MAKATA funds GILDIPASI Community Banking Project

MAKATA's Chairman, Mr. Yat Paol donating K5,000.00 as direct conservation incentive fund to GILDIPASI President, Mr. Peter Bunam to kick start the community banking initiative. Photo: Wenceslaus Magun

By WENCESLAUS MAGUN

Kangate beach at the mouth of Gabe River in Tokain some 100 kilometres northwest from Madang town may not mean much to anyone, even to the locals. Yet it marks the centre for the establishment of a community village banking initiative for the people of the GILDIPASI region.
On Saturday 22nd of October 2011, at 12:48pm Mr. Yat Paol chairman of Mas Kagin Tapani Association (MAKATA) a local not-for-profit group, presented K5,000.00 to Mr. Peter Bunam, chairman of GILDIPASI Planning Committee at this beach front. The money is a direct conservation incentive to propel sea turtle conservation efforts in the GILDIPASI region.
The GILDIPASI region consists of villages from Yadigam, Tokain, Malas, Magubem, Dibor , Simbukanam and the surrounding inland villages comprising of more than 3,000 people.
Speaking on behalf of the GILDIPASI people, Mr. Bunam expressed deep appreciation and acknowledgement to the funder, Santa Monica Seafood and FishWise and MAKATA for making this dream a reality.
“I lost heart in running the affairs of GILDIPASI due to lack of cooperation from key members. But today, marks the beginning of a new era. It has boosted my moral and motivated and inspired me to rise up from my slumber and lead my people to achieve our vision and mission,” Mr. Bunam said.
He assured Mr. Yat that the funds will not be used immediately but after a proper training on village banking is implemented. Responsible, reliable, honest and accountable people will also be appointed to manage this fund.
“We will bring in specialised trainers from the Lutheran Church Development Services to conduct a training on their concept of “Putim (Invest), Kisim (Withdraw) na Mekim (Use) before we start using the fund,” Mr. Bunam stressed.
He emphasised that in order for the community to take ownership of this project, they will be urged to invest in this fund as a prerequisite to seeking loan for their micro-enterprise projects.
In addition, Mr Yat assured Santa Monica Seafood and WiseFish that as a resource owner from Tokain village he will ensure that proper procedures, bi-laws, and policies are established by GILDIPASI to manage this fund. The official signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between MAKATA and GILDIPASI will be on the 30th of October in the midst of all the community members.
Other key spokesmen and community leaders from GILDIPASI, Mr. Sim Bunam, Mr. Ernest Gidaget, Mr. Joseph Mukup, Mr. Alfred Kaket and Mr. John Natu assured the national coordinator for MAKATA Mr. Wenceslaus Magun that this gesture has challenged them to speed up the process of establishing their coastal management marine area (CMMA).
The sea turtle restoration and protection project was established in mid 2006 by Mr. Magun when he was contracted by Turtle Island Restoration Network (TIRN) a 501c3 non-profit organisation in US as their Western Pacific Campaigner. By December 2009, TIRN ceased funding this project but has supported its sustainability with the initial funding for its establishment.
This project has seen Karkum village established its CMMA on 17th of November 2008 when they signed their conservation deed. With support from their DUARGO community based organisation they have since conducted independent and voluntary beach monitoring exercise. Data collected have been supplied to the South Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP) since 2010.
Their efforts has seen a gradual increase in the number of leatherback turtles being protected along their grey sandy beach nesting sites and their hatchlings safely returning to sea.
Of the seven turtle species, leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) is identified on International Union for Conservation Network’s (IUCN) Red List as critically endangered. They are the largest living turtles that survived the dinosaur era. They can grow to 2 meters, weigh more than 300 kilograms, dive the deepest and swim for 6,000 miles from California to feed and return to PNG to nest. Sadly they are habitually being killed for protein in these communities and from accidental bi-catch from industrial fishing, pollution, climate change effects, poaches, and feral animals.
According to Mr. Magun, much more can be achieved to sustain this project if communities are trained and motivated to nurture environmental ethics grounded in Christian principals, modern scientific knowledge and appreciated with traditional cultural heritage and linkages.
“We strive to assist communities develop and manage their own management strategies and implement conservation initiatives to maximized hatchling production and on-shore survival,” Mr. Magun reiterated.
Key funders for this project include:
• Turtle Island Restoration Network;
• WWF-Western Melanesia;
• Global Greengrants;
• South Pacific Regional Environment Program;
• The World Bank-PNG;
• Santa Monica Seafood and FishWise;
• Cathy Edmunds; and
• Waves Cab services.
MAKATA’s mission is to support local communities to protect and restore the declining leatherback turtle’s population and strive to restore and protect the health and safety of the marine resources and its indigenous people as their voice and link in the Bismarck Solomon Seas.

