From Hela to Paris to raised concerns on Climate Change

Chief Mundiya Kepanga has traveled to Paris and raised his concerns on climate change "organized on 25 November 2015 on the occasion of the COP21" catching the international media's attention.

Mundiya Kepanga is a great chief of the Huli people who dwell in the dense rain-forests of Papua New Guinea. He journeyed to the Paris climate talks wearing the colorful feathered headdress and long nose quill that connote status among the indigenous people he serves.

“I live in the forest,” Mundiya explained at the global headquarters of UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization  in Paris. “When the world was created the forest was created and the trees were born, and my ancestors have always lived there.

” Now, those forests are being destroyed by renegade poachers of tropical hardwoods and reckless loggers who plunder the lands of the Huli and ravage this precious resource. The destruction may be unfolding far from Paris, but it’s as near, he warned, as our next breath of air.

“My forest is not mine (alone), it is yours as well,” Mundiya said through an interpreter. “If we vanish, we vanish together.”

Midway through two weeks of global climate talks in Paris, Mundiya reminded us why this work is so urgent and of the stakes we all share in getting this right. We might not look the same, dress alike or speak the same language, but we’re all linked in a global community by the natural systems we depend on to survive.

“I do not know how to read or to write. … It is with my eyes I am going to testify, and with my heart I am going to testify.” — Mundiya Kepanga

Ultimately, fighting climate change is a fight about people. All over the world, people whose lands, homes and very lives are imperiled are standing up to the frontline dangers of this widening scourge. If we’re going to craft meaningful solutions to the climate crisis, we must listen to the voices and hear the stories of people already living at disaster’s doorstep.

Here is the videos on the Intervention of Mundiya Kepanga at the Museum of Man in the framework of the conference "Indigenous Peoples against climate change" organized on 25 November 2015 on the occasion of the COP21.

Read more on this link: https://medium.com/natural-resources-defense-council/an-insider-s-journal-from-the-paris-climate-talks-7cc4d8772962#.6p8af891j

Different tribes meet at Goroka Cultural Show 2016

Every year Goroka Cultural Show brings together different tribes to showcase their cultural diversity. Photographs below are from the 2016 show.

Happy viewing!

Photographs: Leo Wafiwa

Goroka Cultural Show is one of the Papua New Guinea's oldest and important cultural festivals - September annually

ONE of Papua New Guinea’s most important and oldest events is the Eastern Highlands Cultural Show, or widely known as the “Goroka Cultural Show”. People come from all over the world to enjoy the entertainment.

The Goroka Cultural Show is a locally popular tribal event where people gather together to celebrate their culture in stunning displays of dance, music, and tribal rituals. There are about 100 tribes who show up to participate in the event, which is held annually during the weekend closest to the 16th of September (Independence Day).

The festival began in the 1950’s, when it was first introduced by missionaries. The initial purpose was for tribes across the land to come together and learn from each other, to enrich their own customs, and to open minds to the differing rituals of each tribe. These interesting customs are now available for travelers around the world to appreciate and enjoy.

The Goroka Cultural Show usually takes place in September every year.

The 2016 Goroka Cultural Show celebrates its 60th Anniversary and is set to be an even more spectacular cultural event complete with fireworks and fun activities for the whole family. The show begins on Independence Day September 16th and ends September 18th.

The Goroka Cultural Show aims to once more provide the best in cultural entertainment to the people of the Eastern Highlands Province and make visitors feel welcome from Papua New Guinea and around the world.

Held every year during the weekend closest to Independence Day, the Goroka Cultural Show is Papua New Guinea's most well-known tribal gathering and cultural event.

More than 100 tribes participate in the event performing extraordinary displays of 'singsings' - traditional songs, dances and ritual performances.

The staging of the Goroka Cultural Show began in 1957 and was first introduced and organized by Australian patrol officers known locally as 'kiaps'. Kiaps from each district built round houses typical of their districts where they displayed the various and unique cultures of the people living there. The kiaps brought in 'singsing' groups from surrounding areas. It created an entertaining weekend for everyone in the Province helping people forget their tribal differences.

The 2017 Goroka Cultural Show is set for September 16th to 18th.

The ‘Goroka Cultural Show’ is a significant cultural event in the Highlands region of Papua New Guinea (PNG).

The 2016 Goroka Show celebrates its 60th Anniversary and is set to be an even more spectacular cultural event complete with fireworks and fun activities for the whole family. The show begins on Independence Day September 16th and ends September 18th.

The Goroka Show aims to once more provide the best in cultural entertainment to the people of the Eastern Highlands Province and make visitors feel welcome from Papua New Guinea and around the world.

