Nakanai on heritage list

THE Nakanai Range in Pomio, East New Britain province, will soon be included on the World Heritage List (WHL), making it the second site in Papua New Guinea.
The Kuk Basin of Western Highlands province is the first site in PNG to be listed earlier this year on the Unesco World Heritage List.
This was revealed to landowners of the range during a two-week trainer of trainers workshop run by a local NGO, ENB Sosel Eksen Komiti (ENBSEK) in the Pomio district.
The Nakanai Range runs along the southern tip of New Britain island, particularly in the Pomio district, covering two local level governments areas of Central Inland Pomio and West Pomio Mamusi.
Komiti team leader Peter Tutuai said the training was part of the overall process of ensuring that the Nakanai Range was listed as a World Heritage site.
He told the landowners that the workshop was aimed at creating awareness on the importance of environment and conservation and the effects of activities such as logging, mining and cash crop development, especially oil palm.
Mr Tutuai reminded the participants that PNG was one of few countries in the world with virgin forests and abundant resources and, therefore, the Government was under pressure from other developed countries that needed these raw products for their industries.
He said that as landowners, they had to ensure that all agreements entered into with developers were given due consideration to environment sustainability.
Florence Paisparea of the East New Britain environment and conservation management committee said the Nakanai Range contained unique flora and fauna not found anywhere else in the world and, as such, was in the process of being given World Heritage Site status.
Mrs Paisparea said the process of listing the site was now in its second stage and there were still a number of requirements to be met before it is officially listed.