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NATIONAL BIODIVERSITY STRATEGY AND ACTION PLAN

Conservation Status of Marine Biodiversity in Oceania.

Sharks conservation

Papua New Guinea is committed to the establishment of a network of marine protected areas
to fulfil national and international commitments. In order to assist this, the conservation
priority areas analysis identified a range of areas of high conservation interest in the PNG
marine environment, based on the principles of comprehensiveness, adequacy,
representation and resilience (CARR). The analysis collated available national-scale data on
biodiversity features and biodiversity surrogates.

Papua New Guinea (PNG) is committed to the establishment of a network of protected areas to fulfil national and international commitments.

Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is a conservation NGO working globallly and in PNG

Escalating anthropogenic impacts on tropical biodiversity have increased the vulnerability of endemic species. Selective harvesting of species is one of the major threats to birds and mammal species in the tropics. Many indigenous cultures, however, have long established cultural associations with certain species. The hunting and trade of species have been mainly for subsistence and socio-cultural ties within their communities.

Conservation needs asessment for PNG

WWF PNG Ecoregions

Hunting is a major driver of biodiversity loss, but a systematic large-scale estimate of hunting-induced defaunation is lacking. We synthesized 176 studies to quantify huntinginduced declines of mammal and bird populations across the tropics. Bird and mammal abundances declined by 58% (25 – 76 %) and by 83% (72 – 90%) in hunted compared to unhunted areas. Bird and mammal populations were depleted within 7 and 40 km from hunters’ access points (roads and settlements). Additionally, hunting pressure was higher in areas with better accessibility to major towns where wild meat could be traded.