Remote Sepik villages prepare for annual Sepik Crocodile Festival, August 11-12, Ambunti, East Sepik province (please click on images to enlarge)

The central role of the crocodile in the lives of the people of the Sepik will be celebrated at the third Sepik Crocodile Festival, in remote Ambunti, from August 11-12.

Dancers and traditional performers from communities across the region will meet in Ambunti for two days of celebrations. The festival aims to protect the crocodiles and their habitat.

Background:

Communities are also spreading the message that they must start working now to keep the Sepik pristine and safeguard it for the future.

The Sepik Crocodile Festival, to be held on August 11-12 in Ambunti, is an opportunity to link culture with conservation.

This year’s event theme “Kirapim wok bilong turis wantaim bus, wara na pasin tumbuna bilong Sepik,” is a call to recognise and promote ecotourism through conserving natural habitats and encouraging sustainable use of the river.

The mighty Sepik River is still one of the most pristine rivers in Asia Pacific, but it is faces threats from development and climate change.

Through a partnership programme with community-based organisations such as the Sepik Wetland Management Initiative and Help Resources - the Worldwide Fund for Nature, the PNG Department of Environment and Conservation and local-level governments are working with local clans and villages to build a secure future for the Sepik.

The unique cultures of the Sepik are world-renowned. The river is essential for these local communities; it defines their spiritual and physical world. The river is the basis of myths and legends as well as providing food, shelter, building and carving materials, and medicines.

As part of its support for the festival, WWF will highlight the importance of freshwater biodiversity. It is important to protect and restore freshwater and forest ecosystems to meet future challenges from climate change and to ensure people have access to safe water and food sources.

WWF's work in the Sepik basin includes helping communities build and strengthen ecotourism as a source of alternative income.

WWF has been working in PNG since 1995. It focuses on linking community action, science and effective policy to ensure the protection and sustainable use of forests, freshwater and marine resources across the island of New Guinea.

 

For further information, contact:

Lydia Kaia

Communications Officer

Tel:     + 675 320 0149

Email:             lkaia@wwfpacific.org.pg

 

 

Self-discovery on the Highlands Highway

A semi-trailer along the Highlands Highway outside Kundiawa

Border of Simbu and Jiwaka provinces at Munde

A farmer rehabilitating his coffee garden in the Waghi Valley under CIC’s coffee rehabilitation programme

Main street of Banz, Jiwaka province

Woman struggles along rundown Minj, Jiwaka province, which is a skeleton of its former self

