First National Park Formed In Papua New Guinea

[eppur_se_muova]

Declaration of First Conservation Reserve Wins Plaudits Globally
© Mohan Alembath

Mar 3, 2009

The new National Park has been named YUS Conservation Area, spanning 76,000 hectares. YUS is an acronym for Yopno, Uruwa and Som rivers, the three main rivers that drain the area. The area is critical habitat for Matschie's tree kangaroos ( Dendrolagus matschiei), a species listed as endangered by the IUCN. Other rare species include New Guinea harpy eagle, New Guinea pademelon, the dwarf cassowary, and Salvadori’s teal.

The Denouement of the Park
Setting up the park was not an easy task. There were lot of imponderables and it took years of spadework. Villages own all rural land in Papua New Guinea. So the Government had its limitations in establishing the reserves and implementing conservation programmes.

Conservationists impressed on the landowners the need to set aside portions of land for conservation. They worked relentlessly on this agenda. Hard work by conservationists paid off, and the villagers pledged 187,800 acres of pristine forestland for setting up the national park. It is a wonderful area and extends from the coastal reefs to the 4,000-meter high peaks of the western Saruwaged Mountains.

Partners in the Venture
Wooland Park Zoo in Seattle, Conservation International, and National Geographic were partners in this venture. These organizations have been working for the past decade in Papua New Guinea in the environmental field and have established excellent rapport with the local communities. As a sequel to the establishment of the National Park they will also help the community in the education and community health programmes. This is expected to be to be a big morale booster.

The Management
A community organization formed by the villagers will oversee the management of the park. The management is intended to benefit both wildlife and local people. It is designed to be a sustainable model of community-based conservation. A spin off will be carbon sequestration. The tropical forest will act as a huge carbon sink. 10,000 villagers living in and around YUS ecosystem stand to benefit from the new arrangement.
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more: http://wildlife-reserves.suite101.com/article.cfm/first_national_park_formed_in_papa_new_guinea




New species continue to be discovered in PNG. Here's some pix from a recent BBC article: