Papua - the Indonesian portion of New Guinea Island - is home to the largest tract of intact rainforest left in Asia, diverse indigenous groups and a treasure trove of biodiversity. Its rainforests are under threat from logging, mining and plantation companies.

Indigenous communities live under the shadow of an oppressive police and military presence. They face human rights abuses, including torture and extrajudicial killings, for attempting to express basic political freedoms or asserting their land rights.

Due to the challenges of working in Papua and restrictions on media access, developments in the region routinely go undercovered. Since 2018, The Gecko Project has published a string of investigations focused on Papua, holding corporations and officials to account and generating scrutiny of events in this globally-significant and undercovered region.