Apr 7 2016

Bougainville Chocolate Festival- A boost for Bougainville’s Cocoa Industry

Bougainville’s cocoa industry will be expecting a huge boost following the recent announcement by the ABG Minister for Primary Industries Honorable Nicholas Darku, on the Inaugural Bougainville Chocolate Festival.

The event which is a first of its kind in the autonomous region will be held in Buin and Arawa from the 4th to the 8th of July this year.

Minister Darku says this project aims to encourage good cocoa farming practices, while at the same time, raise awareness of the efforts put in by the ABG and its stakeholders to develop this industry. It will also give Bougainville the chance to showcase its cocoa farmers to the international chocolate community and create opportunities to build better market links.

“The cocoa industry represents the economic sector with the greatest immediate growth potential in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. It can, and will into the near future, provide for sustainable rural employment, generation of government revenue and contribute to household incomes and improved livelihoods”, he said.

One of the highlights of this event will be the Chocolate Competition which involves international judges tasting and providing feedback on chocolate made from Bougainville Cocoa.

“Growers from across Bougainville- twenty from each region, North, Central and South will be invited to submit twenty kilograms of dried cocoa beans, and each sample will be made into chocolate by Paradise Foods.

Chocolate samples will then be distributed to the judges well in advance of the festival to enable a thorough appraisal and judging”, explained Minister Darku.

There will also be agricultural showcases, business stall displays and entertainment during the three day festival. The opening of the Primary Industries Field Station in Buin will also coincide with this event.

This festival is an initiative of the Autonomous Bougainville Government, led by the Department of Primary Industries in partnership with the Australian government.

From 2014

A small New Zealand business is demonstrating how Bougainville can have a future without a return to large-scale mining and the reimposition of colonial-style dependence on foreign powers like Rio Tinto… (Mine Watch)

Source: PNG Mine Watch

The Wellington Chocolate Voyage

A voyage to make a unique artisan chocolate bar and a better tasting world. This is the new chocolate revolution.

Can you imagine the most beautiful tropical paradise on earth?

And the most mouthwatering, delicious chocolate you’ve ever tasted?

We’re going to bring them together and help make a better tasting world.

We are Gabe Davidson & Rochelle Harrison, co-founders of New Zealand’s Wellington Chocolate Factory, and international development worker Sera Price.

We are Kiwis with mad passions and big hearts.

We’re going to make a delectable artisan chocolate bar with rare cocoa beans from Bougainville, a South Pacific region devastated by civil war. The bar itself will be a unique taste experience of the highest quality: the voyage of making it will connect us and you with a cocoa-farming legend, a better way of doing business, and a sailboat journey across the mighty Pacific. Plus you can get chocolate!

We see this as part of a new chocolate revolution, and we want you with us on the adventure.

The Wellington Chocolate Voyage will:

1. Upgrade a South Pacific cocoa plantation– a farming community in Bougainville, led by legendary grower James Rutana, will be able to improve their drying sheds and grow a high-quality crop of unique Criollo varietal cocoa.

2. Buy a tonne of beans– literally. The Wellington Chocolate Factory will purchase 1 tonne of the resulting bean crop at a fair, premium price.

3. Sail the sparkling seas– in the tradition of legendary ocean voyages and historical trade routes, we will transport the beans from Bougainville to Wellington harbour ourselves via sailing ship!

4. Make amazing chocolate – once the beans arrive, we will use our master chocolate-making skills to produce the ‘Bougainville Bar’, a highest quality artisan treat with a unique flavour.

The Wellington Chocolate Voyage combines everything we’re passionate about: making great food, supporting ethical development and trade, connecting with people across the globe, and going on an adventure. We see this as part of the new revolution in artisan food, where mega-industrialised production takes a back seat to skill, care, and people.

By backing us you will be part of:

Supporting Bougainville and a local legend– recovering from a 10 year civil war, the Autonomous Region of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea is trying to develop its own economy and future. James Rutana helped build Bougainville’s cocoa industry only to see it get destroyed by war and neglect. He is committed to rebuilding and we want to help him.

Making truly great food– the Wellington Chocolate Factory are a values driven company who make highest quality bean-to-bar chocolate. You’ll be invited into our world and get to share the inside story of creating the Bougainville Bar. Then you’ll get your very own bar to try or share or hoard!

Nurturing unique cocoa varieties– rare and unique cocoa varieties are being lost to the dominance of lower value industrial strains. We’re encouraging farmers to grow higher quality crops and earn a premium price for their effort.

Doing it by sailboat!– Sailboats are fun and romantic in all the right ways, and there is a proud tradition of great Pacific sea voyages throughout history. Imagine being in Wellington Harbour as the first sail-driven shipment of cocoa beans in over fifty years arrives. If you’re super-keen, imagine coming on the boat with us!

