Fiji, Nov. 14 -- As COP30 gets underway in Belem, a group of international parliamentarians has issued a stark warning that West Papua is facing accelerating deforestation, rights abuses and environmental destruction that demand urgent global attention.

In a joint statement, the International Parliamentarians for West Papua (IPWP) said they were "profoundly concerned" about rapidly rising forest loss across the contested territory, warning that the crisis threatens one of the world's most important carbon sinks.

"West Papua has been under Indonesian control since a controversial 1969 process, 'the Act of Free Choice', which saw 1026 West Papuans vote for integration into Indonesia under conditions of intimidation and violence," the grou...