Part
II – Pokili: Last Forest Standing
We are standing under a huge shady tree
beside the Pokili bush road. Our group is sizeable, most young journalists from
the radio and TV.
A light drizzle has added to the humidity
of the forest and the dampness hangs in the air.
Underfoot, the grass is wet and slippery.
We city slickers from Port Moresby, Madang, Kokopo, even Kimbe, are certainly
out of our element. This is sixth element greenery.
This is a tropical rainforest where a range
of flora and fauna – some yet to be formally discovered – thrive in the
biodiversity of life. Fortunately the dreaded mosquitoes haven't zeroed in on
our city blood yet.
Appropriately we are on a Climate Change
program, learning everything about REDD+ which, if the mosquitoes have any
sense of acronyms, should spare us their itchiness for drawing blood, as REDD+
is not even a red blood cell.
REDD+ stands for Reduced
Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation plus conservation,
sustainable forest management and enhancement of forest carbon stocks and we've
being brought to this forest on a learning experience on how forests are
important to rural communities.
Shoes and thongs are abandoned as we gather
around the elders of the rainforest. The instructions are simple, stay on the
path, stay with your guide and observe the local rules.
Then we trudge off into the jungle, bound
for one of West New Britain's active and lively hot springs.
It is getting damp and sweaty. There is a fair
bit of slipping and sliding. Seems like fun but you can't beat the feeling of
being in a rainforest. For people so used to city life, the forest feels
surreal, its weird sounds, its strange smell, its collection of odd tree life,
even its bird life, all these add up to the excitement.
After half an hour of
huffing and puffing, slipping and sliding, the rangers alert us to the distinct
smell of sulphur, signalling we are close to the beauty of the Pokili hot
springs.
The deep forest canopy gives
way to light shrub and shortly we are greeted by a majestic lake of simmering,
steaming water, its sulphuric emissions seemingly nauseous and its shore bubbling
with pulverised mud.
A breathtaking sight veiled in the jungle,
protected by the surrounding forests of the Pokili wildlife management.
In the last couple of days, through a
conference supported by the Forest Carbon Partnership
Facility, UNDP involving various national and provincial stakeholders, we have
been enlightened on REDD+ and its relevance to climate change mitigation.
The green forest and the lake of bubbly steam
somehow strike me as contrasting in the natural scheme of life. One is green
and full of life. The other is bubbly and hot, devoid of plant or animal life.
But the mere existence of the forest and the
lake of fire are in essence, complimentary to the lives of the Nakanais.
You have to admire the tenacity of the
Pulabe people in the Lavege, Koimumu, Rapuri, Vavua, Galilo, Makasili, Karapi,
Gule, Rikau and Gavuvu villages, who are part of the extended coastal Nakanai
tribe.
For over 40 years, they have tenaciously
hung onto their belief that their last remaining rainforest is their source of
lumber, food, medicine, shelter, gardening, and keeper of their lands and
source of their water.
On an island where logging has chewed up
vast area of rainforests, the Pokili WMA is one of the few remaining strands of
virgin forests on the island.
And in it lies the hopes of the Pulabe
people and their future generations.
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