BIOPAMA

About the Project

TCA has received funding from the Biodiversity and Protected Areas Management BIOPAMA Action Component for project P636 Mapping and Monitoring the Torricelli Mountain Range Conservation Area (TMRCA). BIOPAMA are an initiative of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific states financed by the European Union’s 11th EDF.

Around the world conservation practitioners who manage protected areas use a variety of techniques to monitor the habitat, plants, animals and the environmental and cultural assets of the landscape. One of those techniques is called the Monitoring and Evaluation Tracking Tool or METT. This project has come from identifying the shortfalls in the management effectiveness of Protected Areas. For the Tenkile Conservation Alliance our biggest shortfall was a lack of equipment. The BIOPAMA Small Technical Grant provides the material and training support we need to improve our capacity to collect and manage data collected from the Torricelli Mountain Range Conservation Area (TMRCA) and nearby communities.

In 2019 we received assistance from the International Union of the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) under the UNDP GEF Project to use Cyber tracker a phone app that is managed in the software program called Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART). This project aims to build on that knowledge to help improve the TMRCA management effectiveness.

The project activities include:

1) Clarify Boundaries and communicate them to all parties

• Purchase and deliver appropriate equipment to assist TCA in the mapping of the TMRCA and special management areas for participating villages
• Conduct Global Information System (GIS) mapping training of three members of TCA staff who will take lead in developing their skills using GIS mapping software and producing maps of the TMRCA for villages and Government Agencies
• Other TCA staff, Research Officers, Project Officers, Conservation Area Management Committees and Rangers, to strengthen their capacity to manage the TMRCA such as participate in surveys using smart phone applications such as SMART/Cyber tracker and Lukim Gather (which is based on the METT). The engagement of local indigenous communities will continue raising awareness to the landowners, who must be the champions of the TMRCA and will continue the process of conservation into the future. This process of community engagement also builds leadership capacity which is another recommendation of the METT analysis
• Engage with surrounding communities to ensure they are aware of the conservation area and its special management needs and boundaries
• Ensure gender opportunities in relation to education, training, leadership and committee membership
• Liaise with all levels of government and the community to raise awareness about the CA’s benefits to the community and to the area/province/nation

2) Provide large-scale printed maps to landowners and governments

• Following the above activities, TCA will print large scale maps of the area for each village and present these to Governments on the communities behalf to be included in Local and Provincial Level Government Forest Plans strengthening Forest Governance
• Technical equipment such as phones, computers and GPS are required to implement the actions listed above. Although mapping has already taken place it does not provide the detail necessary to engage all landowners and identify the special management areas (no-go zones) as well as the areas of use for sustainable land use practices.  Any engagement with villages will include women where possible and improve community awareness of the benefits of the TMRCA
• Training in the use of various technology and their applications such as Lukim Gather, SMART and Cybertracker will enhance the level of engagement, monitoring effectiveness and increased knowledge of biological assets and indigenous knowledge

3) Build capacity for field management

• Training in maintenance of equipment and basic research

What we have achieved so far

• Three of our Project Officers have received GIS mapping training at the University of Papua New Guinea (funded by another grant)
• We have purchased all of the necessary equipment from suppliers in Australia and Papua New Guinea
• A total of 112 Galaxy smart phones have been purchased
• A total of 29 laptop computers and two desktop computers have been purchased
• A total of 3 Toughbook laptop computers have been purchased
• A total of 2 desktop computers
• All computers have been uploaded with Microsoft office and antivirus software
• All phones are equipped with a SIM card and the cybertracker / SMART Connect app as well as our new Protected Areas Monitoring app
• We are currently working with a volunteer app developer in the USA to produce other useful phone apps to collect data from the communities we work with and manage the data in an online portal called Mother Nature
• All staff x 112 people have been trained on how to use Cybertracker and SMART
• A data collection patrol has taken place and data has been downloaded to SMART software
• We have developed two new policies to help govern the electronic data that will become available under this project:
• Cybersecurity Policy
• Privacy Policy

This project is now complete and we thank the European Union for their support in protecting the Torricelli Mountain Range Conservation Area.

BIOPAMA Related Links

• Torricelli Mountains Range equipped to use SMART
• Assessment of Management effectiveness for Papua New Guinea’s Protected Areas 2017
• Exploring Papua New Guinea’s Natural Wonders: A Journey with the IUCN Oceania Team