Rare bird gives hope to PNG conservationists
Updated
As a campaign to protect Papua New Guinea's biodiversity steps up, the rediscovery of a rare bird there has given conservationists cause for celebration. Scientists from the World Wide Fund for Nature have warned that PNG's rich biodiversity is under threat from invading foreign flora and fauna. But a bird not seen for 80 years has recently been sighted, giving conservationists some cause for hope.
Presenter: Barbara Heggen
Speaker: Graeme Hamilton, chief executive of Birds Australia; Amos Ona, manager, WWF Kikori River Program
HEGGEN: Papua New Guinea is home to one of the most biologically and culturally significant eco-systems on the planet. Wildlife there ranks among the most spectacular, including the world's largest orchid and the unique assemblage of birds of paradise. Unfortunately, all this is under threat from invading species like pigs, cats, carp fish, breadfruit tree and bamboo piper. Scientists fear that expanding logging and mining industries are ill equipped to stop the spread of invasive species. They've begun an education campaign and are working closely with landowners and developers to protect fragile eco-systems. Amos Ona, is program manager for the World Wide Fund for Nature's Kikori River Project. He says maintaining a balance between competing interests is always difficult.
ONA: It's a tricky situation here. You talk to the local communities about conserving the environment, biodiversity, but at the same time, to improve their standard of living. So they have taken the environment and awareness messages quite seriously, but at the same time, they want to see some improvements in the general lifestyle and living standard of the people. So it's a bit of a tricky situation here.
HEGGEN: Meanwhile, far from the Kokori Basin, in PNG's Southern Highlands, a British expedition has rediscovered a rare sea bird in the Bismarck Achipelago, to the northeast of Papua New Guinea. The critically endangered Becs Petrel has not been seen since the 1920s and was feared extinct. The British team has photographed more than 30 individual petrels and observed young birds in flight, and it's findings have just been published in the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists Club. Birds are a strong indicator of the health of local eco-systems, so the discovery is very welcome news indeed. Graeme Hamilton is CEO of Birds Australia.
HAMILTON: I think it's significant because it does highlight that there are still a lot for us to know and a lot for us to understand, and I guess a lot of biodiversity that's still out there that hasn't yet been fully record and fully catalogued.
HEGGEN: So is it reason for hope?
HAMILTON: Oh, it certainly is. I mean if the obvious assumption that when you find birds back in the 1920s and then no-one sees anything again, you assume oh well, perhaps we just saw the last of them. But it just shows that these populations can be out there undetected for a considerable amount of time and I guess what it does to those of us who are concerned about the extinction of species, we shouldn't be calling species extinct too early, because they can very quickly prove you wrong.
HEGGEN: Well, how early is too early?
HAMILTON: Well, a good question. I mean normally we would work on the basis of about 70 years without a sighting as being then it moves into the category of being highly likely to be extinct. Obviously in this case, it's 80 years since they were previously seen. They seem to be alive and well. That doesn't to say their not under threat, but basically I think what we should be doing is saying, assumed extinct or presumed extinct, but awaiting confirmation of their life.
Interesting for these birds, they are places where there are some significant threats, threats from the clearing of rainforests, oil palm plantations, also the potential threats from the typical island breeding things of cats and rats. So whether they are under threat or not requires further study.
HEGGEN: Birds are a good indicator of the health of local biodiversity. So what might this indicate about the biodiversity in that particular area of Papua New Guinea?
HAMILTON: Well, I think it probably demonstrates very clearly that there is a lot more to be documented in the islands of Papua New Guinea and the Solomons and it's recognised as a major area for biodiversity, not just in birds, but in lots of other species. And there's a lot we need to do to understand what is going on there before we see that area destroyed by clearance oil palm and for logging.
