Researcher documents colourful birds-of-paradise

By MARY ESCH | AP

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A coffee table book and documentary by a Cornell Lab of Ornithology scientist and a National Geographic photographer provide a rare glimpse of the extravagant plumage and bizarre courtship dances of the rainforest birds known as birds-of-paradise.

Cornell's Ed Scholes and photographer Tim Laman made 18 expeditions to the remote rainforests of New Guinea over eight years. 

 A male blue bird-of-paradise forages in Papua New Guinea. Ed Scholes and Tim Laman made 18 expeditions to Papua New Guinea to document birds-of-paradise in the wild. (AP Photo/Tim Laman, National Geographic)

Their goal was to document for the first time all 39 species of birds-of-paradise in the wild with photos, audio recordings and video.

"Identification of species of birds-of-paradise has been going on for a long time because they're so beautiful," Scholes said.

"There's a good sampling of them in museums around the world from 19th century collectors who would go and shoot them or buy them from local people."

Most of the photographs of the birds were from captive birds in zoos.

Photographing them in the wild is challenging because of the rugged, hard-to-access areas where they live, and because many of the courtship displays happen high in the treetops.

Laman, an expert tree-climber, built platforms high in the rainforest to photograph those species.

Food is abundant and predators virtually non-existent in the New Guinea rainforest where birds-of-paradise evolved.

So the main driving force for evolution was sexual selection, said Scholes, whose primary interest is evolutionary biology.

The birds evolved with incredible colors and behaviors designed to attract mates.

 Some can change instantly into a flared-skirt dancer or a bouncing blob with luminous, blinking color patches. Some have long, ribbon-like head feathers, or waving, wire-like feathers tipped with shiny disks.

"My favorite would probably be the superb bird-of-paradise," Scholes said.

"I still look at it and find it too incredible to be true.

“The male transforms himself from a fairly recognizable black bird into something completely otherworldly, a black ovoid shape with what looks like two iridescent eye spots and a mouth — what I call a psychedelic smiley face."

Laman, who lives in Lexington, Mass., and maintains an academic affiliation with Harvard, where he got his doctorate in biology, said his favorite is the greater bird-of-paradise.

The male is stunning: maroon with a silver iridescent crown, blue bill and a cascade of brilliant yellow display feathers at its flanks.

But it's not the bird's beauty as much as its backstory that captivates Laman.

"We went to a remote place called the Aru Islands, where we were following in the footsteps of one of my real heroes, Alfred Russel Wallace," Laman said.

"He was a contemporary of Darwin who in the 1850s was exploring this area of Indonesia.

“He's known for discovering the same theory of natural selection as Darwin, and writing to him about it."

Laman and Scholes put more than 2,000 video clips and many audio files of birds-of-paradise in the Lab of Ornithology's Macaulay Library. 

 The collection is available online.

A documentary on the project will air Thursday evening on the National Geographic Channel.

Links:

Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Macaulay Library

National Geographic

Health reforms in PNG

Oxford Busines Group

Looking to make the most of the country’s resource revenues, Papua New Guinea  is planning to dip into the sovereign wealth fund to generate progress in the health and education sectors. 
However, current indicators suggest the administration faces an uphill battle.
On October 8, the minister of health, Michael Malabag, pledged to initiate important administrative and legislative reforms to improve the health care system, which has come under criticism in recent months from non-governmental organisations and observers.