Roadside market near Yonki, Eastern Highlands

Evangelical Bible Church property at Kassam, Eastern Highlands

Nothing has the ability to expand your horizons quite like an outing on the open road - whether it's a drive down the Highlands Highway or a journey of self-discovery.
The great Highlands Highway is Papua New Guinea’s own version of the great highway routes of the USA and Australia.
The entire highway covers about 700 km, rising from sea level to over 8000 ft and much of it going through some of the most-rugged terrain in PNG.
It is all situated in the tropics and, as a result, tropical downpours coupled with the great elevation cause regular and consistent damage to the Highway and its feeder roads.
Drainage is a critical issue and blocked drains usually result in landslides, landslips, and large sections of the road just falling away.
The highway opened up the Highlands and provided the initial impetus for the coffee industry to flourish and prosper, and provided the initial link for the initial political unification process of PNG.
The highway, for the Highlands, was their gateway to the world, and all of that region’s valuable coffee exports leave by the same route.
Most of what makes modern living possible arrives in the Highlands via the highway, and that entire region’s valuable coffee exports leave by the same route.
The Porgera gold mine would never have been established without the highway, and it continues to be a lifeline for Porgera mine and the oil and gas projects in the Southern Highlands.
At lower elevations, Ramu Sugar has tonnes of sugar exports that get to the Lae Port via the Markham section of the highway.
There is no single infrastructural asset of greater value to PNG than the Highlands Highway.
At its best a road trip is a journey, in both the literal and figurative sense of the word, down unfamiliar roads, fuelled by a spirit of adventure, good conversation, lots of laughs, some breathtaking scenery, a little soulful introspection and perhaps even an epiphany or two.
From July 22-26 I criss-crossed the Highlands Highway from the great Waghi Valley of the new Jiwaka province through to Simbu and Eastern Highlands provinces.
It was, for me, the great coffee road trip with officers of the Coffee Industry Corporation to check out the CIC’s district by district coffee rehabilitation programme which is being piloted in Jiwaka, Kundiawa-Gembogl in Simbu and Obura-Wonenara in Eastern Highlands.
A road trip, no matter the destination or purpose, truly is something that must be experienced.
And it also brought back memories of my days with the CIC from 1998-2002 when I constantly drove along the five Highlands provinces.
It all started on Wednesday last week when I landed in Goroka on an Air Niugini flight from Port Moresby, arriving at a place I’d never quite left, as this land of perennial spring is home to me.
I felt completely at home as I met old mates at CIC like graphic artist Bob Kora, scientific liaison officer Reuben Sengere, extension manager Fabian Api and many others.
I might add as an aside here that exactly 10 years ago, in August 1999, the Nissan Navara I was driving was held up at Dumun in the Simbu province and a brand-new video camera stolen from Bob.
After much negotiation, we managed to get back the camera, which has been used by the CIC for the last 10 years and was still there last week and accompanied us again on our road trip.
We left Goroka just after 6pm for Kundiawa, arriving at the Simbu capital after 8pm, where we overnighted at the Mount Wilhelm Hotel.
Up early the next morning, Remembrance Day, for a drive to the Waghi Valley where we met with contacted CIC rehabilitation service providers at Purigona base camp.
From Purigona, on to Avi to visit a coffee garden, to Banz, alfresco dinner of chicken, kaukau, bananas and vegetables at Kurumul Tea, and on to the Tribal Tops Hotel at Minj where we overnighted.
The next day, Friday, we drove down to Kundiawa where we met with village elders to discuss the rehabilitation programme.
From Kundiwa to Goroka, where we overnighted, and on to Kassam in the Eastern Highlands the next day to meet with coffee growers.
Then back to Kainantu, Aiyura, and back to Goroka at nightfall.
I flew back to Port Moresby the next day so much refreshed after my highway odyssey.
Now there's an idea: jump in the car and just keep ‘rollin' on down the highway’!

Agriculture to drive Jiwaka economy

Woman farmer Angela Pinge (pictured)  is hard at work tilling the soil at her vegetable garden at Purigona base camp in Wahgi Valley, Jiwaka province, when I catch up with her.
Agriculture is set to boom and drive the economy of the newly-created Jiwaka province in 2012.
This will be at the expense of the rest of Western Highlands as Jiwaka – and in particular the great Wahgi valley – single-handedly produces the bulk of Papua New Guinea coffee, tea and fresh vegetables.
The three areas – which currently have the three electorates of Anglimp-South Wahgi, North Wahgi and Jimi – together have arguably the most fertile and productive agricultural land in PNG.
They have been bankrolling Western Highlands since colonial days, however, all that is set to change when Jiwaka officially becomes a new province in 2012.
Mrs Pinge is a district rural development officer employed by the division of primary industry in Western Highlands province.
She is also engaged as an extension advisor by the Fresh Produce Development Agency to advise women farmers in the Anglimp-South Wahgi area.
She practices what she preaches and grows a variety of vegetables in the rich and fertile soils of the Wahgi Valley.
“Demand for fresh vegetables is high and the supply is low,” Mrs Pinge says.
“I want to help make up for this shortfall by growing English cabbage, capsicum, potatoes, kaukau, tomatoes, broccoli and other vegetables.”
Mrs Pinge is passionate about her work.
“We have four village extension officers,” she says.
“I am the supervisor.
“This is under the FPDA network and it’s working quite successfully.
“I supervise them, and they provide training on all aspects of vegetable production.
“They’re basically volunteers in their own community.
“They must have nurseries backing the gardens, a compost house and a training centre.
“This is how we work with them.
“We are also involved in helping farmers look for markets and helping them to source funding for their projects.”

Angry scenes in Papua New Guinea parliament over no-confidence vote

Angry scenes erupted in Papua New Guinea's parliament today after the government avoided a motion of no-confidence by adjourning the session until November.

