A community‑designed seasonal calendar has been launched in Buzi Village, located in the Torres Strait along the coast in South Fly District, Western Province.
Under the PNG-Australia partnership, South Fly Rangers worked with the Buzi community to develop the Buzi Seasonal Calendar. Its development has supported community-based decision-making and planning for natural resource management at the village level.
Adapted from Australian Indigenous ranger experiences, the Buzi Seasonal Calendar combines local traditional and ecological knowledge to document locally defined seasons, climatic variability, and seasonal patterns in planting, harvesting, breeding, and burning natural resources including animals and plants. It identified a wide range of animal and plant resources important to the Buzi community, primarily for food.
It is the first time the community has documented a seasonal calendar, which is bilingual (Agob-English), and will serve as a basis for future natural resource management, planning, and climate adaptation.
Beyond household benefits, the seasonal calendar is strengthening leadership and governance in the South Fly District and across Western Province.
Local leaders are using the calendar to coordinate preparedness activities and inform discussions with provincial authorities and non-governmental organisations. By translating community knowledge into clear, locally validated planning information, the calendar supports evidence‑informed decision‑making and recording climate trends and food availability.
“Climate change is very real here, it changes what we can plant, where we can fish, and how we protect our homes,” said former Ward Chairman Frank Warapa.
“This calendar helps our families know when to act so we can keep our gardens growing and our children safe. The calendar respects both traditional knowledge and recent observations, building a practical and trusted tool for the community.”
The Buzi Seasonal Calendar demonstrates how locally led knowledge systems can strengthen climate governance in PNG by improving the quality of a community-led approach, which feeds into planning and policy discussions at the provincial and national levels.
Through the South Fly Ranger Program, Australia continues to work alongside provincial authorities, local leaders, and communities to help remote and rural communities build resilience, strengthen conservation practices, and adopt sustainable, climate‑smart approaches.