Michael Malabag

After a meeting with Prime Minister Peter O'Neill, Malabag told media that his ministry plans to introduce free health care, set aside a K20 million  (US$9.7 million) allocation in the 2013 budget to combat tuberculosis, and step up a recruitment drive for professionals such as doctors, nurses and technical personnel. 
He also promised measures to combat the sale of fake pharmaceutical drugs and to improve the salaries of church health workers.
The reforms are part of Medium Term Development Plan and Strategic Implementation Plan. Eight "key result areas" have been identified as part of the K14.1 billion (US$6.8 billion) reform initiative, which is linked to the National Health Plan. 
These include improving services delivery, strengthening partnerships with stakeholders, tightening health systems and governance, advancing child survival and maternal health, and reducing communicable diseases.
The ministry will likely turn to the sovereign wealth fund (SWF), established in February to manage revenue from an expected resources boom, to fund the reforms. 
Rimbink Pato, the minister of foreign affairs and immigration, told the UN General Assembly in September that the boost the economy expects, particularly from the US$19 billion Exxon-led liquefied natural gas plant, would enable the country to improve social indicators such as literacy levels, maternal and infant mortality rates, as well as law enforcement.
The government is already studying the effect its spending so far has had on health and education. 
In October, Port Moresby launched a major education and health facility survey that will revisit schools and health centres surveyed 10 years ago in a joint PNG-based National Research Institute/World Bank effort. 
The aim is to see what effect the massive increase in government spending on health and education – from one-third of all spending 10 years ago to one-half today – has had over the past decade.
An early target for the SWF funds may be improving health provision outside towns.
 According to a recent report by Global Integrity, a non-profit organisation that tracks governance and corruption around the globe, “[Health care] problems in PNG are compounded by a decentralised and fragmented health care system, which has led to a lack of coordination and oversight of responsibilities between national and provincial/district government agencies, hospitals, health clinics and civil society organisations.”
Likely in an attempt to ease such fragmentation, in late October Malabag told parliament that a new Provincial Health Authorities Act of 2007 will allow for a "single and streamlined" health system to be established in the provinces, local media reported.
"This law will see public hospitals and provincial health services come under a single authority,” he said.
 “This reform will improve planning and coordination of health service delivery by having a single authority managing the human resources and finances in the provinces.”
In September, however, Australia-based AusAID noted the scale of the challenge, revealing in an annual report that PNG was off track on its Millennium Development Goals, and that its health and education indicators were the lowest in the Asia-Pacific region.
The country’s Human Development Index has fallen to 153 out of 187 countries in 2012 from 132 in 2003, with life expectancy just 62.8 years and adults attending an average of 4.3 years of school. 
As of 2011, infant mortality rates also averaged a record high 42.05 deaths per 1000.
However, the government is confident the SWF can make a difference, estimating that some K100 billion (US$48.5 billion) will be initially deposited. Malabag's reform plan will account for 27% of the government's overall recurrent budget to be allocated to the Health Department.
Education will also need much attention from the SWF funds. 
According to data from the PNG National Statistical Office, over one-third of school-aged youths have not received any form of formal education.
The treasury and finance departments have been told to release K500 million (US$242.5 million) for a free education programme announced in 2011, with tuition fees paid by the government for children up to year 10. 
 However, some critics say there were too many delays in ensuring subsidies reach the schools in time to make a difference for the 2013 school year, while others say that to be implemented correctly the government must provide more scholarships for student teachers.
Proper management of the SWF can indeed prove crucial in turning around PNG’s health and education sectors. 
As the government works out the specifics of where funding will be directed, the private sector’s assistance and expertise could also prove beneficial.

PNG bans NSW chicken products

By Corinne Podger and staff of Radio Australia

Papua New Guinea has banned imports of poultry products from the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) following an outbreak of the H7 bird flu in the state earlier this month.

PNG has banned poultry products from the Australian state of NSW, including eggs, after an outbreak of the H7 bird flu. (Credit: ABC)

It broadens an existing ban on eggs from NSW and follows several days of pressure from PNG chicken farmers who want all Australian poultry products blocked.
"Papua New Guinea, being a developing country, just does not have the resources - both financial and technical capacity - to deal with one of these outbreaks," Stanley Leahy, managing director of Zenag Chicken, told Radio Australia.
Mr Leahy has called for a much broader ban, in line with Japan which has banned all poultry products from Australia.
PNG's chief veterinary officer, Dr Nime Kapo, said the ban was expanded as a precautionary measure.
"We've suspended uncooked poultry products including chicken meat and eggs from the state of New South Wales," Dr Kapo said.
 "Everything that has been approved and in transit prior to the ban is all going to be checked at the port of entry anyway."
While the H7 bird flu is not the same as the H1 virus that can kill people, it can destroy entire flocks and can survive in eggs and raw meat.
Australian authorities are confident the outbreak has been contained to a single free range chicken farm.
"We are confident that the outbreak is confined to a single property in New South Wales and that's a free range layer hen farm," said Dr Mark Schipp, Australia's chief veterinary officer.
"That property has now been completely depopulated so all of the infected birds have been disposed of and the property is now under decontamination."