Wouldn’t it feel good to be part of a better tasting world?

What’s the Wellington Chocolate Factory?

We’re snuggled in the heart of Wellington city in New Zealand. We have 11 staff and are open to the public. We make organic, ethically traded, bean-to-bar chocolate of the highest quality.

Why Bougainville?

Bougainville is a beautiful tropical island cluster just north of Australia, with a troubled history. Geographically part of the Solomon Islands but politically part of Papua New Guinea, Bougainville is now an Autonomous Region with its own government and economy.

In 1970 Bougainville had the world’s largest open pit copper mine. The mine contributed significantly to the development of the region, but also to its collapse. A civil war followed that lasted 10 years from 1989 – 1999 and killed 20,000 people.

The Bougainville people brought about peace with assistance from the New Zealand and Australian governments, and the new Autonomous Region hasn’t looked back! There are many challenges in rebuilding the economy and raising business confidence: cocoa growing, for which Bougainville was once internationally renowned, is a way forward.

We want to help put Bougainvllle cocoa back on the map! Making the world class artisan Bougainville Bar will help shine a positive light on the region’s potential, and demonstrate that this is a great place to work and do business.

Apr 5 2016

Bougainville Referendum NEWS : #Bougainville #PNG a State in Waiting but no ones paying attention

“Within a few years, the Pacific Islands region will likely become home to the newest states in the world. Each of these nations is emerging from a complex history of colonization and civil unrest, and the creation of new states in the region has significant political, social, and economic ramifications for the Asia-Pacific as a whole.

The Autonomous Region of Bougainville, currently a province of Papua New Guinea, will follow suit with a referendum in 2019. The decision to stage a referendum came out of the Bougainville Peace Agreement in 2001, following a long and bloody civil war from 1988-1998. The conflict was fought between Bougainvillean revolutionary forces and the Papua New Guinean military — assisted by the infamous private mercenary company Sandline International – and the ten years of fighting left as many as 20,000 dead.”

States-in-Waiting: Introducing Your Future Pacific Neighbors The world’s newest states are likely to emerge from the Pacific Islands. Why is no one paying attention?

By Sally Andrews for The Diplomat

Within a few years, the Pacific Islands region will likely become home to the newest states in the world. Each of these nations is emerging from a complex history of colonization and civil unrest, and the creation of new states in the region has significant political, social, and economic ramifications for the Asia-Pacific as a whole.

First up is the French overseas territory of New Caledonia, which must hold an independence referendum before the end of 2018. Following violent clashes in the 1980s between the indigenous Kanaks and the pro-French European settlers, the UN listed New Caledonia as a non-self-governing territory in 1986, effectively placing the territory on its “decolonization list.” After further killings, hostage crises, and assassinations in the 1990s, the French government signed the Noumea Accord in 1998, mandating that a vote on independence was to take place before 2019.

The outcome of the upcoming referendum is difficult to predict, and is causing heated debate in a nation that is already intensely polarized. Changes in 2015 to the electoral eligibility laws prescribed that only the indigenous population and persons who were already enrolled to vote in 1998 would be automatically eligible to vote in the referendum, causing protests among pro-French groups. The latest census results reveal that within a population of 260,000, 39 percent are indigenous Kanaks, whilst 27 percent are European. The remaining 34 percent comprises “mixed race” persons, migrants from other Pacific islands, and a handful of Asian minorities.

As the referendum approaches, pro-independence activists have some hard work ahead of them in order to broaden their appeal beyond the Kanak bloc and gain the majority vote necessary for independence. Little more can be said at this stage while the New Caledonia Congress continues to debate the question of electoral eligibility, but it seems likely that the results will be close.

Longstanding feelings of alienation toward Papua New Guinea among Bougainville’s estimated population of 250,000 suggests that a strong vote in favor of independence is the most likely outcome of the 2019 vote, meaning that Bougainville could become the world’s next new country.

In appreciating the necessity to establish diplomatic relations with what may well become the newest fragile state on Australia’s doorstep, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop announced that Canberra would be setting up a diplomatic post on Bougainville in May 2015. The government of Papua New Guinea responded by banning Australians from travelling there, with PNG Foreign Minister Rimbink Pato denouncing the plans as “outrageous.”

Despite the overwhelming support for independence among Bougainvilleans, Papua New Guinea’s frosty attitude toward the question of independence intimates that secession is not entirely guaranteed. Part of the peace agreement was that the PNG Parliament would have “final decision making authority” over the referendum results, meaning that Bougainville’s independence will theoretically require parliamentary consent. It is unclear how this will play out in 2019, and it is also unclear how the UN, regional leaders, and Bougainvilleans themselves would respond if Papua New Guinea refused to ratify a vote for independence.

