By Jack Lapauve Jr – EM TV News, Port Moresby
Papua New Guinea needs to have in place a National Mangrove Policy.
The need was expressed among agencies today at a forum held in Port Moresby to strategise and formulate a way forward to save depleting mangrove vegetation in coastal communities.
Discussions yesterday highlighted the different agencies working to address and share ideas as to how both the private and public agencies can save PNG’s decreasing mangrove forests.
Questions were also raised to put in place a legal framework so legislation can be upheld, since the government is not seriously making its stand to save mangrove communities.
There have been a series of awareness and different methods of best practices to conserve mangrove, but putting a legal framework to the efforts has been lacking.
The Mangrove Policy will provide the management and development of a framework which will balance the use of mangrove in communities.
Only 3 provinces among other coastal provinces in PNG are making efforts to conserve mangrove from logging activities, New Ireland, Western and Manus.
