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Wasur National Park
photo: WWF-Canon / John RATCLIFFE |
WWF has been active in New Guinea for two decades. In the 1980s, WWF developed a strategy for managing the natural resources of Papua Province, the west half of the island, and in Lorentz National Park, Wasur Nature Reserve, and other sites. WWF has initiated several projects designed to help local communities use natural resources in ways that preserve their economic livelihoods while also protecting wildlife and wildlands. In 1994, WWF initiated the Kikori Integrated Conservation and Development Project, which promotes well-managed forestry and community development activities in a large watershed in southern Papua New Guinea.
To address broad conservation needs and provide a long-term, science-based strategic vision WWF is developing ecoregion action programs for the TransFly Grasslands and Savannas and the Vogelkop Montane Rain Forests, through which WWF aims to expand its impact in those places by creating robust programs that address immediate threats, reflect needs and aspirations of local people and create policy, science and partnership foundations for long-term conservation of biodiversity and ecological processes. Likewise, WWF continues to focus on achieving forest and freshwater conservation targets in areas such as the Sepik and Kikori River basins, Lorentz National Park and Madang, with an eye to expanding these programs in the future.
One of WWF's most important projects was the delivery of 3,000 vanilla tree cuttings to three villages by dugout canoe - piloting the boats through seemingly impassible channels overgrown with eight-foot grasses.
The project is designed to give the villagers an alternative source of income so they won't be tempted to sell their forests to loggers for desperately needed cash. By growing vanilla beans, which thrive in the shade, and selling them to wholesalers for the overseas market, they can bring in money and protect their forests for the long term as a source of food, water, shelter and medicine. Shade trees are planted first, followed by the vanilla trees, which take around two months to grow. When the plants mature, the villagers give cuttings to their neighbors so they can begin similar projects.
The vanilla project and others like it are vital, helping the communities preserve their forests and plant life while allowing them to make a living.
Read a first-hand account of one vanilla bean delivery.
In collaboration with other local organizations, WWF has developed a Nature and Community Tourism program that focuses on the spectacular natural and cultural treasures in and around Madang. The basic idea behind the project is that if people invest their tourism money directly into local communities, there will be a much greater incentive for the communities to protect the natural environments, wildlife, and cultural heritage of Madang. The Nature and Community Tourism program has established a network of cultural attractions and wildlife management areas that allow visitors to experience firsthand the wonders of Papua New Guinea's north shore.
Over the past 18 years, WWF has worked in a number of conservation projects in the Vogelkop ecoregion. Some of the early projects focused on the Jamursba Medi beach, where WWF assisted in developing a wildlife sanctuary for leatherback turtles. Additionally, WWF helped to establish the Arfak mountain reserve--a 243 square mile protected area that some believe holds the greatest source of rare species unique to New Guinea, including about 320 different birds and 90 mammals. In order to ensure the protection of large expanses of habitats, recent efforts have focused on connecting the coastal protected areas with the mountainous protected areas.
WWF is working with the government and local communities to develop a management plan for Lorentz National Park. The plan must be devised to include provisions for environmental as well as social needs. In addition to the management plan, WWF has been involved with boundary demarcations, awareness raising and educational activities, developing economic incentives for buffer zone communities, population and socioeconomic surveys, tourism planning and agroforestry.
Since 1991 WWF has been working with local communities, partner organizations and government agencies to develop sound natural resource management and lasting conservation plans across the TransFly region. The work has focused on two contiguous conservation areas, Tonda Wildlife Management Area (Tonda WMA) in Papua New Guinea and Wasur National Park in Papua Province, Indonesia. To address conservation planning needs and to provide a strategic vision based on the larger ecological system, rather than on political boundaries, WWF is developing an Ecoregion Conservation Program for the TransFly. The quality of many of the area's habitats is gradually degrading from the effects of changed burning regimes, overgrazing, weeds and feral animals, and over-use and exploitation of natural resources (including fresh water sources). The region is one of the least developed areas in PNG and local communities are highly reliant on the area's natural resources. There are over 200 cultural groups, whose lives, customs, languages and knowledge are linked inextricably to the landscapes of the TransFly. These cultures are as unique and precious to future generations, as the habitats and species that mark this place as an outstanding feature on the world map.
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