The Pacific also holds a number of more long-term candidates for statehood. One of the key areas to watch over the next decade is French Polynesia, an island collectivity in the South Pacific that the UN* re-classified as a non-self-governing territory in 2013. As such, the French government was called upon by the UN General Assembly to take rapid steps toward effecting “a fair and effective self-determination process” in French Polynesia, a major win for the indigenous Maohi nationalists.

Similarly to New Caledonia, the French Polynesian parliament is split between the pro- and anti-independence political parties, and these sentiments broadly divide the population into the indigenous and European camps. The political situation is further complicated by the intertwining of the independence movement with the campaign for recognition and compensation from the French government for the 193** nuclear tests carried out in French Polynesia between 1960-1996, with anger and momentum in the latter movement fueling the independence campaign.

While a referendum is some way off in French Polynesia, the events in New Caledonia over the next few years are likely to provide significant impetus for the decolonization process. Aside from New Caledonia and French Polynesia, France has another overseas territory in the form of the islands of Wallis and Futuna. Whilst the islands’ indigenous populations have traditionally been strongly pro-French, Futuna chiefs recently hinted at a potential push for independence in the midst of concerns over French mineral exploitation.

The Pacific Islands of the future seem set for some radical changes. Some of the biggest questions will be those surrounding governance capacity, fiscal independence, and resource management. New Caledonia, home to 25 percent of the world’s nickel reserves, can be expected to undertake a dramatic renegotiation of its mining arrangements upon independence, while the fate of the Panguna copper mine in Bougainville — estimated at a value of $37 billion and an infamous flashpoint for bloody clashes and indigenous exploitation during the 1990s — remains at an impasse.

Sorely neglected within the field of IR analysis, the Pacific Islands region may yet emerge as as one of the geopolitical hotspots of the 21st century. With a number of other independence movements growing across the Pacific — including the Chilean territory of Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Chuuk State in the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji’s Rotuma islands, Banaba Island in Kiribati, New Zealand’s Cook Islands, Australia’s Norfolk Island, and the Indonesian territories of West Papua, Aceh, Maluku, and Kalimantan, to name a just a few — it’s high time that we paid some attention to our Pacific neighbors.

*An earlier version of this article said that France had re-classified French Polynesia as a non-self governing territory.

**An earlier version of this article said that there had been 196 nuclear tests in French Polynesia.

Sally Andrews is a New Colombo Plan Scholar and the 2015-2016 New Colombo Plan Indonesia Fellow. She is a Director of the West Papuan Development Company and the 2016 Indo-Pacific Fellow for Young Australians in International Affairs.

This article was first published on the Young Australians in International Affairs blog. This article can be republished with attribution under a Creative Commons Licence.

Apr 5 2016

Six young lives lost needlessly in Arawa – a loss to families and to Bougainville

“It is probably the worst accident involving a head-on collision between two vehicles that anyone in Bougainville can remember. One distraught relative of two of the deceased in Arawa says it is the worst car accident ever.

Bougainville like most of the country is not where you find big cities and towns swarming with people but where most of its population still live villages, most commutable by foot and some by vehicles . It’s main townships of Arawa, Buka and Buin are small enough in areas and population for most people to know and know of each other.

So when a major tragedy happens, like it did last Saturday morning 2^nd April everyone gets to hear about it very quickly. In this instance it was an accident that was hard to accept, let alone come to terms with because six people vanished in a pile of twisted metal in such tragic manner without knowing and warning.”

Simon Pentanu

Lives of six young, working people have been needlessly lost, gone in cold blood in the most terrible and awful way possible. They were not prepared for it, nor did they know or expect that a merry night out with friends for a good cause would end up so abruptly before they got home to their loved ones.

For their immediate families and relatives it is a double blow, and hard to accept, as the five young men and a young female were all breadwinners for their families. Three of the men were from the same clan and therefore related. It is a tragic loss to Bougainville at this time when it needs and depends on such young people to rebuild itself.

In short, we have lost a contract builder who had a lot of building contract work ahead for his self-owned company; a younger man who was an employee of Bougainville Healthy Communities; another a mechanic, a security staff member at Arawa Bank of South Pacific, an employee of Oxfam, NGO on the Island and the only female in the accident who was employee of BSP in Arawa.

As a friend and relative of one of the deceased said, it is also such loss and tragedy at this time because some them had come back to Bougainville after training and getting experience to lend their hand and time at home when they could have easily picked up jobs outside Bougainville. But they had come back and were working towards the prime of their lives and jobs of their choice. This is also why this tragedy is a very hard thing to accept, he said.

