The term Milne Bay Archipelago is used to include Goodenough, Fergusson and Normanby Islands – collectively the d’Entrecasteau Islands, the islands of the Louisiade Archipelago, Missima, Rossel and Sudest Islands and the two northern islands, the Trobriands and Woodlark. All are very complex with many small islands, often unnamed. Due to their geographic isolation the islands have many endemic species. So far 139 have been described. Of particular interest is the genus Rosselia, collected only twice from Rossel Island.
We present the first large-scale synthesis of indigenous knowledge (IK) on New Guinea’s useful plants based on a quantitative review of 488 references and 854 herbarium specimens. Specifically, we assessed (i) spatiotemporal trends in the documentation of IK, (ii) which are New Guinea’s most useful ecosystems and plant taxa, (iii) what use categories have been better studied, and (iv) which are the best studied indigenous groups. Overall, our review integrates 40,376 use reports and 19,948 plant uses for 3434 plant species.
The Fly River system in Western Province, Papua New Guinea, is the largest river, in terms of water flow, in Australasia. With a mean annual discharge of approximately 6,000 cumecs the Fly is similar in size to the Niger and Zambesi Rivers in Africa and the Danube in Europe (Welcomme, 1985). However, with a catchment area of only 76,000 km2 the Fly outranks all the world’s major rivers in terms of runoff per unit catchment area.
The Lae Port Development Project – Tidal Basin Phase 1 comprises one basin 400m × 700m, one berth of length of 240m for one 50,000 tonne DWT container vessels, a 120,000m2 container terminal yard, a link road, terminal buildings, utilities, and support facilities.
Until recently cholera had never been reported in Papua New Guinea despite the close proximity of cholera-endemic countries and the presence of environmental and social characteristics that are considered risk factors for cholera outbreaks. The current outbreak began in July 20091 and rapidly spread throughout the coastal regions of the country.
Half of the population in Port Moresby dispose of their faecal waste via networked wastewater systems (sewerage or storm water drains) of which only 10% is safely transported and treated. The networked wastewater system failures are caused by the congestion of the sewers with foreign objects and overloading with water. Almost all the other half
of the population reside in non-networked or informal settlements using on-site sanitation systems with only 4% safely transported and treated.
In Papua New Guinea, a significant portion of morbidity and mortality is attributed to water-borne diseases. To reduce incidence of disease, communities and non-governmental organizations have installed rain catchments to provide drinking water of improved quality. However, little work has been done to determine whether these rain catchments provide drinking water of better quality than traditional drinking water sources, and if morbidity is decreased in villages with rain catchments.
Located south of the equator in the South-western Pacific, PNG is the largest and most populous Pacific Island nation. It consists of the eastern half of the island of New Guinea, several large high volcanic islands and numerous high volcanic islands and coral atolls. Its diverse geography gives rise to an equally diverse range of ecosystems which accommodate a wide variety of flora and fauna making up 5% of the world's biodiversity. Its population of 5.8 million people is also diverse in ethnicity, language, custom and culture.
Eighty seven percent of Papua New Guinea’s (PNG’s) seven million people live in rural areas. Almost all the rest live in small urban centers, the majority of which have a population of well below 30,000 people. Only Port Moresby and Lae have sizable populations at about 365,000 and 88,000 respectively1. Average national population density is low at about 14 per km2. PNG’s population is characterized by a very diverse number of social groups, with strong local and clan-based affinities and allegiances. There are over 800 distinct languages.
Geologically, Papua New Guinea is a young country. The presence of high mountain ranges and abundant rainfall leads to high runoff over most of the country. There are nine hydrological drainage divisions (basins). The largest river basins are the Sepik, Fly, Purari and Markham. Even though the Sepik has the lowest annual discharge, it has the
largest catchment area, 78 000 km2, followed by the Fly River with 61 000 km2, Purari with 33 670 km2, and Markham with 12 000 km2. The other catchments are less than 5 000 km2 in area and very steep.
In 2012, 89% of the global population used an improved source of drinking water, and 64% used an improved sanitation facility. One hundred and sixteen countries have already met the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) drinking water target, and 77 have already met the MDG sanitation target.
Intensive field and model studies were undertaken into the dynamics of the Fly River estuary, Papua New Guinea. The estuary has three dominant channels forming a shallow, fan-shaped delta, and receives a mean freshwater discharge
of approximately 6,000 m''s I with littl e seasonal variation.
to concerns expressed by South Pacific Governments over the state of the marine environment, a proposal to undertake a marine coastal pollu’tion study was initiated in 1989. As a part of the Regional Seas programme of UNEP, the project will attempt to assess the extent ofpolzution and quality trends by a series of monitoring and research activities at “clean ” reference and known polluted areas.
In urban areas, responsibility for providing piped water and sewerage services in the nation’s capital, Port Moresby, lies with Eda Ranu, and for the remaining provincial and district towns with Water PNG (formerly the PNG Water Board). Service provision to these areas are estimated to be 89% access to safe water (little change from 87% in 1990), and 57% access to safe sanitation (down from 89% in 1990)1. Access to services in urban areas struggle to keep up in the face of rapid urban population expansion.
Very little is known about the water quality parameters of marine ecosystems in Papua New Guinea (PNG). While several studies converge in classifying these ecosystems as among the richest in the world in terms of marine biodiversity (Pearse, 1988; Rau, 1988; Gosliner et al., 1996; Maniwavie, 2000; Karlson et al., 2004), relatively little can be said about the status of their waters, although water pollution and pressures on marine environments are increasingly becoming a concern among coastal people in PNG.
Papua New Guinea has the lowest water and sanitation access indicators amongst the 15 developing Pacific Island nations. The latest (2015) update of the UN’s Joint Monitoring rogram (JMP) estimates access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation in PNG in 2012 at 40% and 19% respectively. Over the period of more than two decades since 1990, the increase in access to safe drinking water has been very small (access in 1990 was 34%), while improved sanitation coverage recorded a drop from 20% in 1990 to 19% in 2012.
Papua New Guinea’s (PNG’s) basic water supply and sanitation needs are large. Today, an estimated 4.2 million Papua New Guineans—which is 61% of the population—do not have access to safe water, and approximately 3.8 million people, or 55% of the population, do not have access to improved sanitation.
Medicines and other health products are a special group of items requiring special attention and care. Unlike other goods of trade and commerce, medicines save lives, improve health and well-being of the population. Therefore, the trade, use and management of these special goods must be adequately regulated and coordinated.