A TUBUSEREIA Local Level Government (LLG) Ward Member in the Central Province has called on relevant government authorities, donors and the private sector to be constantly networking and educating people at the village level on environment and conservation issues.
Member of Tubusereia Ward 6 LLG and chairman of the Environment and Conservation Committee for the Hiri Local Level Government Daniel Lohia, who is also the Chairman for Environment and Conservation for the Hiri LLG of the Central Provincial Government made the call during the World Oceans and Coral Triangle Day celebrations on Motupore Island near Port Moresby on Tuesday 8th of June and Wednesday the 9th of June consecutively. The events organized by Conservation and Environment Protection Authority (CEPA) culminated from World Environment day celebrations last week on June 4th.
“Disasters are happening, storms are striking in a magnitude we have never experienced or seen before causing massive destruction.
“The government needs to come down to the local village level and educate us, so we can carry out awareness amongst our people to take necessary action to prevent environmental disasters related to climate change,” Mr Lohia told The PNG Bulletin.
He said his people were not aware of the importance and value of mangroves conservation but since their interaction with CEPA’s activities on World Environment Day in the past few years and more recently World Ocean’s Day and the Coral Triangle Day; villagers are becoming more involved and interested in taking action to care for the marine coastlines and environment, their mangroves and coral reefs.
“I would like to add that this should not be only done once every year. There must be consistent interaction and awareness between us,” Mr Lohia said.
The Councillor was invited to join the celebrations of World Oceans Day and Coral Triangle Day by CEPA and supported by the PNG Coral Triangle Initiative National Co-ordinating Committee on Motupore Island where CEPA’s partners USAID, UPNG and NGOS made their presentations on their experiences on “Research and Innovation in Marine Conservation in PNG.”
CEPA’s Director for the Sustainable Environment Programme Ms Kay Kalim said CEPA’s role in assisting communities to plant mangroves year after year is good, however this should not be always the same.
Ms Kalim said surrounding communities need to learn and to sustainably take care of their mangroves, reefs and ecosystems in future.
She called on relevant partners including UPNG Researchers on Motupore Island, the PAU and NGO’s to share their research reports with CEPA and villagers so all stakeholders will learn and take relevant action.
Tuesday 8th of June marked World Oceans Day 2021 with the theme “Driving Blue Recovery for a Sustainable Coral Triangle”.
Coral Triangle Day was celebrated today on June 9 along with World Oceans day every year by Coral Triangle Countries (CT6). PNG is a member of Coral Triangle Initiative, Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI_CFF). The other member countries are Indonesia, Malaysia, Timor Leste, Philippines, and Solomon Islands.
The countries party to C6 form a triangle on the world map which holds the world’s richest marine biodiversity and ecosystems today.
On June 9 Coral Triangle Day was celebrated with a cleanup around the island, mangrove planting and coral restoration.
The Hiri Coral group made up of the surrounding village community took the lead in coral restoration and replanting.