Muted silence, mourning, wailing and lamenting, bereavement and heavy hearts and teary eyes have been the immediate combination of responses of the parents, wives and relatives. This will continue long after they have been laid to rest.

As is often the case the biggest, saddest, innocent and the most undeserving losers will be the children of the deceased. When among the victims a young working girl has also been lost, the mother of the child will be the one that will suffer most from the loss of her child which she carried within her for nine long months and then nurtured after birth. To lose her is not fair when she is repaying the family with the security of a respectable job.

Families have lost sons, brothers, son-in-laws, uncles and so on, on both sides. In an extended family society like ours through clans, sub-clans and marriages, this includes a long list of many other relatives as well.

What has befallen the ones lost and the way they lost their lives in such terrible accident is hard to fathom. It will be hard to accept by their families and those closest to them for a long time. Their children will always ask the most obvious questions as they grow up: “Why”? What happened”?

Perhaps, now is not the time to look for answers or reasons. It is a time that we join in the hurt, sadness, sorrow, grieving and loss and extend our deepest condolences to all those most affected.

If there is a lesson for us to learn from this, it is a lesson we have never really learned. Ever. With utmost respect to the families and relatives of those that died in the accident, the lesson is this: Body and alcohol do not mix well.

Our sincerest and deepest condolences. May they rest in eternal peace.

Mar 28 2016

Bougainville Tourism News : President Momis discovers the tourism potential of PokPok Island

The people of Pokpok Island put on their best welcome at short notice to welcome the President of their Autonomous Region of Bougainville the Hon Dr Chief John Momis MHR and Mrs Momis during their visit to the Island on Monday 21 March 2016. It was the first visit for the President and Mrs Momis to the Island.

In his welcome Chief Peter Garuai of Pokpok Island told the President that his Island community was honoured and privileged by his visit, this being also his first to the Island.

It was an important visit, brief though it was, because it provided an opportunity for people in the community to see and meet their President face to face. Visits to communities by leaders are moments that people savour as they are occasions when people can hear from the Government as well as talk directly to the leaders like their President.

In a traditional welcome led by the village women elders the President and his main party were adorn with fresh herbal necklaces and anointed with fresh toronisi coconut oil. The President and his accompanying dignitaries took turns to help themselves to the local Nasioi delicacy tamatama that is offered to visitors.

A swarm of elementary and primary school children were also on hand to welcome the President and Mrs Momis as important guests on this occasion. Pokpok has two elementary schools and a primary school on the Island.

See website

Chief Peter Garuai told the President that any development in tourism on the islands and the benefits that accrue from tourism must be clean, lean and environmentally and people friendly with importance of conservation foremost in the minds of everyone involved. He said the islands are fragile and any tourist development must blend in with what the islands offer in terms of its pristine but fragile environment and must be always be in consultation with the population.

Chief Garuai said the potential for tourism must go hand in hand with the need and importance for conservation and said the local people are the expertise on protection and conservation on their islands. Everyone on the Island grows up knowing that they belong to the island and the sea. It is a fragile landscape but it is inextricable connection which the people here have always been a part of, not separate from it.

Chief Garuai also explained how Pokpok Island was recently granted its long time wish to have its own Village Assembly (VA) which comprised the main village of Pokpok and Sisirai and Uruna villages, a number of hamlets on the Island as well as a number of hamlets and settlements along Siipa bay on the mainland. The islanders settled on the name Metora Village Assembly for their VA, a name signifying communities dwelling along the coast and off the sea. The name Metora also behoves a sense of care and responsibility for an environment that is fragile and predisposed to the vagaries of open sea and unpredictable weather. It is the name that is also given to coral sand islands and shoal formations on the outer reefs which people use as resting places while out diving or fishing as well as for initiations of young girls and boys before they can venture out to the barrier reefs on their own.

The Chief, Peter Garuai also pointed out that what is beautiful requires a great deal of thought and responsibility to care for and maintain. In this regard the threat of global warming is real for all islands like Pokpok along the coast of mainland Bougainville as much as it is real for the outer atolls. He mentioned government help was needed with materials for the islanders to construct sea walls to protect the villages on Pokpok, the main village in particular. Some of this has been started but government input in providing materials was urgently needed.

The chairperson and president-elect of the Pokpok and Metora Women’s Association Ms Mary Gula also welcomed President Momis and Mrs Momis on behalf of the women on the Island. She said that Bougainville was blessed with women leaders taking on roles for the betterment of women in society through their involvement as equals in decision making at leadership level.

