Conservation in Papua New Guinea - Challenges To The Conservation Efforts

Challenges To The Conservation Efforts

See also: Deforestation in Papua New Guinea, Mining in Papua New Guinea, and Corruption in Papua New Guinea

Despite the provision for conservation in the legal framework, as well as interest shown by the international organizations, it is still a challenge to carry out conservation in PNG.

The land tenure, wherein the communities own 97% of the land makes it difficult for the government or any conservation organisation to procure land for conservation. The land is believed to be an inheritance from some mystical ancestor and therefore, cannot be sold. Therefore, involving communities in WMA was identified as being compatible with the PNG land tenure system. The PNG constitution recognised this and empowered the landowners to be involved with conservation on their own land. However, the progress of WMA’s is yet to be evaluated.

PNG raises most of its revenue from the extraction of natural resources; as such environmental destructive developmental projects have always taken precedence over environmental protection. For instance, the logging industry in PNG has been identified as the main source of widespread overexploitation of forest as well as species dependent on the forests. About 23% of the 50,000-60,000 ha cleared permanently is done by industrial logging. The forest that took millions of years to grow is deforested at an average rate of 1% per year. The reluctance of government support for conservation can be seen in government documents containing recommendations which are very general with no defined goal for the future of conservation.

The increase in human population (3.2% children per child bearing female) has increased the per capita consumption of the biological resources. For instance, the pressure to hunt big game for food has increased with the growth of population, this situation is exacerbated by the fact that when these animals become rarer, their value will resulting in added pressure to acquire them. The rate and efficiency of harvesting has also increased, aided by modern and efficient harvesting implements.

Furthermore is the misconception by the populace that natural resource is infinite. For instance, some coastal communities practice “dynamite fishing”, without knowing that this practice not only kills fish and other marine organisms indiscriminately, it also destroys the coral reefs. Most coastal communities have little understanding how fish stocks are recruited and maintained in the oceans.

There has been strong debate about whether conservation driven by international NGOs is truly sustainable in PNG; certain large integrated conservation-development projects operated by the local offices of these international NGOs has come under fire, and broader complaints have surfaced. The criticism is that international conservation NGOs have become corporate entities in a way that no longer mirrors the way indigenous conservation initiative has naturally evolved in countries prior to their existence.

The effects of climate change and the introduction of exotic species add another dimension on to the challenge of conservation. The potential impacts from climate change (changes in geographical range, morphology, physiology and phenology) on terrestrial species are shown to be happening elsewhere; however no formal studies have been conducted on PNG terrestrial species as yet. However, the effects of climate change are definitely showing on the coastlines. Rise in sea level is starting to displace people in low lying islands. Furthermore, coral bleaching, an effect of high temperatures and increased carbon dioxide in oceans was observed from the PNG waters in 1996. In the case of the introduced species, since the 1950s, 26 species of fresh water fish were introduced into PNG, out of which 11 species are now established in the fresh water systems and competes for resources with the 214 native fresh water species. The Mozambique tilapia (Oreochromomis mossambica) was introduced in 1954, as a protein supplement. Currently, the tilapia is very widespread and important as food for some communities. However, it has a negative effect on indigenous fauna in lakes and rivers because of its prolific breeding and bottom feeding habit. Furthermore, studies have shown that the over the years the there has been a decrease in the native fish catch and an increase in the introduced tilapia.