MPs hurled abuse at each other across the chamber and security officers had to restrain members of the public who voiced their frustration when the government won the adjournment vote on Wednesday.

Opposition leader and former prime minister Mekere Morauta said Prime Minister Michael Somare's government was running scared, so much so that they broke constitutional laws to avoid the no-confidence vote.

Mr Morauta told a news conference after the vote that parliament had only sat for 29 days and the adjournment meant they would miss the required 63 days sitting time for the year.

"Yesterday Somare said he had the numbers to block a vote of no-confidence, today he adjourned. The government is worried, it is fractured. He is afraid to face the music, the constitution, he will go down in history as someone who has threatened democracy," Mr Morauta said.

The opposition would go to PNG's Supreme Court and refer Mr Somare, Parliamentary Speaker Jeffery Nape and the leader of government business Paul Tiensten to the Ombudsman Commission for violating the constitution, he said.

Opposition member Julius Chan, also a former prime minister, said PNG was not in political limbo but "now in hell".

Western Province Governor Bob Danaya, who has sided with the opposition, said there was a big split within government based on principle. "They are destroying this country," he said.

Six other government backbench members listed a series of scandals and corruption as their reasons for swapping sides. "This has come from within the government, from us, we are dissatisfied and angry," MP Jamie Maxtone-Graham said.

Mr Somare on Tuesday said he had the government's full support and the numbers to defeat a no-confidence vote. But on Wednesday the government opted for a successful 56 to 32 vote to adjourn parliament until 10 November.

A government spokesman said the adjournment was to allow for "much needed refurbishments" to parliament house.

 

Arona - like every place you've never been

That's me checking out fried tilapia at a roadside market

Fresh mandarins and vegetables on sale

Scenic landscape overlooking Yonki

Coffee Industry Corporation signboard at Kassam

Evangelical Brotherhood Church property at Kassam

Scenic Highlands Highway at Kassam

The drive between Kassam Pass and Kainantu is one of the most-scenic and beautiful in the country.
Arona Valley which you drive past was once mooted by the colonial administration as a potential capital for the then Territory of Papua New Guinea.
That is no longer the case, Port Moresby having stolen the thunder, but the picturesque Arona plays a pivotal role in PNG’s economy.
It’s here that PNG’s largest manmade lake – with water from the Ramu River – supplies electricity to the five Highlands provinces, Morobe and Madang.
It is, however, a paradox that electricity is “so near, yet so far away” and many of the surrounding villages are yet to be connected to the power supply.
That, together with land compensation matters, remains a contentious issue.
Those aside, the manmade lake is dubbed the travelers as the “Highlands Sea” and it’s now a common sight to see outboard motor dinghies zooming and dugout canoes being paddled across the hunting grounds of a bygone generation.
You could be forgiven for thinking that you were out on the deep blue ocean!
But then again, perhaps this can only happen in “The Land of the Unexpected”.
Fish, particularly tilapia, thrive in this inland sea – which was made in the late 1980s and early 1990s – providing a readily available source of protein and cash for hundreds of villagers on its shores.
Taking a drive up there last Saturday with officers of the Coffee Industry Corporation was so refreshing from the hustle-and-bustle of Port Moresby and brought back so many unforgettable memories.
In 1984 and 1985, whilst a student at the nearby national high school at Aiyura – another of the great Highlands valleys – I was fortunate enough to have done some memorable bushwalks through this area, so I can visualise Arona the way it was before flooding.
Along the shores, there are cattle grazing and bees hard at work in the hives, in scenes of pastoral poetry.
It’s a joy for weary Highlands Highway travelers to stop at the PNG Power township of Yonki and gaze across this scenic lake, garnished by pine trees, to a magnificent backdrop of mountains.
The Arona Valley is also one of the more lush, fertile and verdant areas of the Highlands.
Vegetables and fruit grown in abundance, supplemented by readily-available protein from the lake.
Hence, in this land of milk and honey, you have a very healthy-looking population.
Arona, like the rest of the Highlands, has coffee trees aplenty, providing a steady source of much-needed income for the people.
Nearby is Kassam Pass, which provides panoramic, awe-inspiring views of the Ramu Valley of Madang Province and the Markham Valley of Morobe Province.
Kainantu, the “Mile-High Gateway to the Highlands”, is about 30 minutes drive away, while the Eastern Highlands capital of Goroka is about an hour and 30 minutes drive.
Lae is about two hours and 30 minutes drive, likewise, Madang.
The lake, together with the pine trees and rolling hills, was as pretty as a picture in the afternoon sun and brought back memories of when my late wife Hula and I would stop here and marvel at nature while driving between Goroka and Lae.
Arona Valley once inspired the colonial administration to consider it as the potential capital of PNG.
You can see why with a visit to this part of PNG