Four children among Manus Island transfers

Source: AAP

Australian has begun transferring asylum seekers to Manus Island, with 19 arriving today (Wednesday). (AAP)

Four children are among the asylum seekers sent to Papua New Guinea's Manus Island, the federal government has confirmed.
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen says the first 19 people sent to Manus consisted of seven families of Sri Lankan and Iranian origin.
They arrived this (Wednesday) morning, accompanied by Australian Federal Police, immigration staff, interpreters, children's services and medical staff.
"The first transfer to Manus Island has now taken place - and will be the first of many - sending the clear message that people arriving by boat risk being sent to a regional processing centre in either Nauru or Papua New Guinea," Mr Bowen said today.
The four children are the first the government has sent offshore since embracing its tough new policies in August.
Operations at the Manus centre will be overseen by both the Australian and PNG governments, with welfare services provided by the Salvation Army, health services by IHMS and operational support services by British security firm G4S.
Local Manus Island residents have also been employed at the processing centre.
Mr Bowen also announced that specialised children's services on Manus Island would be provided by Save the Children, including child protection and education activities.
Mr Bowen also announced the creation of an advisory committee to play an oversight role for the Nauru centre.
It will be chaired by immigration department Deputy secretary Wendy Southern and Nauru MP Mathew Batsiua. It also includes Nauruan Justice Secretary Lisa Lo Piccolo and refugee policy expert Paris Aristotle.
The government has also announced preliminary interviews for the processing of people at the Nauru centre will begin soon.
"It is expected that assessment of claims will fully commence in early 2013," he said.
A contract has been signed with the company Canstruct for work on the permanent facilities at Nauru.
Mr Bowen also revealed another 100 Sri Lankan men have been sent home involuntarily, the ninth such removal this month.
This takes to 426 the number of Sri Lankans forced to return home since August 13.
A total of 525 have now gone back, including 99 who have gone voluntarily.
As well, the government has for the first time forcibly returned an Afghan man found not to be a refugee.
Mr Bowen announced the Pontville Detention Centre in Tasmania will reopen to relieve pressure on the onshore processing network.
Capacity at the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation will also be increased by about 300 places.
Asked how long asylum seekers could wait to be processed at offshore centres, Mr Bowen said, "The five-year figure is an accurate one."
"I've said repeatedly that the no-advantage test will mean that people will wait for a very substantial period," he said.
"Could it be five years? Yes it could."
Mr Bowen also dismissed Amnesty International's comments that Nauru's processing centre was "completely unacceptable".
"Amnesty International opposed the Nauru processing facility before they got there, they oppose it after they leave," he said.
Asked whether Australia's asylum seeker policy might be seen as cruel, Mr Bowen said the government had an "overriding moral and humanitarian obligation" to stop people drowning at sea.
"And yes, that means difficult decisions must be taken," Mr Bowen said.
"There is nothing moral, nothing humanitarian, nothing acceptable about the types of deaths, of drownings, we've seen of people coming to Australia by boat."

Goroka Show committee says "thank you"

By WILSON THOMPSON

President, Highlands Farmers and Settlers Association and Eastern Highlands Agricultural Society

 

On behalf of Highlands Farmers and Settlers Association Inc and Eastern Highlands Agriculture Society Inc,  we take opportunity to thank the participants of the agriculture and rural sector who contributed cash, kind and participated in  the AgriFair and Goroka Show this year.