An Island where children find their place steeped in culture and tradition from a young age

With increased demands for care and responsibility in the village women are also involved in many roles like never before. For this year the women’s association on the Island has embarked on a self-help project to build a women’s resource centre. The men are already involved in helping the women to realize this project and the beginnings of the project has also been supported with preparatory funds and leadership by the Speaker of Bougainville Parliament who is from Pokpok Island.

Ms Gula said women play a critical role of providing a steadying influence on the rapidly increasing young population on the Island and generally throughout Bougainville. She told the President any help that might be forthcoming from the government for the completion of the resource centre will be welcome.

The visit by the President was planned as a sight-seeing detour from the mainland by boat ride to interesting areas in Kieta Harbour surroundings and around Pokpok and Tautsina islands and to the once resort Island of Arovo. The Kieta Peninsula’s jutting beaches and Assio Bay and the sacred site areas of Eberia from the sea all offer very interesting sight-seeing tours by boat. Boat ride farther north towards Kobuan Bay is also the site of Pidia Village where Mr Pip was made on location.

In his response and remarks President Momis thanked the Chief, the women and the community for the traditional welcome. He said the ABG recognises the huge potential for tourism in Bougainville but it has to be developed in consultation and with the participation of its communities. He was very happy that the original owners here continued to protect and care for beautiful Kieta harbour and for the environment around the islands which supports their livelihood. He said any development by prospective investors in tourism must be done through thorough consultations and is meaningful and beneficial to local communities and must respect their traditions, cultures and their natural environment.

SEE TOURISM WEBSITE for Pok Pok Tours

Mar 24 2016

Bougainville Tourism : Wakunai interesting sights, things ,places and people

In this article Simon Pentanu picks out interesting features, sights and things in Bougainville where most locals take the ordinariness of life and place for granted.

After travelling the world whose variety of civilisations, traditions and cultures provide so much variety and spices of life, he says seeing and writing about things and places gives him a new lease of in the twilight years of retirement and rest from work. Here is his offering on Wakunai in Central Bougainville.

W . A . K . U . N . A . I .

Wakunai is one of three districts in Central region, central Bougainville. The other two districts are Kieta and Panguna. To those that have visited or have worked on Bougainville, Kieta and Panguna do not need much introduction.

Next time you are on the east coast highway from Buka to Arawa or all the way to the bottom end down south in Buin do yourself a favour and take a quick stop along Wakunai beach. You will be pleasantly surprised what meets with your eyes and senses. It is a breath of fresh air of the sea breeze facing out to the open sea. During and nearing the end of the crisis the same seas were part of the lanes for the plying sea traffic of outboard motors doing cargo supplies from Buka to Kieta. Wakunai station also served as the half way security check for sea traffic between Buka and Kieta. This is all in the past tense now.

Wakunai has a long, wide consuming bay where you’re a tiny speck in the distance with long, jutting peninsulas on either side which give the bay its width and vast expanse.

Along its long beach with the Wakunai river mouth delta at the northern end pebbles and polished stones in assortment of smooth shapes, sizes, colours and contours adorn the black beach. They are bared out by the ebb and flow of the tides. They are nature’s work and a marvel to hold or carry and look at.

Looking up from the beach this a place where the daily sunset disappears behind the ruminating Mt. Balbi, the highest altitude on Bougainville. On some very clear days the vents atop bare Balbi can be seen to jettison its own geyser-like white steams like a tired baldy old man at a very advanced age that is trying to exhale his puff and smoke in slow motion. It’s a clear view from the bluish black beach along Wakunai bay.

Nearby by the beach inland from Kiviri point is an overgrown Wakunai landing strip that has seen better days. You can’t see much of the strip driving by with kunai-like tall grass getting in the way. I can still vividly recall landing here on my first airborne travel on a TAA DC-3 in late January 1965 after taking off from a dirt Aropa airstrip on the way to Buka to start high school at Hutjena. The Wakunai airstrip is in disuse now but it is a short-cut walking track. It is also there, not really abandoned, if ever a distressed small aircraft or a helicopter might need it for emergency crash landing.

Wakunai used to boast one of the biggest coconut plantations in the southern hemisphere, the Numanuma plantation. Numa was planted during German times. The Numa WW2 track that traverses a tropical terrain from east to west starts here. The trek is either a trying and difficult walk or an exhilarating, refreshing walk to the west coast. It depends on level of fitness and mental preparedness to start and finish this personal challenge.

Wakunai’s evergreen hinterland and soaring hills and peaking mountains right up to and around Mt. Balbi remain a Pandora’s box with such tales as sightings of the mamanguria for example. This is the district where you cross the Red river with its source high in the mouintains, so named because of the red rocks on its river beds and banks that you can see from its old bailey bridge crossing.

