Local landowners from Kutubu, in Southern Highlands Province, have confirmed their support to protect our iconic bird-of-paradise following a workshop conducted by World Wildlife Fund PNG in 2017.
These local community groups have renewed their commitment to work with WWF to promote the conservation and management of key sites and species of this national bird.
Of the 31 different species found in PNG, about 24 are confirmed to be in Kikori basin, as recorded by WWF, and 6 are in the Kutubu region.
Sadly, these birds face increasing threats due to harmful and unsustainable land use practices such as logging and land clearing for development.
They demonstrated their intentions to be proactive in preventing the extinction of these species and reversing the population drop.
The community has also introduced forest reserves and local land use planned for community adaptation.
Each committee agreed to adopt respective by-laws of the wildlife management areas to govern the implementation of the plan.
Bird-of-paradise protection strategies are in place guaranteeing the sites are secured for Bird of Paradise watching.
(The Raggiana bird-of-paradise is the national bird of PNG)