The Port Moresby Nature Park donated K1,000 to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in support of their conservation projects in Papua New Guinea.
The donation followed WWF’s participation at World Wildlife Day, which was held at the Nature Park in March with over 1,400 visitors attending the event.
Port Moresby Nature Park’s general manager, Michelle McGeorge, said: “Port Moresby Nature Park is committed to public education and conservation of PNG’s natural environment.
“And as such, we believe it is important to support those organisations working in the field to bring about positive conservation benefits, not only for the benefit of wildlife and the natural environment but also for the local communities that depend on healthy and sustainable environments for survival.”
Upon receiving the donation, Jeffery Saina from WWF said: “We would like to thank the Nature Park for the donation of K1,000, as the money will go towards the conservation work in PNG”.
McGeorge also stated that whilst the Nature Park was also a non-profitable charity and as such its donation was not large, that the important lesson was that all organisations and individuals could support causes they are passionate about, it just takes the initial step.
WWF has been operating in PNG since 1995 on a number of conservation projects in regions, including Kikori Basin, Transfly and Madang Lagoon.
The aim is to work with communities who live amongst these regions to develop sustainable livelihoods, land-use planning, develop resilience to climate change and promote renewables to ensure they avoid the mistakes made by industrialised nations in the past.
Papua New Guinea is one of the world’s most biodiverse countries in the world with more than 6 percent of the world’s biodiversity in less than 1 percent of the world’s land mass.
PNG is referred to as a biodiversity hot spot however, the natural environment is threatened by habitat loss due to land clearing primarily for farming and logging. It is also endangered by overhunting of wildlife primarily due to PNG’s human population growth.
Caption: Nature Parks marketing & communications manager, Burgess Yopolo, presenting the K1,000 cheque to WWF finance officer, Anthony Mawi.