This is Rotokas country. The Rotokas language holds the claim in the Guinness Book of Records as the indigenous language with the fewest vowels. Up inland on good, trafficable dirt road are Togerau and Ruruvu where there is majestic waterfall that attracts local visitors no end.

See Rotokas Ecotourism Info

Up here too is Bougainville’s first hydro project that is supposed to harness the Wakunai river at its multiple heads not far from the waterfall. Rotokas culture and traditions up here and further inland remain intact, including the Upe culture that is revered and protected here and along the West Coast.

The Upe symbol on the Bougainville flag livery gives the flag it most identifiable and conspicuous feature.

The upe is totem-poled to mark the inner boundaries of Bougainville’s Parliament House at Kubu on Buka Island.

Wakunai district will also always hold pride of place and history on the Island where the first girls high school was established. The Catholic nuns from Australia from Society of Mary established the only girls Asitavi Girls High School when teaching began here with a handful of girls in 1959. The roll-call of girls who have passed through the school and done well in professional life and personal and family lives in the country and at home on Bougainville is a long one. The school as it exists today is worth a visit.

Next time you are travelling by road along the east coast highway, do yourself a favour and stop. Just like Colin Cowell did on a Bougainville Experience Tour last year

Or convince your driver to make the next relief stop by the beach. Walk Wakunai’s black beach and pick yourself a souvenir to take home, a small or large pebble polished by the ebb and flow of both sea and sand since creation They come in all sizes and are a marvel for all seasons. The rarer ones are the round and elongated, clayish- to-almost-mission- red colours.

See All tours HERE

Six Day Bougainville Culture Tour

Mar 19 2016

Bougainville Agriculture News: Boost to cocoa industry in Bougainville PNG

“Cocoa is Bougainville’s most important cash crop, involving about twothirds of Bougainville families,”

“Strengthening this industry will provide widespread benefits for the whole of the ABG, bringing in more money and providing much-needed employment opportunities.”

A recent study of Bougainville’s cocoa industry found farmers could comfortably triple their production by using the right planting materials and improving their management practices”

A new K7 million a year support package will help Bougainville cocoa farmers boost output, improve quality and gain better market access. The Commodity Support Facility (CSF), launched in Buka today (Thursday, March 17), is a joint economic development initiative of the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) and the Governments of PNG, Australia and New Zealand.

The CSF offers grants and targeted assistance to cocoa farmers, dryers, fermenters and traders from across the autonomous region. The whole-of-industry support package will improve access to cocoa pod borer tolerant planting materials, and establish new farmer field schools to help smallholders lift production. Measures will include financial literacy and business management training, and a competition to design improved cocoa dryers and fermentaries.

The CSF will, in the future, expand to support other primary industries prioritised by the ABG, such as coconut or marine resources. ABG Minister for Primary Industries Nicholas Darku said the CSF would help Bougainville’s cocoa industry recover from the impact of the cocoa pod borer. “We have two ingredients on Bougainville. One is fertile soil; the other is hard working people.

“With this support, I know the industry will come back. We will increase our production and ensure Bougainville cements its reputation for producing fine flavour cocoa.” National Coordination Office for Bougainville Affairs A/g Director John Avira said cocoa is a very important cash crop for Bougainville.

“Alongside the CSF support, it is equally critical to have the access roads to bring the product to the market by the farmers,” Avira said “Partnership with other funding sources such as National members DSIP and PSIP could be explored to build roads to ensure the farmers are provided access to market.”

Australian High Commission Minister Counsellor Rod Hilton said the CSF would work with private sector partners to ensure assistance was well targeted.

“We want to ensure that support goes to projects that strengthen Bougainville’s cocoa industry, and contribute to sustainable improvements in production and quality in all regions of Bougainville,” he said.

“That means working with big business, small business and communities, targeting innovators and entrepreneurs. But we also want to see positive impacts for disadvantaged groups, particularly women and young people.”

New Zealand High Commission Counsellor Development, Kathleen Pearce, said the CSF would help everyday Bougainvilleans earn more income and provide revenue for the ABG.

“Cocoa is Bougainville’s most important cash crop, involving about twothirds of Bougainville families,” Pearce said.

“Strengthening this industry will provide widespread benefits for the whole of the ABG, bringing in more money and providing much-needed employment opportunities.”

A recent study of Bougainville’s cocoa industry found farmers could comfortably triple their production by using the right planting materials and improving their management practices.

“I think they can go from about 200-500kg per hectare, to an average of 1500kg per hectare,” Agribusiness consultant David Anderson said. “But the genetic potential of the clones that are being provided to farmers is even higher; up to 2000kg or even 3000kg a hectare.”

