(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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(June 25, 2015) The Manus Green Tree Snail is now listed as “Near Threatened” in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) comprehensive global inventory of the conservation status of species known as the “Red List”.On 23 June, the IUCN released its updated Red List of Threatened Species that included the iconic Manus green tree snail.The snail is now recognised as “Near Threatened” meaning although the population is declining there is no immediate ext...

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(June 03, 2015) WCS is working with island communities in Manus Province to introduce and train them the gardening techniques called ‘atoll farming’.Atoll farming is a gardening technique for islands and atolls where the soil is very sandy. It uses techniques of composting and integration of crop residues to improve the soil water holding capacity, improve soil fertility, aeration and soil structure required for healthy crop growth.WCS Manus’ Agriculture Officer, George Puipui conducted the training on Andra Is...

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(May 24, 2015) Two coastal communities from the Tigak Group of Islands in northern New Ireland Province recently completed a predictive sea level rise mapping exercise with experts from the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Provincial Environment and Climate Change office.The exercise was undertaken from the 3rd to 8th May and involved locals from Limanak and Nonovaul islands. It was undertaken in order to map the potential impact of rising sea levels at these two communities and to raise awareness among c...

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(April 30, 2015) WCS PNG opened a new Climate Change Education Resource Centre in its Kavieng office today (30th April, 2015).Director of the Fisheries and Marine Resources Division of the New Ireland Authority, Donald Papaol when officiating the ceremony said that the centre would be a source to disseminate information that would empower communities to make the right decisions to look after their environment.The centre is intended to promote awareness and understanding of the causes of climate change and ways t...

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(April 21, 2015) WCS celebrates Earth Day today to highlight the need for environmental protection in Papua New Guinea and around the world.Our theme is ‘to not let the earth’s key species disappear’ and internationally we are working to save gorillas, tigers, vultures, sharks and elephants.The WCS PNG team supports these international goals and within PNG we are working to prevent the extinction of tree kangaroos, long-beaked echidna, vulturine parrots, birds of paradise, sharks, turtles and coral reefs.WCS PNG...

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(April 21, 2015) Further work from WCS’s biodiversity surveys on Manus and Mussau Island has confirmed that this work uncovered at least a dozen new species. Some of these new species are featured on BBC Earth’s website at the following link: http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150415-new-species-and-vital-wildlife-haven-discovered-in-papua-new-guineaThe surveys were supported by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) with the approval of the PNG Conservation and Environment Protection Auth...

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(April 10, 2015) How do you tell if a mud crab is reproductively mature? And why do you need to know this?WCS intern, Mildred Kelokelo, based in Kavieng, has just completed a month’s training acquiring skills in methods for the rapid reproductive analysis of reef fishes and invertebrates with her work focusing on mud crabs.Mildred was part of the 2015 Bishop Museum’s Pacific Biological Survey (PBS) program that was conducted from 9th March to 3rd April at Nago Island Mariculture and Research Facility...

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(April 02, 2015) WCS Goroka recently completed its first ever participatory 3D modelling workshop with locals of the Miruma Upper Asaro Rural Local Level Government (LLG) in the Daulo district - Eastern Highlands Province.The workshop was conducted at Miruma from the 16th – 20th March and involved two local representatives from each of the seven clans that make up the LLG.Project Coordinator and WCS Social Researcher, Sylvia Noble said that the workshop was a first of its kind with WCS PNG taking the lead in org...

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(March 31, 2015) Island communities in New Ireland province have been actively involved in a range of fisheries-related activities that the WCS Marine program in Kavieng had been conducting under its Small-Scale Fisheries Management project.The two year fisheries project is funded by the David Lucile and Packard Foundation, though the marine team intends to continue its work well into the future.WCS Fisheries Technical Advisor and project manager, Dr Sven Frijlink and his team had recently carried out these fish...

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(March 05, 2015) Have you ever seen a dragon breathe fire? I guess it’s a no! Yet, you may have come across a dragon many times and not known it!There was a fair amount of eyebrow raising when the front page of Post Courier on Monday 10th November 2014 announced to the world that a team of our scientists discovered a dragon on Mussau Island in New Ireland province.Some people expressed disappointment on seeing the front page of the Post Courier that the animal was actually a lizard rather than a mythical dragon....

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(March 03, 2015) Today marks the World Wildlife Day.We were honoured to have been a part of the World Wildlife Day celebrations in Port Moresby over the weekend that was hosted by the Port Moresby Nature Park, and included representatives from the RSPCA and NCDC.World Wildlife Day, is a United Nations General Assembly’s sanctioned day for 3rd March to celebrate and raise awareness of the world’s wild flora and fauna. The date was proclaimed on 20 December 2013, during its 68th session.WCS PNG Director Richard Cu...

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(February 12, 2015) As a person whose passion lies in agriculture and the land, WCS New Ireland’s intern Sammie Waru had never thought that diving would set him off on a new and exciting part of his career.Sammie was part of a team that took part in a one week scuba diving course with the Scuba Ventures in Kavieng last month.The course was part of his internship program with WCS under the David and Lucile Packard Foundation funded 'Small-scale Fisheries Management' project.“It was such an experience and a challenge...

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(December 16, 2014) The WCS New Ireland team has recruited new community facilitators (CFs) to be the bridge between its work and partner communities in the province.Ten young and vibrant locals joined the team of six (6) existing CFs in an extensive week of information exchange and training that was carried out between the 10th- 14th November in Kavieng.Trainer and WCS PNG’s Senior Community Engagement Specialist John Par Kagl said that the new CFs were a group that showed enthusiasm and charisma during the traini...

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(December 11, 2014) Two elementary teachers from one of WCS PNG’s most remote project sites completed two days of training with local partner and conservation organisation the Research & Conservation Foundation (RCF) on Tuesday, 9th December 2014 in Goroka.The teachers Peter Aiyo Mark and Laimon Asam were instrumental also in the consultation and verification process of finalising the recently developed elementary curriculum handbook for the primary school students of Ikundi – Souwi Valley.They were presented with ...

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(December 11, 2014) Mangroves are an important forest ecosystem for many coastal communities in Papua New Guinea.Conservation of this forest ecosystem for sustainable harvesting and management of resources that it provides is vital for the sustainability of livelihoods. WCS New Ireland under its mangrove rehabilitation and protection initiative has been carrying out mangrove health assessments on several island communities in the province.This WCS PNG initiative is funded by the USAID Mangrove Rehabilitation for Su...

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(December 11, 2014) WCS New Ireland team has engaged two graduates from the University of Natural Resources and Environment (UNRE) Vudal Campus for a one year internship program.The graduates, Mildred Kelokelo and Sammie Waru graduated from Vudal in March this year and recently joined the WCS team in August under WCS’s sustainable small-scale fisheries program, which is funded by the David and Lucille Packard Foundation.Their work and research projects are supervised by WCS Fisheries Management officer Dr Sven Frij...

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