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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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(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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