Seascapes Planning in the Bismarck Sea, Papua New Guinea: A Guidance Document

Acknowledgements

This Guidance Document was made possible through generous funding and support from both the Australian Government through the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security program, and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) under the Global Environment Fund (GEF4) Community-based Forest and Coastal Conservation and Resource Management program. The Building Capacity for Sustainable and Responsible Development in the Bismarck Sea program is a collaboration between the PNG Conservation and Environmental Protection Authority (CEPA), the East and West New Britain Provincial Administrations, The Nature Conservancy and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). The program team wishes to thank all those who participated in the workshops, without whose contributions this Guidance Document would not have been possible.

The project was guided by the Advisory Committee: Yvonne Tio (CEPA), Odi Wefin (CCDA), Eki Peter (CCDA), Emmajil Bogari-Ahai (CCDA), Jasmine Taera (CCDA), and Julianne Poiye (CFDA)

Local champions made significant contributions to running our workshops: Anastacia Kaue enabled multiple workshops in West New Britain; and Raymon Joshua in East New Britain. Isidor Kaupun (Wide Bay Conservation Association) and Clive Passinghan (Barefoot Community Services) came from East New Britain to share their leadership and experience at West New Britain workshops.

Non-Government Organisations played an important role, especially: Wide Bay Conservation Association, Barefoot Community Services, ARM Natural Rainforest Conservation Project, FORCERT PNG, Live and Learn, Partners with Melanesians, CELCOR, Mahonia na Dari, and LMMA representatives from across Kimbe Bay.

More broadly, the project benefited from technical and advisory support provided by University of Queensland staff and students: James Allan, Vanessa Adams, Viv Tulloch and Tahlia Seeto, plus Jessica Cheok and Jennifer Gabriel from James Cook University