Rev Oto, GKI-TP
Rev Oto Keredi leads a congregation that has lived on this coastline longer than anyone can remember. It used to be all mangroves and coral, a natural barrier that softened waves, sheltered fish, and protected homes from storms.
But families cut down the mangroves and sold the coral to build their houses. Now, without that living fence, king tides flood deep inland. During typhoons, even when they’re far offshore, no one sleeps.
“It feels completely exposed,” Rev Oto says. “Like we’ll be swept away.”
The fishing changed too. Without mangroves, there’s nowhere for fish to shelter or breed. People who once fished from shore now have to travel much farther.
So Rev Oto did what pastors do: he mobilised his congregation.
He uses his pulpit to urge every member to plant at least one mangrove or tree and care for it. “If everyone does that,” he says “conservation becomes a mindset, a spiritual practice woven into daily life.”
The response has been encouraging. The provincial government committed to providing congregations like his with 300 mangrove seedlings every year. GKI-TP’s statement of faith gives him theological grounding to speak boldly.
“I tell people it took just a few years to destroy the mangroves and coral,” he says. “It will take 30 years to bring them back—but only if we start today.”
People in Rev Otto’s community cut away the costal mangroves to build their houses and sold the coral to make a living. Now feeling the brunt of climate change impacts, his congregation is working to restore them.
“We’re excited to have the Synod team walking alongside us.
This community really needs support.”
-Rev Monim, GKI-TP
Rev Monim’s story begins with the worst kind of loss.
In 2010, she was living in Wasior when torrential rain triggered a landslide that blocked the river above the town. She was away on church training. Her children were staying with family friends.
As the rain continued, the river backed up. People didn’t realize the danger until water was rising through the streets. Her son and daughter tried to reach higher ground.
“My children held tightly to each other’s hands when they were swept away,” she says quietly. “They would never have let go, but a log went between them and smashed them apart.”
Her son was found days later, barely alive. Her daughter was never found. The disaster killed 145 people. The entire town had to be relocated. Researchers later linked the severity to deforestation—nearly 30,000 hectares of forest had been logged in the eight years before the flood.
Today, Rev Monim serves communities facing the same impossible choices.
“People want to protect the forests, their source of food and shelter. But life is hard. Many here live in poverty, and the fastest way to earn money is to cut down trees or sell land.”
When the GKI-TP climate team arrived in April with UnitingWorld staff, Rev Moni welcomed them warmly. The team came to listen—to understand what communities needed before designing solutions.
“We’re excited to have the Synod team walking alongside us. This community really needs support.”
“It’s harder now to know when to plant or go fishing. The weather isn’t like before. The climate is changing, but we work hard. We pray. We stay motivated.”
“I believe it is God’s blessing for us to help the people here.”
-Rev Matteus, GKI-TP
Rev Matteus is the type of Presbytery Minister who seems to know and be known by most people across a dozen villages.
He grew up here watching his father serve the same West Papuan communities as a minister. When he considered moving to a a better (easier) posting, his father reminded him: “Our family promised to always help these people. We should keep it.”
Growing up and being a leader here he knows how important it is for the project to be inclusive of all the different tribal groups, faiths, denominations, to be led by the community and have a long-term vision.
“People often do not trust the government, and their support is often very short term,” says Matteus.
“But the church is trusted because we are the community. I believe it is God’s blessing for us to help the people here.”
Matteus says families are so poor that they can’t afford to transport their crops to the market, so people live day to day on what they grow or catch.
“When disasters strike or there is a lean season, they are left with nothing,” he says.
“Ongoing, community-led support can change that.”
Challenging injustice, building alternatives
The work in Tambrauw is part of something bigger. Across West Papua, GKI-TP isn’t just helping communities adapt, they’re challenging the systems causing harm. Local churches have protested destructive nickel mining. Indigenous activists and church leaders have stood together. Recently, civil society groups successfully lobbied to revoke four of the five active mining licenses threatening coral reefs in the region.
But stopping extraction is only half the equation. Communities need alternatives that don’t force impossible choices between survival and sustainability. This is what makes GKI-TP’s approach transformative: challenging injustice while building alternatives.
With sustained support, they can expand climate-resilient food production, train conservation champions, empower women economically, and develop eco-livelihoods like community-based tourism. If it works in Tambrauw—one of West Papua’s most challenging regions—it becomes proof of what’s possible.
This isn’t just about adapting to harm. It’s about casting a vision of human flourishing where mental, social, and environmental wellbeing are woven together. Our partners offer us wisdom from cultures that can help us find ways to flourish that don’t require someone else’s loss.
By supporting UnitingWorld, you’re resourcing something powerful already underway. A movement of Indigenous Christian leaders building a different future, and inviting us to walk alongside them.
Stand with communities building a different future.
“It’s simple for us in the church. We do what Jesus did. Serve people.”
-Donaltus, GKI-TP Project Lead