Prior to the Bougainville Crisis, the now-autonomous region exported about 30,000 tonnes of cocoa.

Production had recovered to about 26,000 tonnes by 2009, when the cocoa pod borer hit the industry driving production down to about 13,000 tonnes today.

ENDS Enquiries: public-affairs-portmoresby@dfat.gov.au or phone: 325 9333 ext 276

Mar 19 2016

Bougainville Tourism News : ” Green and clean “Tourist Development in Bougainville

“We are getting there. We will get there. It requires careful planning, training, meaningful government support and private enterprise, including private operators to be involved together.

On top of it all perhaps, it requires an active Bougainville Tourism Association to be in place coordinating interests up front with a combination of foresight and passion for long term success in getting this green and clean industry on the right and firm footing in Bougainville.

“For every promotion and advertorial to attract tourists to our shores we must put even more effort to provide the facilities and services that tourists take for granted when they travel to well travelled and well developed tourist destinations in the region.

Simon Pentanu comes from Pokpok Island where the family has a home and private retreat. The Retreat promotes community participation and involvement of women and youth in the benefits of tourism on the Island. He believes and advocates that “small, rural and local is beautiful” across Bougainville. See his Interim Website

Learning from Papua New Guinea PNGTA

Every region, province, district, locality right down to the communities and villages in PNG has its unique attractions, wonders and mysteries yet to be discovered.

In an age when mass tourism for dollars and cents compete to lure tourists, PNG over the last 40 years has somewhat wisely and in its own laid back way chosen instead, wittingly or otherwise, to go the way of sense and sensibility rather than purely a grab for dollars and cents.

True, every tourist dollar is important. Indeed, for some small Island states it is both the breadbasket and the mainstay of their economy contributing sizeably to their annual GNP.

For PNG the preservation of its many traditions and cultures, many of them unique and surviving the onslaught of so called modern civilisation, has also occupied the minds and careful planning and consideration of those tasked with developing tourism policies and programs in PNGTA. This is admirable considering that the impact of tourism has its downsides as well. For every tribe, clan or sub-clan their culture is their identity in dance, drama, chants, prose and the plumage and attire they don on very special occasions. It counts for a lot more than monetary gains.

Bougainville, which until 2010 was one of the twenty provinces of PNG, was also very much a part of PNG tourism planning that encompassed the more readily accessible provinces and areas. Bougainville, or North Solomons Province as it was known then, had a fully fledged and very well run tourism association that promoted sight-seeing, trekking, fishing, diving, a small group of motor cross enthusiasts and regional and local cultural shows across north, central and south Bougainville. Most of its promotional activities, like much of the business and commerce at the time, was centred in central Bougainville where the Panguna copper mine was also situated.

Picture above: In 1884 Bougainville came under the control of German Empire. Picturesque Kieta was established as Administrative Centre in 1905.

Picture below French tourists at Uruna Bay Retreat on Pokpok Island 2015.

While the mine was then the prime catalyst and lure for Bougainville’s development from out of the backwaters as a distant place from Port Moresby, its beauty as a tourist destination was obvious as early back as 247 years ago. This was when on 04 July 1768 the French explorer Capitaine’ Louis de Bougainville made landfall and noted in his journal then the existence of mountains of ‘prodigious’ heights. The Frenchman was so taken by its beauty he named the unchartered Island “Bougainville” in honour of his family.

Flash back at tourism in North Solomons Province

Prior to the crisis in the days of the NSP the Bougainville had a very active tourism association, the North Solomons Province Tourism Association (NSPTA). The Association was active in promoting tourism through brochures, post cards, promoting local artefacts and handcrafts, cultural events, walking, trekking, fishing, diving and pointing out the history and historical sites, relics and remnants of WW1 and WW2 on Bougainville. The Association provided a lot of interesting insights and reading as its contribution to what else Bougainville offered other than the huge copper mine that was the humongous money earner for the country up until the mined was shut in late 1989.

The Spanish prophetically named these isles after King Solomon, thinking they had discovered his gold mines. And truly in the heart of her bosom , Bougainville cradled one of the largest copper mines in the world [from NSPTA “Welcome to Bougainville” promotional brochure].

NSPTA published and distributed “Welcome to Bougainville” brochures promoting the Island that was here waiting to truly entertain you with her rich culture, her beautiful tropical environs, and her people. The awe inspiring beauty that captivated French Captain de Bougainville, well over two hundred years ago, has truly remained to this day. [from NSPTA].

Bougainville at its height in tourism then offered Arovo Island Resort as its jewel in its hospitality crown, a joint and cooperative effort of business houses, Bougainville Development Corporation and the NSPTA. Arovo provided good island accommodation, day visits, diving and dive shops and game fishing competitions to look forward to. Other hotel accommodation included the Davara Hotel at Toniva and Kieta Hotel.

