Thursday, November 27, 2014

Reflecting on 2014 activites in brief


It took several years to build Mur villagers capacity to finally see them shift from habitually killing and eating leatherback turtles to saving, protecting and restoring their population.  This was evident when one of our community facilitators, Leerray Robin took this photo on the 23rd of September at Dawang beach.   Photo: Lerray Letani Robin

Will you help fund us so we can deliver cartons of library books to remote schools in our project site schools in Madang? Email me on: magun.wences@gmail.com and make a small donation that could put a smile on a child's face and build his/her knowledge capacity. 

The campaign to save critically endangered leatherback turtles in Madang, PNG, has so far seen some positive outcomes.
Karkum, Yamai, and Mur villagers have taken small steps to save, restore, and protect these gentle giants that come to share their beaches.
For Karkum and Mur, this shift of mindset and attitude from habitual killing and eating leatherback turtle to saving them, is in itself the best positive outcome we have achieved so far.
Our attempt to create more "Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures" as expected by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and also to meet IUCN's protected area goals will continue with the indigenous and local community resource owners using their land tenure customary traditional management systems as well as adapting new Resource Management Plans. 
We have also adapted and trialed the Conservation Deed approach in Karkum. MAKATA will continue to trial and test new conservation tools to ensure that we accomplish the communities goals and vision whilst fulfilling our vision and mission. In this journey we admit we have made mistakes and have learnt so much from our mistakes and continue to find ways to improve. 
As we come to the end of 2014, we wish to thank all our donors, the communities we work with, our volunteers, NGOs, CBOs, DEC staff, international partners and all our friends and benefactors including our facebook friends. Your valued support, advise, guidance and help has and will not go unnoticed and acknowledged. 
The best we can do for you is to thank you for helping us finding a meaningful and positive way to help save planet earth through saving key species and finding lasting solutions to manage our resources sustainably at our local communities in ways that also contribute meaningfully to meet the economic, social, and infrastructure needs and well-being of the communities we work with. 
May God almighty grant and bless you all with a very safe and blessed Christmas. Please go to our facebook page: Save PNG's Endangered Turtles to see the photos or stroll down and read more stories.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

How many protected areas do we have in PNG?

Sumkar District, Madang, PNG's proposed and established CAs.
We need funds to help deliver cartons of library books to remote coastal and inland schools within our project sites in Madang. If you wish to make any generous donations please contact me on: magun.wences@gmail.com


Dear Partners,

We need some information to help us prepare our lessons for a CBD workshop in December. Please answer the following questions or connect us to someone who can help.

1) Give us a list of protected areas by classes for PNG to date. How many:
a) National Parks;
b) National heritage sites;
c) Special Management Areas;
d) Community Conservation Area;
e) Locally Managed Marine Areas; and
f) Marine Sanctuaries do we have in PNG?

2) How much hectares or % of land, sea and water coverage do these protected areas cover and where are they located? When were they established and by whom? What are their current status like?

3) What is the over-all national target for us to reach in establishing protected areas in PNG, and when do we want to achieve that?

4) Who are the key players involved in delivering this service as NGOs, National Government, Provincial Governments, CBOs, or Companies and can we know what they are doing?

5) How often and where and when do these stakeholders meet to share their work?

6) Where can we obtain a Data with list of "other effective area-based conservation measures"?

7) We need the following documents:
i) Vision 2050,
ii) New Strategic Directions (2007),
iii) PNG Development Strategic Plan 2010-2030, and
iv) Mid Term Development Plan 2011-2015.

8) Since this workshop will be in Madang, we also would like to have access to the Kalibobo Vison.

Your feedback will help us prepare our lessons for a workshop in Madang.

The workshop will be co-facilitated by Mrs. Adolphina Luvongit and me. We both hold certificates in Regional Capacity-building Workshop for the Pacific region on Traditional and Customary Sustainable Used under the CBD after attending this workshop from the 26 to 28 August 2014, in Apia, Samoa.

Our target group of 13 participants will all be indigenous and local community resource managers in Madang and one participant from West New Britain. We would like to extend the invitation to others but we do not have the funds to meet the expenses. If funding permits, we will invite one technical expert on the Locally Managed Marine Areas network person to come in and do a presentation to the participants. We have Annisah Sapul in mind but again it all depends on the availability of funds.

The methodology of this workshop will be as follows: PowerpointPresentations by Mrs. Luvongit and me on:
A) i) traditional knowledge under the CBD, and the outcomes of the Regional Workshop on Traditional Knowledge under the CBD which was held in Apia, Samoa from 26 to 28 August 2014; and ii) Promotion of the implementation of Articles 8 (j), 10 (c) and related provisions of the CBD as well as the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and its Aichi Biodiversity Targets as well as the Nagoya Protocol at national or
local levels;
B) Indigenous and local communities managers for ‘other effective area-based conservation measures’ (OECM), sharing their knowledge and experiences;
C) LMMA expert sharing his/her experience/YUSS and other CA's LESSONS LEARNED;
D) Site seeing to established CD, LMMA, OECM and arts/cultural and sacred sites.
F) Graduation and presentation of Certificates

The expected Outcomes will include:
i) Thirteen Indigenous and local communities resource managers or their representatives gain knowledge on the Aichi Biodiversity Targets as part of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and the Nagoya Protocol;
ii) Participants appreciate community initiatives in establishing ‘Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures’ (OECM) using LMMA, CD, ICCADs, or traditional conservation management methods;
iii) Participants understand that their community conservation efforts which constitutes significant cultural and biological diversity areas falls either within or beyond the global protected area estate;
iv) OECM identified; recommend and / or suggested as appropriate conservation tools to achieve CBD’s Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020.

Your attention and support will be highly appreciated.

Please contact me on: magun.wences@gmail.com

Kind Regards,
wenceslaus magun