 We also acknowledge the sponsors in various categories, especially Sir Brian Bell and Sir Sinake Giregire Farmers Prize (Brian Bell),  Ian Downs Prize (Farmset), and the Minister for Agriculture and Livestock for a donation of K10,000.

 The best public sector stall was put up by National Agriculture Research Institute, best farmer groups by Coffee Industry Corporation  Coffee Growers Cooperative Society,  and best private sector stall by Brian Bell Co Ltd.

 We also commend the Ungai-Bena District for sponsoring the accompanying Kangal Festival, which comprised members of the Ungai-Bena Coffee Cooperative and appreciate the efforts of our Patron, Hon Benny Allan.

 Further, we commend NARI, The National, Post-Courier,  National Broadcasting Commission, Krai Bilong Kumul, and Wantok newspaper  for publicity,  and The National for the Goroka Show Supplement. 

 Finally,  we thank National. GamingControl  Board for the naming rights sponsorship and all sponsors of the Goroka Show.

 As usual,  the Goroka Show Organising Committee will send a formal letter and Certificate of Appreciation,  and financial and operating reports to all sponsors and participants as at year ended December 2012.

 Without the other participants, farmers, HFSA farmers and groups (in various display categories of coffee, spices, food security, inland fisheries, apiculture, citrus, floriculture, livestock and general);  support of DAL Deputy Secretary Mawe Gonapa and Director Highlands Kawage Teka and staff;  and Navi Anis, CEO, Coffee Industry Corporation and Agriculture Chairman and CIC staff for logistic; and Gideon Samuel, Chairman Goroka Show and Committee and support staff, the 56th Show would not have been a success.

 We look forward to seeing you all with more support next year.

  Please convey our appreciation to all your officers involved in this event.

Sincerely,

Wilson Thompson, ML

President, HFSA and EHAS Inc

Ramu ships first nickel product

By Esmarie Swanepoel

 

PERTH (miningweekly.com) - The $1.5-billion Ramu nickel cobalt mine, in Papua New Guinea, has loaded its maiden shipment from the Basamuk process plant, ASX-listed Highlands Pacifc reported today (Wednesday).
“This is a major milestone for the project and will be the first of many shipments to follow. This maiden shipment from commissioning is only a relatively small amount, however, as the project builds to its full capacity the shipment will increase,” said Highlands Pacific MD John Gooding.
The shipment consisted of 576 t of mixed nickel cobalt hydroxide intermediate product, containing some 217 t of nickel and 19 t of cobalt.
The product was being exported to a Chinese customer.
Year-to-date, some 9 465 t of mixed nickel cobalt hydroxide intermediate product has been produced, containing around 3 536 to of nickel and 322 t of cobalt.
Once in full production, by mid-2013, the Ramu project would produce some 31 150 t/y of nickel and 3 300 t/y of cobalt, placing it as one of the world’s top-15 nickel producers.
Highlands Pacific holds an 8.56% interest in the Ramu project, which would increase to 11.3% after the repayment of the project debt.
The company further has the option to acquire an additional 9.25% at fair market value, which would increase its interest to 20.55%

Fiji Prime Minister attends special Pacific leaders meeting in PNG

ABC

Fiji's interim prime minister Frank Bainimarama has attended a special meeting of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States in Papua New Guinea.

Fiji's Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama (l) at the Rio+20 summit. (Credit: ABC)

Fiji's interim prime minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama has attended a special meeting of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States in Papua New Guinea.
Fiji has not participated at the highest level of Pacific ACP meetings since its suspension from the Pacific Islands Forum in 2009 following the country's coup.
At the recent Forum Leaders meeting in Cook Islands, PACP leaders could not agree on allowing Fiji back to their meeting.
As a compromise, PNG offered to host a special session outside the forum process before the end of the year to discuss Fiji's involvement in purely PACP related activities.
PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill said Pacific leaders had gathered in PNG because they wanted Fiji to "participate actively in the issues that relate to the Pacific".
"And as we could not discuss that in issues relating to the forum in Rorotonga, I think this gives us the opportunity to make sure we stick together as a region and as members of the Pacific community," Mr O'Neill said.
He said trade negotiations with the European Union and a proposed tuna treaty with the United States would also be discussed at the meeting.
The meeting's chairman, Cook Islands Prime Minister Henry Puna, said he was pleased Fiji had accepted the invitation to attend the meeting.
"We now need to reach a position on the issue of Fiji's participation in PACP meetings at all levels," he said

