One man planted 1 million trees in PNG - Climate Weekly
Welcome to Climate Weekly!
Each week we’ll ask one guest writer from our network to give you a short selection of some of the best climate news from their region, giving you a little window into some climate stories you probably didn’t see in your News Feed.
This week, we’re back in Papua New Guinea, with Lillian Keneqa, a journalist at the country’s leading TV network, EMTV.
Hi, I’m Lillian from Papua New Guinea (PNG).
We have had less than 20 positive COVID-19 cases but right now the country’s greatest State of Emergency is Gender Based Violence, described by the UN as the shadow pandemic, which has been making headlines all over the country.
Many peaceful protests have been staged all across the country seeking the Government to look at harder laws to deal with perpetrators of GBV cases.
I know it’s not climate news, but it's a massive issue here in PNG - even some of our biggest mining and gas companies are getting behind it.
You might not know, but we have the third largest rainforest in the world and host 7% of the world’s biodiversity. Yep. After the Amazon, the Congo, it’s us. We also have a government led plan to plant 1 million trees each year until 2030.
So far over 2 million trees have been planted by the various stakeholders in the different provinces. One man planted over a million trees on his own. He now sells 30,000 nursery seedlings to those interested in planting their own.
The greatest highlight was seeing my country launch the National Ocean Policy. While the final report hasn’t been released, the draft policy has guidelines for fishing, resource sharing and offshore mining. However, there is very little focus in the policy on the incredible blue carbon potential for PNG. Unfortunately, there seems to be more focus on offshore mining at this stage.
In other environmental news, PNG has enforced a national plastic ban which came into effect in March. There has been a significant reduction in the amount of plastic trash across the country, but the ban still faces challenges.
As we all know, change can be difficult and slow. We recently launched a national trash to treasure festival in support of the ban. Check out the amazing plastic Octopus from the festival below.
From Climate Tracker
We’re featuring African energy reporters this week, here’s Amos Abba on the realities of the Solar challenge in Nigeria.
Niyi Oyedji wrote about how Nigeria’s energy challenges impact on everyday students, and the challenges that face them in the years to come.
Ever wondered about E-waste and renewable energy, here’s Daniel Sampson’s take on the e-waste challenge in Tanzania.
What else we’re reading
This profile of Marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and how she links her climate work to social justice.
I’m also diving into IISD’s Energy Policy Tracker which has a great analysis of how $150 billion is being funnelled into fossil fuel companies, all in the nave of COVID.
I’m also thinking about this “virtually impossible” headline from World Weather Attribution. They took the study stating that the Siberian heatwave was 600 times more likely due to climate change and just called it as it is. Almost impossible
Photo of the Week
Incase you’re wondering what the trash festival looked like? Check out this Octopus
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