(April 04, 2017) WCS New Ireland Program commemorated the World Water Day with two schools in Kavieng town last month. The event was celebrated on its annual international sanctioned date - March 22 with the theme Waste Water. WCS community engagement officer Mr. Francis Gove and community facilitator Ms. Nerry Mana celebrated the event with the Cateret and Sacred Heart Primary Schools. They talked to students about the importance of water and how it should be conserved to sustain their livelihoods and household...

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(March 06, 2017) Mussau Island in New Island Province lies 160 kilometres north of Kavieng and is well known for having a large population of green turtles. However, recent surveys by WCS have found turtle densities around the island to be highly variable.  Two villages, Nae and Lolieng, are separated by just 33 kilometres of coastline have very different turtle densities. For example, the reef crest at Lolieng supports an average of 7 turtles per hectare whereas the same habitat at Nae has only 0...

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(February 16, 2017) Ambroise Brenier is the new country director for the WCS PNG program.He joined the Goroka head office at the beginning of this year with his wife and two daughters.For the past 13 years Ambroise has worked in Africa, Indian Ocean and Pacific regions to develop and implement field based marine conservation and coastal fishery management initiatives. In 2016, he led the WWF ocean conservation efforts in French overseas territories. From 2010 to 2015 he led the WCS's marine prog...

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(September 13, 2016) We have a campaign to “Strongim kastom – Lukautim Bilas Bilong Yu,” for the 60th Goroka Cultural show this weekend from the 16th – 18th September. Hundreds of cultural groups gather annually to celebrate the country’s Independence Day in their traditional attires. But have you ever thought about how many different birds and animals go into making those outfits? We have and with this campaign “Strongim Kastom – Lukautim Bilas Bilong Yu,” we will be ...

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(September 08, 2016) Three primary schools in New Ireland province celebrated this year’s World Water Week with a stream of fun and activities with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). WCS New Ireland’s Climate Change Educational Resource Centre (CCERC) involved students from the Elivanera, Sacred Heart and Cateret primary schools in various educational activities about water. “This is so that students would understand the roles water play in our lives and the importance of saving it,” sa...

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(July 21, 2016) Three student groups were awarded token of appreciation for their efforts in writing the best essays and poem during the World Environment day celebrations with WCS New Ireland in June.   As part of the centre’s WED celebrations activity, participating schools were given the opportunity to write essays and poems on the WED theme ‘Fight Against the Illegal Trade of Wildlife’.   Grade eight students of Maiom Primary school and grade seven students of Kaselok Primary sch...

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(July 21, 2016) Addressing food security is a key project activity for WCS PNG.WCS recently completed a soil fertility and pests & diseases management training with 75 locals from the Tigak Group of Islands in New Ireland province from the 6th-13th June.This project activity is funded under the Australian Government’s Direct Aid Program (DAP) which also includes other activities that WCS New Ireland has been actively involved in since March this year.It was the first of its kind for the participants of Salapiu,...

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(April 21, 2016) WCS PNG programme has published a major report in relation to the country’s national circumstances for implementing REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation including the promotion of activities that enhance forest carbon stocks) and for understanding the key direct and indirect factors that are driving deforestation and forest degradation in the country. The report, which is titled “Analysis of National Circumstances in the Context of REDD+ and Identi...

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(March 29, 2016) A project to help rural communities in five provinces in the country tell their climate change stories is underway with two island villages in New Ireland province been the first to complete a media workshop on digital storytelling. Funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with the Climate Change Development Authority-CCDA (formerly OCCD) this was one of the activities that the Wildlife Conservation Society in Papua New Guinea (WCS PNG) was contracted to undertake...

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(March 29, 2016) Prohibiting destructive fishing practices, closing fish spawning aggregation sites, minimum size limits, no-take areas and rotational harvesting of some invertebrates are a few of the fisheries management initiatives that villages of the Tigak and Tsoi Islands in New Ireland province have agreed to include in their fisheries management plans. 10 communities in the Tigak and Tsoi Islands have been working in collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation Society Papua New Guinea programme to sustai...