Australia sends boatpeople to Papua New Guinea

AFP

 

SYDNEY — Australia Wednesday said it had begun sending boatpeople to Papua New Guinea as it admitted that its offshore refugee processing system was straining to cope with the number of recent arrivals.
Canberra announced in August that refugees arriving by boat would be sent to two Pacific islands and almost 400 are now held on the tiny nation of Nauru, despite Amnesty International's criticism of conditions there as "completely unacceptable".
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said the first transfer of asylum-seekers to PNG went ahead Tuesday, with four children and 15 adults belonging to seven families from Sri Lanka and Iran sent to Manus Island.
But he acknowledged that, given the thousands of boatpeople who have arrived since the government announced its new policy, it would not be possible to transfer them all to Nauru or Manus Island in the immediate future.
"So some people... will be processed in Australia and processed in the community, but will remain on bridging visas, even after they are regarded, through the process, as refugees," he told reporters in Sydney.
"They will still be subject to potential future transfer to Nauru or Papua New Guinea at a date when increased capacity becomes available."
The centre-left Labor government has struggled to deal with an influx of asylum-seekers arriving by sea, with more than 7,000 boatpeople landing since the tough new policy was announced.
A record of more than than 15,500 have arrived in 2012.
Bowen said transfers to Nauru and Manus Island, which will ultimately have a combined capacity of about 2,100, would continue but the government would begin releasing some asylum-seekers into the Australian community on bridging visas.
Consistent with the government's aim of giving "no advantage" to people who bypass regular immigration channels and come to Australia by boat, while on these visas they will have no work rights and only limited financial help.
The government is also repatriating asylum-seekers deemed not to be refugees, sending home 100 Sri Lankan men on Wednesday, bringing to 426 the number involuntarily returned to Colombo in the past three months.
"Our humanitarian programme is for people who are at risk of persecution, not for people seeking to undertake economic migration," Bowen said.
Canberra will also reopen an immigration centre in Tasmania and expanded capacity in Melbourne to deal with the influx.
Refugee advocates have criticised the Pacific policy, under which Bowen said refugees could spend as long as five years in the remote camps.
Canberra has defended its decision to process boatpeople offshore as an attempt to stop them risking their lives on the journey to Australia, during which scores have died, and insists all are treated humanely.
Amnesty's Graham Thom, who has just visited Nauru, said the conditions the refugees were living in had prompted hunger strikes, suicide attempts and self-harm on the island.
"In the front of their minds is the fact that they're not being processed, the uncertainty that's facing them is clearly having an impact on their mental health," he said, according to an ABC report.
The Australian Human Rights Commission has also raised concerns about the involuntary removal of asylum-seekers and transfers offshore.
"States cannot avoid their international law obligations by transferring asylum seekers to a third country," president Gillian Triggs said.

Opposition queries 2013 PNG budget

The Opposition has raised concern as to how the passing of the budget process was poorly handled by the government without the suspension of seven days to allow ample time for the opposition to respond.
Opposition Shadow Minister for Finance Joseph Lelang said the passing of budget was the single most important event in the calendar of this country and that the government was inconsiderate by not following parliamentary procedure in making sure that appropriations in the budget were cross-checked by the opposition.
Deputy Opposition Leader Sam Basil raised the issue on the K2.6 billion for next years’ appropriation which is intended to be borrowed domestically,  and further highlighted major flaws in the system,  referring to the NPF saga where monies belonging to the people were siphoned to projects not in the interest of national building.
He warned the government not to touch any monies belonging to hard working Papua New Guineans from financial institutions like Nasfund and Nambawan Super.
Leland said the livelihood and economic situation faced in Papua New Guinea was of paramount importance and that it was a democratic duty for public debate and scrutiny to take its rightful place on the floor of parliament.
Lelang is expected to respond to the budget next Tuesday

Australia sends first group to PNG asylum camp

Australia has seen an increase in asylum seekers arriving by boat in recent months

BBC

Australia has transferred the first group of asylum seekers to a processing centre in Papua New Guinea, immigration officials say.

