The Australian West Papua Association has written to the Australian government aid agency, AusAID, asking that it provide food aid to the people in the Intan Jaya district of Papua in Indonesia.
It says thousands of people in the region have been suffering from a lack of food for the past four months.
The association says 19 villages in Intan Jaya district are short of food and people are relying on tubers found in the forest to survive.
It says Australia is one of the best resourced countries in the region and it's urging Canberra to offer assistance to the Papua Governor.