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(March 16, 2016) WCS will be undertaking a new programme of environmental education work in New Ireland Province thanks to support from the Australian Government Direct Aid Program (DAP). This funding from DAP will help to bring school children into WCS’s Climate Change Education Resource Centre and to support a schools outreach programme where WCS staff will deliver information and curriculum materials on climate change and the environment to primary schools throughout the province. A further as...

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(November 24, 2015) Villagers in Central Manus celebrated the opening of four community projects and the signing of new conservation agreements with WCS recently in order to preserve their forests and ensure lasting benefits from their land. With support from the Australian Government and PNKA and Pobuma Local Level Governments the communities and WCS partnered together to construct a community hall, primary school, foot bridge and a water supply system at the villages of Tulu 1, Tulu 2 and Lahapau on the north coa...

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(November 19, 2015) A report on finance tracking of activities aimed at reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) in Papua New Guinea was recently released under the REDDX (REDD eXpenditures) initiative of Forest Trends. This 28 page report authored by WCS staff Bensolo Ken and co-authored by Ezra Neale presents findings from the first round of REDD+ finance tracking in PNG from 2009 – 2014. The REDDX initiative is the first comprehensive attempt to track and report on fin...

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(November 19, 2015) A coastal hazard assessment of Manus and New Ireland provinces, undertaken by WCS, has identified that local people and decision makers have a low awareness of the value of protection services provided by their coastal environment.  While there is a lack of measures in place to protect coastlines against flooding, communities however do show a high degree of adaptation to low-intensity flooding events. The 45 page report titled ‘Protecting against coastal hazards in Manus and New Irel...

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(November 12, 2015) Four primary schools in the Pomuti, Ndrehet, Kurti and Andra Local Level Government (PNKA LLG) of Manus Province were the first lot to receive climate change educational resource materials from (WCS) Papua New Guinea programme.Tulu, Bundralis, Ponam and Andra primary schools received six copies of a climate change teachers resource book each and five copies each of two different climate change related posters last week.Three copies of the resource book were presented to the provincial education ...

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(November 12, 2015) Teachers in New Ireland province will now be able to teach students in primary and secondary schools the importance of mangroves and climate change.This followed the endorsement of the distribution of two teachers’ resource handbooks and a student mangrove study guide by the provincial education board in October.The handbooks titled ‘Climate Change Adaptation Teachers Resource Book’, ‘First Edition of Introduction to Mangroves: A teaching Resource for Lower Primary’ and ‘Mangrove Field Study Boo...

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(September 20, 2015) It’s the time of the year again when we celebrate our independence as a nation by donning our traditional bilas and proudly displaying our cultural identity as Papua New Guineans. Bilas is our cultural fingerprint whether we are from the Islands or the Highlands. Behind every bilas outfit are species of plants and animals – and a relationship which intertwines nature and culture in PNG. This is the story of a modern-day quest to understand one of those species. Have you ever wondered...

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(August 25, 2015) Last month WCS New Ireland was among stakeholders and conservation partners who celebrated the World Mangrove Day with local community based organisation (CBO) West Coast Development Foundation.World Mangrove Day falls on the 26th of July annually and was observed by the team on the 27th with locals in Central New Ireland - Namatanai District.Jonathan Mesulam, coordinator of the local CBO based in Danu – Central New Ireland in the Namatanai District invited WCS to participate in the event as a p...

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(August 21, 2015) The recently launched WCS Climate Change Educational Resource Centre in Kavieng opened its doors to its first excursion group this month (August).A grade seven class of 29 students from Kaselok Primary school were the first group to visit the centre two weeks ago to use its resources for research.Community Engagement officer, Francis Gove said the class visit was the first apart from the occasional individual student visits since the opening of the centre in April this year.“Students come to the...

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(July 31, 2015) Findings from the 2014 expedition on PNG’s remote northern most islands of Manus and Mussau have been published.The project was funded by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund as part of a programme integrating biodiversity and community needs within the region.Presented recently to officials and stakeholders in Kavieng, New Ireland Province, the 85 page book documents a total of 440 species of which 13 are new or undescribed species.Included amongst the new species are four frog species, a la...

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