A flight carrying 19 asylum seekers from Sri Lanka and Iran arrived in PNG early today (Wednesday).
They will be the first detainees at the newly-reopened camp on Manus Island.
Australia has also recently reopened an offshore processing centre on Nauru, as it puts back in place a controversial policy it ended four years ago.
The government decided to re-establish offshore processing camps in August, after ending the policy - known as the Pacific Solution - in 2008.
The move, recommended by an expert panel, came in response to a sharp rise in the number of asylum seekers arriving by boat.
The government says offshore processing is aimed at deterring people from making the dangerous journey across the sea to Australia.
Several boats have sunk or had to be rescued in recent months as they sailed from Indonesia to the Australian territory of Christmas Island.
But critics say the policy is inhumane and provides inadequate protection for the human and legal rights of asylum seekers held offshore.
Rights probe Australia closed its camp on Manus Island eight years ago, but soldiers have been working to re-open it in recent weeks.

Pacific Solution

• Established in 2001 under conservative government of John Howard
• Asylum seekers arriving by boat detained in offshore centres in PNG and Nauru
• Rights groups criticised the conditions in which people were held, as detainees went on repeated hunger strikes
• Labor's Kevin Rudd elected in November 2007, said Pacific Solution would end
• Last detainees left Nauru in February 2008
• Policy re-established in August 2012 by Labor government of Julia Gillard, as asylum arrivals climbed

As on the tiny Pacific territory of Nauru, detainees will have to live in tents until more permanent structures are built.

Police, immigration officials and interpreters accompanied the group on the flight from Christmas Island to Manus Island, a statement said.
On Tuesday, representatives of rights group Amnesty International visited the asylum camp on Nauru to assess conditions, after reports of hunger strikes and self-harm incidents.
Their formal report is due later this week, but in comments to Australian broadcaster ABC a representative highlighted concern over overcrowding, damp, hot tents and detainees' fears over the time it will take to process their claims.
Since the camp in Nauru was reopened in early September, more than 370 asylum seekers - mostly from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan - have been transferred there.
In recent weeks both the ruling Labor Party and the opposition have suggested that asylum seekers could have to spend as long as five years in camps while their claims are processed.
Overnight, meanwhile, two boats carrying a total of 137 asylum seekers were intercepted by Australian naval and border vessels, the government said

Kudos from a reader of this blog

By MAURICE PRATLEY

Hi Malum,

May I say that over the past few years I have found your blog to be of particular interest.

Beforehand, I used to look at the websites for both the Post-Courier and The National which would take some time.

I find your blog easier to use to find out what is happening in PNG.

Congratulations on having a prominent place on the Alexa website.

 Also, with  passing the 1 million mark for readers.

The internet is, of course, becoming more and more important in our everyday life.

 I have been away from PNG for well over 10 years but I still think fondly of the country.

Above my fridge I have three flags - New Zealand where I was born; Australia where I worked on the Snowy scheme and now residing and Papua New Guinea where I was given so much opportunity.

 Your pictures of Post Moresby and the rubbish there is of interest as it certainly detracts from the city. Also those pictures you took of Daru and the mess - I knew Daru well in the days of the Wyben Hotel and other  Provincial Government interests.

Something should be done to amend these blots on the landscape.

 You mentioned in your blog that you would welcome articles.

 I will try to submit some.

 It will give me something to do and keep me out of mischief (hopefully!!).

 Cheers,

Maurice Pratley.