UK Foreign Office Minister to tour Papua New Guinea and Asia Pacific region

UK Foreign Office Minister, Chris Bryant (pictured), is making his first ministerial visit to the Asia-Pacific region from July 26 to August 7 visiting Thailand, Laos, Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand.

His visit to PNG on August 3-4 will include meetings with the Government of PNG and Autonomous Bougainville Government, international partners, civil society and commerce.

During his official two-day visit he will also deliver a keynote speech to the Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce entitled "The UK and PNG - Partners in a Globalised World", launch UK involvement in the Meri Seif Project which includes the unveiling of the British High Commission as a Meri Seif Ples.

He will also visit Anglicare Stop Aids, meet with Carteret Islanders for an update on their relocation programme and have a round table discussion on climate change with civil society representatives.

He will then travel from Port Moresby to Cairns on August 4 to represent the British Government in discussions at the annual summit of the Pacific Islands Forum.

 He will carry a message of support for Pacific Island states - particularly vulnerable to and amongst the least responsible for climate change - as they use their collective voice to urge developed nations to reduce global emissions at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December.

 The Minister will also discuss the situation in Fiji.

Chris Bryant said: "We're not about to underestimate the importance that PNG and Asia-Pacific voices are likely to have in Copenhagen in December.

“Low-lying Pacific Island nations can be influential in particular - each has a voice at this important summit and stand to suffer terribly from a changing climate.

“We will pull together with them and other like-minded nations.

“As a friend of Fiji too, the UK is deeply concerned about the damaging effects military rule is having on its people and I am especially worried about increasing reports of human rights abuses.

“I will be discussing with international partners at the Forum how we can work together best to help Fiji make an early return to civilian democracy."

INTEROIL ANNOUNCES "SPUDDING" NEW APPRAISAL WELL IN THE GULF PROVINCE.

PORT MORESBY: INTEROIL Corporation has commenced the drilling phase (“spudding”) of a new appraisal well in the Gulf Province.

The well, Antelope-2, is situated in the same region as the company’s three previous gas strikes, Antelope-1, Elk-1 and Elk-4.

All three wells are on InterOil’s Petroleum Prospecting License 238 site and have each returned gas flow rates of more than 100-million cubic feet per day.

In fact, Antelope 1 flowed at a record 380 million cubic feet per day on test.

The planned depth of this latest well is 2,550 metres and it is expected to take approximately 3 months to drill and evaluate.

The aim of the new well is to evaluate the southern extent of the field, to develop an increased understanding of hydrocarbon fluid contacts in the structure and further evaluate the potential for commercial quantities of oil.

InterOil Chief Executive Officer Phil Mulacek said the well will also confirm whether the extent of the structure is in keeping with the interpretation of the seismic data.

“It should enhance our understanding of the structure and its possible potential”.

“We anticipate working with our independent resource evaluator to review our resource estimates at the conclusion of drilling and testing of this well”, he said.

It is expected that gas from the Elk-Antelope structures would feed the proposed Liquid Niugini Gas project (of which InterOil is a foundation partner).

The proposed multi-billion Kina project would be a major windfall for the PNG economy and make a significant contribution to the nation’s GDP in years to come.

 

For further information and to arrange media interviews contact:

Susuve Laumaea

Senior Manager Media Relations InterOil Corporation

Ph: (675) 311 2796

Mobile: (675) 7201 3870

Email: slaumaea@digicelpacific.blackberry.com