NEW DAWN ON BOUGAINVILLE

First global warming refugees leave their homes

By Aloysius Laukai

The first global warming refugees have left their Carterets Island home, victims of rising sea levels. They have resettled on the Bougainville Island mainland.

The first five families moved to Tinputz Plantation this week. The land was provided by the Catholic Church. Meanwhile the Bougainville Government is negotiating another plantation in the same area for a second group of resettlers.

The team leader for the group that is working on the resettlement scheme, Ursula Rakova said the first families are already building gardens so other families can join them later when there is food.

Tinputz leaders have welcomed the Carterets Islanders with open arms and have assured them they will fit into their communities.

Other land has been made available for further resettlement at Tearuki in Tinputz and at Mabiri. The Mabiri land can accommodate more than 100 families.

Lontis youth can now make sweet Lihir music

By Aloysius Laukai in Toniven

Buka islanders living and working at the Lihir gold mine have donated four guitars worth K2,600 to the Lontis Catholic Church youth in the Haku constituency. Mr Benard Tulou made the presentation on behalf of the group.

Church workers’ representative Richard Lyons told the youths to look after the instruments and contribute towards youth development in the area.

Meanwhile the secretary for the Lontis Catholic youth Peter Kiha accepted the gifts and thanked the Lihir gold mine workers for their support of youths and their church activities.

The Buka group on Lihir Island also assisted the Lemanmanu Parish some years back.

Time to walk on the bridges that have been built

By Aloysius Laukai

The President of the Autonomous Bougainville Government, James Tanis, says it’s now time to walk on the bridges built during his first one hundred days in office.

The President made these comments at a press conference in Buka after returning from a visit to China with PNG Prime Minister, Sir Michael Somare.

Mr Tanis told journalists that the task of building bridges had been accomplished and his task in the next one hundred days is to use these bridges for peace building and economic recovery for the Autonomous Region.

He said he was happy with the trip to China and has already begun work on a strategy to further strengthen relations between China and Bougainville, under the administration of PNG.

Mr Tanis said an ABG delegation will visit the Chinese Embassy in the near future to discuss ways the business community can work with the Republic of China.

Photo: Mr Tanis is greeted in a traditional ceremony upon his return to Buka from China [Aloysius Laukai]

Quarantine team visits Rabaul to quell pests

By Aloysius Laukai

A delegation from the Autonomous Region of Bougainville was in Rabaul last week to study the effects of the cocoa pod borer in East New Britain.

The team was headed by the Minister for economic services, Dominic Itta, and included primary Industry officers, district commissioners, quarantine, airline and shipping workers, and private cocoa buyers.

The 48-person team arrived in Rabaul on Monday and were met by East New Britain government officials and had a meeting with the staff of the PNG Cocoa Coconut Institute at Kerevat.

They also visited the National Agriculture Research Institute and several cocoa blocks affected by the cocoa pod borer.

The aim of the trip was to make all stakeholders aware of the dangers of cocoa pod borer and other pests commuting through cargo and people moving between East New Britain and Bougainville.

Two weeks ago, Bougainville put checkpoints on all airports and seaports to restrict the movements of plants and animals between the two places.

The trip to Rabaul was funded by AusAID and the team returned to Buka at the weekend.

Minister warns on chemicals used in gold mining

Alluvial gold miners on Bougainville have been told to be cautious with the use of chemicals as they could be unhealthy for miners and damage the environment.

Joseph Watawi, Business and Consumer Affairs Minister in the Autonomous Bougainville Government, said he was concerned about the way miners use chemicals.

He said the damage could be disastrous if there was any spillage into the river system.

Currently, traders go directly to villages to buy gold from miners. Mr Watawi said these people must go through the ABG “so the government knows what is happening”.

He said the ABG would have to investigate reports that expatriate traders accessed villages and bypassed government authorities.

Bigpela guria isekim saut long ailan Bougainville

An earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale struck Bougainville yesterday morning, the US Geological Survey has reports.

The quake hit at 10.43 am local time, 153 km west-southwest of Arawa, at a depth of 4km.

“At this stage, no information has been received of any damage or tsunamis, that sort of thing,” said seismologist Lawrence Anton. The tremor was a “typical interaction of the Solomon and Pacific plates”, he added.

Source: AFP

Atoll people want to be relocated to escape sea

The people of the Mortlock, Nuguria and Tasman islands in Bougainville want to be included in the relocation program undertaken by the Autonomous Bougainville Government as a response to rising sea levels.

The islanders say the relocation program should not just cover Carteret islanders but all the atolls. They said rising sea levels are now destroying their coastlines and food gardens.

Chairman of the Mortlock Island Council of Elders, Ahale Tekahu, said many food gardens were completely destroyed by king tides last year. Mr Tekahu said the islanders now had to rely mostly on taro and coconuts for survival.

On Tasman Island, houses are also threatened and chief David Poraka Teaku said the coastline was affected every year especially when there were strong winds.

Source: Post-Courier, 15 April 2009

 

 

Bougainville agriculture must contribute: Itta

By Aloysius Laukai

Dominic Itta, Minister for Agriculture and Livestock in the Autonomous Bougainville Government, says Bougainville has not sufficiently tapped the agriculture sector for economic development.

Mr Itta said Bougainville has unused land and rundown plantations that can be developed to support the island’s economy.

He said he is working on re-establishing the now defunct Department of Primary Industry research stations throughout Bougainville to assist farmers.

The Minister said that once these stations are re-established he will get professional agriculturalists into the field to work with rural communities.

Mr Itta said this would strengthen agriculture, fisheries and other renewable resources that were neglected by previous governments.

Improved communications announced by Minister

By Aloysius Laukai

The Autonomous Bougainville Government sees communication as one of the priority areas in its desire to fast track development in the Province, the Minister for Public Service and Communication, Robert Hamal Sawa, has said.

Mr Sawa said ABG recognises the importance of communication and has allowed the Digicel mobile phone company to establish its service throughout the region. The Minister was explaining the work of his Department at a meeting with Panguna landowners.

He said that the ABG had also recently signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Telikom PNG to establish twenty VSAT stations in remote locations of Bougainville. He said the VSAT installations have been funded by New Zealand aid of one million kina with counter funding by the Autonomous Bougainville Government.

Panguna landowners agree to reconcile & move on

By Aloysius Laukai

The people of Panguna have shown their true colours by establishing a committee to fast track the conduct of an election for the Panguna Landowners Association.

A meeting of landowners with the Autonomous Bougainville Government at the weekend decided to set up the committee of seven men and two women to work quickly on the election of the Association.

The meeting was organised by the office of the ABG President, James Tanis, so a policy submission can be made to the Bougainville Executive Council covering the reconciliation process at Panguna and, eventually, the entire Autonomous Bougainville region.

Many landowners were vocal on the need to implement reconciliation before the election. Women leaders wanted reconciliation to be given priority.

After a lengthy session, the meeting agreed to simultaneously implement reconciliation and the preparation for the election.

The meeting also provided an opportunity for the people of Panguna to get first hand information on how the ABG was working, with the Minister for Natural Resources and Panguna landowner, Dr Benedict Pisi, the Minister for Primary Industries, Dominic Itta, and the Minister for Public Service and Telecommunication, Robert Hamal Sawa presenting their departments’ outlook.