By Adelaide Kari – EM TV News, Port Moresby
The Communication Conservation Practice Workshop yesterday began in Port Moresby, with a number of research papers presented on PNG biodiversity.
Mama Graun Conservation Trust put the workshop together, with funding from Exxon Mobil.
The workshop hopes to bring together conservation researchers, practitioners, academics, the private sector and donors to update each other on the focus and status of their activities.
From insects, to plants and animals that are unique to PNG, each piece of research identified key challenges facing the protection of each species.
One that stood out was the fact there were not enough national biologists and marine biologists researching and publishing their research.
Pagi Toko, Deputy Director of New Guinea Binatang Research Centre, said that research in PNG has become extremely expensive.
Funding for research most often comes from non-government organisations.
Toko said that in their research they have found that almost 90 per cent of the insects found are new to science.
He added that unfortunately insects were not of interest to most national researchers, and consequently research still lacks in that area.
Other issues facing the conservation sector are commercial logging and oil palm plantations, that are quickly wiping out forests.