Held every year during the weekend closest to Independence Day, the Goroka Show is Papua New Guinea's most well-known tribal gathering and cultural event.

More than 100 tribes participate in the event performing extraordinary displays of 'singsings' - traditional songs, dances and ritual performances.

The staging of the Goroka Show began in 1957 and was first introduced and organized by Australian patrol officers known locally as 'kiaps'. Kiaps from each district built round houses typical of their districts where they displayed the various and unique cultures of the people living there. The kiaps brought in 'singsing' groups from surrounding areas. It created an entertaining weekend for everyone in the Province helping people forget their tribal differences.

The 2017 Goroka Cultural Show is set for September 16th to 18th. See you in Goroka!

For further information regarding the Goroka Cultural Show Committee
Attention: Ms. Keryn Hargreaves - Chair-lady 
Email: gorokashow2014@gmail.com 
Phone: +675 532-2644.
Visit their website at: www.gorokaevents.com

For accommodation near the festival click Accommodation in Eastern Highlands

VIDEO: Troy Pfeifer produced the following video about his trip to Goroka and the highlands of Papua New Guinea. Its recommended for those who wish to travel to Goroka for the first time.

 Here is what Troy has to say about his trip "Our amazing 20 year wedding anniversary trip to Papua New Guinea. Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the Highland Tribal Festival has been on our travel bucket list for quite some time. 

Almost two years in the planning, and plenty of money later (holy cow this was an expensive trip), we can check this one off our list. As you know we have been to a country or two, but we are definitely not immune to new cultures, people and basically how things are in other countries."

Sources: Tourism Promotion Authority and North South Travel

PNG's cultural sustainability more important than ever

CULTURE is who we are and what shapes our identity. No development can be sustainable without including culture.

The protection, promotion and maintenance of cultural sustainability is vital for sustainable development that benefits both present and future generations. Culture is an integral part of sustainable development; however the key challenge is the understanding of the relationships between culture and sustainability.

Culture plays an important role as a non-renewable resource that is a vital part of our cities; the adaptive re-using of the historic urban environment adds to the quality of life of their inhabitants by strengthening their sense of belonging, social unity and providing a pleasant environment that lessens excessive urbanization.

The Pacific region, the richest in the world in terms of cultural diversity, holds one-third of all languages in the world. Cultural considerations should be integrated into sustainable urban and community planning. The Pacific is ahead of other regions in rethinking well-being and prosperity: culture has been important in this approach, now all it needs is for it to be nurtured.

Communities, through their traditional knowledge and values and local sovereignty approach, understand their rights and responsibilities with respect to their environment, social stability and towards each other.

Most land across the Pacific is held by communities and not through private property. This has prevented the food poverty and extreme inequality seen in many other parts of the developing world. It has enabled women and men to draw on the environment for medical, housing, and expressive purposes, thereby continuing to foster agro-biodiversity, and allowing communities to enjoy leisure time.

Due to increased urbanization, imported unhealthy foods and increasingly sedentary lifestyles, life expectancy rates have dropped. Cultural food production and preparation, which preserve and improve diversity, including organic farming, provide healthy diets. Community arts and sports (dance, games, and communal fishing practices) provide healthy practices.

Pacific cities contain ‘old’ heritage, colonial heritage and increasing arts offerings. All are crucial to attracting responsible tourism. Cultural heritage, particularly cultural landscapes and historic cities, can make a significant contribution to environmental sustainability.

Culture contributes directly to employment. Most Pacific countries do not measure cultural employment. Cultural and creative industries represent one of the most rapidly expanding sectors in the global economy with a growth rate of 6.9 per cent in Oceania. Artist, cultural producers, and entrepreneurs are direct active contributors to Pacific economies and cultural events create indirect economic activities.

Many cultural activities take place in the informal economy – the subsistence economy is based on cultural knowledge and practices. If one considers remittances and traditional social security are basically driven by cultural factors, the relationship between poverty prevention and reduction and culture is obvious.

Culture indeed has a role to play towards achieving a sustainable environment because culture is a key element in the concept of sustainable development; it frames people’s relationships and attitudes towards both the built and the natural environment. Cultural value shape peoples way of life and therefore has the potential to bring about the change in behavior and attitude needed to ensure the achievement of sustainable development.

Sustainability efforts that once were characterized by environmental, social, and economic issues only now see the inclusion of culture as a holistic benefit to sustainable development.

Source: DAPHNE RASEHEI - EMTV Online

Mexican girl turns 'preserving cultural heritage' into business: Her setup was to preserve Mexico's culture

Sofia Cruz del Río Castellanos (right) watches an artisan shape a utensil from volcanic stone. (Courtesy photo).

