PNG is said to hold over 5 percent of the world’s biodiversity in less than 1 percent of the world’s total land area.
In this episode, we bring to you the conservation journey of the Managalas people in the Afore District of Oro Province. Three Hundred and sixty thousand hectares of their land area is now legally declared a conservation area.
The conservation concept came about to protect the rich biodiversity we have in the country. The people of Managalas didn’t want any large-scale production in their area and wanted to protect their land and be a self-reliant community that lives in harmony with nature.
The conservation journey for the Managalas people had challenges along the way but the people have a traditional way of solving issues that arise in their communities and this had been a bonus for them.
Over 20,000 Managalas people have agreed and have their land be declared a conservation area and be protected from developments that are considered harmful to their environment. The declaration of the vast land area is not the end of their conservation journey but the beginning of a new chapter.
