In Papua New Guinea, interviews were conducted remotely with participants from government departments, agencies and contractors addressing issues of environmental protection, waste management, legal matters, as well as the private sector and NGOs.
Additional interviews were conducted with external consultants and SPREP staff working on specific programs relevant to the Waste Legislative Review.
There is little known about cetaceans in the waters of Papua New Guinea (PNG). Here we present findings from the first two sets of cetacean sighting and acoustic surveys conducted within the Admiralty Island group in the northern Bismarck Sea.More than 1,000 cetaceans were sighted during our boat-based surveys–the most common being spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris), followed by pantropical spotted dolphins (Stenella attenuata), short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus), and sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus).
The impacts of human-induced environmental change that characterize the Anthropocene are not felt equally across the globe. In the tropics, the potential for the sudden collapse of ecosystems in response to multiple interacting pressures has been of increasing concern in ecological and conservation research. The tropical ecosystems of Papua New Guinea are areas of diverse rainforest flora and fauna, inhabited by human populations that are equally diverse, both culturally and linguistically.
The information and data gathered from these waste audits will be used by countries in the Pacific to support the development and monitoring of waste and resource recovery projects and recommend the infrastructure and policy interventions required. The regional dataset will also be used to identify and evaluate potential regional projects that would improve waste management in the region.
Protected areas data was derived from the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) dataset (source: www.protectedplanet.net). Exclusive Economic Zone data was derived from Flanders Marine Institute (2019). Maritime Boundaries Geodatabase: Maritime Boundaries and Exclusive Economic Zones (200NM), version 11. Available online at http:// www.marineregions.org/.
The Papua New Guinea (PNG) tuna fishery is made up of both the purse-seine and longline sectors with a small handline sector. The longline and handline vessels fish exclusively in PNG waters. The purse-seine sector is a mix of both domestic and foreign access vessels. The domestic sector comprises the PNG flag vessels and PNG chartered vessels (locally-based foreign) which support processing facilities onshore in PNG.
On 1 April 2017, the Papua New Guinea (PNG) nationwide moratorium on sea cucumber fishing and the beche-de-mer trade was lifted seven-and-a-half years after it was introduced. The National Fisheries Authority (NFA) had revised the National Bêche-de-mer Fishery Management Plan (the Plan) prior to the fishery opening and allocated provincial total allowable catch (TAC) quotas based on estimated fishable stocks of sea cucumber in each maritime province.
The 22 Pacific Island member countries and territories of the Pacific Community (SPC) are home to approximately 11 million people. Fourteen of these members are small island developing states (SIDS).
Trade is an important component of growth and development in the Pacific Islands. Export revenue not only contributes to the balance of trade but also to each nation’s gross domestic product (GDP). Food security is also impacted by the level of imports of food products.
Shipping routes in the ocean are analogous to terrestrial roads, in that they are regularly used thoroughfares that concentrate the movement of vessels between multiple locations. We applied a terrestrial road ecology framework to examine the ecological impacts of increased global shipping on “marine giants” (ie great whales, basking sharks [Cetorhinus maximus], and whale sharks [Rhincodon typus]). This framework aided in identifying where such “marine roads” and marine giants are likely to interact and the consequences of those interactions.
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.