WHEN Sofia Cruz del Río Castellanos was deciding on a college major, she knew she wanted a path to a career that would give her independence and allow her to help others.

She didn’t want to specialize. She would study business and later start her own company. “Entrepreneurship gave me the opportunity to create whatever I had in mind,” Castellanos said.

“[I] could just figure out the path and start creating my project,” she said.

Putting a degree to work

Sofia Cruz del Río Castellanos works with an artisan to attach beads to a piece of indigenous art. (Courtesy photo)

Her home country of Mexico has a booming tourist industry, and Castellanos noticed that tourists, staying in hotels, had limited interaction with the culture. She started a business that would bring the work of Mexican artisans to international tourists.

Mexikatekatl is a social enterprise that connects the local artisans to larger businesses that buy and sell their goods. As Mexikatekatl provides artisans with a stable income, it preserves Mexico’s unique cultural history.

As her company expands, Castellanos hopes to bring the artisans along on the ride. She wants to “create a better environment in Mexico for the artisanal community to grow,” she said.

Castellanos’ participation in the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative is one way she’s doing that. The pilot program connects her with other Latin American entrepreneurs, opening doors and boosting confidence and business skills.

Spurring on a sisterhood

Castellanos looks in a shop selling goods made by Mexican artisans. (Courtesy photo)

Social pressures often prevent women from starting companies. But women have “way more opportunities” than they used to, Castellanos said.

“If you really want to create something, just don’t step back,” she advises. The more women get involved in business ownership, the more “the whole world will start thinking what a great idea it is to empower women.”

Source: ShareAmerca Online / 2016

Boim-Sara Village in Yangoru-Saussia District setup a center to promote culture and tourism

THE people of Boim-Sara village in the Yangoru-Saussia District of East Sepik Province have initiated a cultural preservation project by building a Cultural Centre in a form of a “HausTambaran”aimed at preserving and promoting the unique cultural heritages not only from Boim-Sara village BUT from all over the District.
Local Member for Yangoru-Saussia District and Minister for Trade Commerce & Industry, Richard Maru led a delegation to Boim-Sara villages to see the haustambaran over the weekend.


In a speech he delivered during this visit, Minster Maru thanked the villagers for the initiative to build that Cultural Preservation Centre.
He pledged his support for the project and highlighted that Boim-Sara is on the right track.
“PNG’s culture is fast fading away because of social problems faced in villages including the involvement of youths in the consumption of alcohol (steam) and drugs which is affecting the way they live. Papua New Guinea has so much potential to offer in terms of tourism. We have wildlife,pristine waters BUT we cannot attract tourists numbers compared to what Fiji attracts,” said Minister Maru.

“Every year, PNG gets about 3 to 400 000 tourists that visit the country compared to Fiji which is a small country in the Pacific with over 1.5 million tourists. One reason is that PNG does not have the tourism products to attract tourists into the country,” said Minister Maru.
“PNG hasn’t been investing enough on the tourism infrastructure and projects, despite our potential,” he said.
“I am absolutely convinced that East Sepik Province has bigger potential in the tourism sector which has not been tapped into. Our problem has been the lack of leadership in this province over the years to come up with a tourism Master Plan that will develop tourism products that will attract tourist numbers. In Wewak we have the beautiful Manny beach that has not been used to attract tourists. This is because there was no vision and no competent leadership in the past,” said Minister Maru.
He said East Sepik Province has the potential BUT it’s up to leaders and the people to rise up and harness the potential that the province has.If we don’t then the rest of the country will leave us behind.
“After building roads, bridges and bringing services like education and health into the District, we will develop a Tourism Master Plan to promote products like the HausTambaranproject of Boim-Sara village. We may have the projects BUT if law and Order is not present in the village, no tourists willvisit these projects in the District”.
Minister Maru told the people of Boim-Sara that the Government will only support the project with funding if there is no law and order problem.
He urged the people to stand together and support this project by helping to fight lawlessness within the village and the District.

The Minister also announced that a submission on the Boim-Sara Cultural Preservation project has been brought to NEC for endorsement.
He said once NEC approves the submission, a Super Highway worth 300 000 will be built into the Boim-Sara village so tourists can have access to the Cultural preservation project (HausTambaran).
Meanwhile, Director of Arts and Culture Division within the Office of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Robert Ketsin shared the same sentiments and thanked Boim-Sara village for initiating this project.

He said after the visit, he will discuss with relevant agencies that deals with Arts, Culture and Tourism to progress the project.

Richard Maru and a visitor in Boim-Sara Village.

Source: PNG Today Online / 2016.