Land Management ....A big hurdle for REDD

By Dennis Badi

A new NRI report, released today has highlighted land management as the biggest hurdle for the Government if REDD was to become a viable development option in the country.

The implementation of REDD and carbon trade in PNG will not be an easy task for the government due to the country’s complex land tenure systems states the report.
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation of forests or REDD is an international initiative for mitigating the adverse effects of global warming and climate change by placing a commercial value on carbon storage in natural forests.

The report states that the Government of PNG has already committed the country to a National REDD Scheme at the international level and this requires most of PNG’s customary land and forests to be mobilised under the program.

However the mechanisms which land can be mobilised and REDD can be effectively implemented in PNG are not yet in place says the report.

Author, Mr Nalau Bingeding discussed that in the REDD plan PNG will need much of the 33 million hectares of forested land, which is customarily owned. Hence the government will need to find effective ways to implement REDD on customary land, so that conflicts of interest among customary landowners and competition between developmental sectors for forested land for development are kept to a minimum.

Mr Bingeding states that the country requires a National Land Use Plan in order for REDD and carbon trade to be effectively implemented in PNG. This plan would ensure that possible risks to REDD projects are avoided in the initial stages of development and that there are no disruptions to REDD projects in the long-term.

Mr. Bingeding also explains that the government must consider creating a National REDD Baseline and Climate Change Secretariat to manage REDD and other climate change issues.

(Our National Coordinator Mr. Wenceslaus Magun was invited to attend the launching of this book on the 5/10/2011. It was another golden opportunity for us to network with new partners and also to share our stories with them)

Leatherback Sea Turtle Conservation Efforts Receive RSVP Funds

Posted by Santa Monica Admin, on August 23rd, 2011 in Announcements

Santa Monica Seafood is proud to announce RSVP support for Makata, a community based conservation organization working towards the conservation of endangered leatherback sea turtles!
Leatherback sea turtles are the largest of the world’s sea turtle species and are listed as critically endangered on the World Conservation Union’s (IUCN) red list. The Pacific leatherback population that we find in our local waters breed in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, making an amazing 13,000 mile journey across the Pacific Ocean to feed on the jellyfish that are rich in the California Current. Due to their unique migratory patterns and life history, pacific leatherback sea turtles face many threats including illegal poaching of eggs on nesting beaches, coastal pollution, ingestion of plastics, entanglement in abandoned fishing gear, nesting beach habitat destruction and incidental take in pelagic fishing gear. In the last 25 years, Pacific leatherback sea turtle populations have declined as much as 80-90%.
Makata, whose name means “Sea Guardian” in the local Bel or Takia languages of Madang, works with coastal and indigenous island communities in Papua New Guinea to restore and protect these critically endangered leatherback turtles. Their efforts involve protecting nesting beaches and marine waters to maximize hatchling production, facilitating educational awareness programs, media campaigns, resource mapping and boundary surveys. They have also implemented a tagging and monitoring project within their local communities.
Santa Monica Seafood’s RSVP program has a unique opportunity to protect the future of our local leatherback sea turtle population by supporting Makata’s conservation efforts on leatherback nesting beaches across the Pacific in Papua New Guinea. We are very excited to be supporting the efforts of Makata and the conservation of one the oceans oldest, and now most imperiled, species.
To follow Makata’s efforts to protect the leatherback sea turtle please visit their blog or watch a video about the project!