Tough task for maritime province governors

 IT is indeed heart-warming for the governors of the country’s maritime provinces to gather to discuss issues of the sea. 

The Nature Conservancy and the Madang provincial government must be commended for initiating this meeting and the five governors must be thanked for attending.

There is a mammoth task ahead for the maritime leaders to protect their provincial boundaries from erosion by the sea, seabed mining, and develop sustainable agricultural practices that will mitigate soil salinity and crop intolerance. They must look at sustainable economic activities that will continue to keep these people self-reliant and tackle unforeseen dilemmas.

As experiences in PNG and across the Pacific islands have shown, land is an issue that has caused disharmony, a classic example being the Manam Islanders. 

Food, shelter and economic security are real issues, and not some hypothetical illusions of the UN.

Now that the leaders have set the foundation, why don’t we move to the next level by having technocrats from the maritime provinces come together to discuss and identify ways to advice our government the way forward?

Stewart Wossa

Madang