The expatriate population around mining and from subcontract companies and independent investors provided a good source of “tourist” revenue venturing south as far as Buin and north as far as Buka to explore the surfs, sunken wrecks, caves and sink holes and just plain sailing on the weekend out as far as the borders with the Solomon Islands from sailing clubat Loloho and the Yacht Club in Kieta.

Today – A Slow but Sure Start

Like any recovery after any conflict anywhere, resurrecting tourism in Bougainville to compete in the country and in the Pacific region is going to take many years. How we start and where we start is going to determine how we perform and where we might end up. There is a tremendous lot we can learn from PNGTA.

For every promotion and advertorial to attract tourists to our shores we must put even more effort to provide the facilities and services that tourists take for granted when they travel to well travelled and well developed tourist destinations in the region.

There is a lot we can learn from Fiji but we do not have to be like Fiji. There is certainly a lot too we can learn from the former French and British condominium of New Hebrides, now Vanuatu, but we do not have to cause ourselves any pandemonium by rushing and expecting instant results. The neighbouring Solomon Islands might provide a good lead for us in terms of learning how they are coping. But certainly, having said all that, there is a lot we can learn about eco tourism and community tourism that can be embedded with social development as a direct benefit from tourism to local communities. Strengthening connections and opening good lines of communications with PNGTA, with the imprimatur from ABG and involvement with and by local operators will see many benefits.

Airfares to PNG and into Bougainville is a killer for tourists. So too is the price of accommodation. There is no doubt they are both enormous deterrents to travel and stay in and around PNG and in Bougainville. Almost all decent accommodation in Bougainville is more expensive than comparable accommodation anyway else. This is not something we can shrug our shoulders and casually pass over or ignore.

We are getting there. We will get there. It requires careful planning, training, meaningful government support and private enterprise, including private operators to be involved together. On top of it all perhaps, it requires an active Bougainville Tourism Association to be in place coordinating interests up front with a combination of foresight and passion for long term success in getting this green and clean industry on the right and firm footing in Bougainville.

It will take a long time before we start talking about millions in tourist dollars. It will not happen without putting any effort in planning and providing the facilities and services that tourists expect. We cannot go out selling Bougainville as a mecca for surfer’s, trekkers, divers, game fishers, beachcombers, eco-green visits, etc without providing adequate facilities and services on the ground. Our increasing attendance at world tourism expos and international tourism meetings should open our eyes to appreciate we have a lot to do on the ground.

Mar 13 2016

Bougainville Political News : Bougainville Chief secretary Monovi Amani dumped

“In his public office, a leaders first responsibility is to the people he or she represents or on whose behalf he is working. This responsibility must override self interest. A leaders first loyalty must be his office, not himself.

The higher the office held in the state, the more serious the office holders responsibility.”

Former Chief Ombudsman Ila Geno

Monovi Amani who only served ten months before being suspended for alleged misconduct in office was officially removed from office on Tuesday this week by the Bougainville Senior Appointments Committee.

The appointments committee chaired by the President of the Autonomous Government Chief Dr. John Momis effected the termination based on findings by the board of inquiry that was established to investigate 6 separate misconduct allegations.

The inquiry was conducted by a single investigator, a former Chief Ombudsman Ila Geno, who uncovered unscrupulous deals the former Chief Secretary involved in.

The board of inquiry found that Mr. Amani took unapproved recreation leave; used public funds to purchase flights which he was not entitled to, including flights to an overseas destination and falsely claiming that some of the flights were for official purposes; received housing and vehicle allowance to which he was not entitled to; made an appointment to the Bougfainville Public Service in contravention of the legal requirements; used his position to secure and approve a substantial amount of money through the Bougainville Tenders Board without ensuring that such payment was proper and entered into a contract on behalf of the ABG for construction of his official residence with a company owned by a relative.

Former Chief Ombudsman Ila Geno after completing his investigation made a presentation to the Bougainville Senior Appointments Committee this week and referred to the quote from the Constitutional Planning Committee when discussing leadership.

The higher the office held in the state, the more serious the office holders responsibility.”

Monovi Amani had been suspended in November 2015 to allow for investigations into the allegations and Paul Kebori was appointed to act as Chief Secretary.

Kebori told NBC News this afternoon, the ABG has now gone ahead to engage a private recruitment company in Port Moresby to advertise the Chief Secretary and six departmental head positions for the ABG Administration.

Monovi Amani also tells NBC News he has accepted the decision by the single man board of inquiry.

Mar 13 2016

Bougainville Tourism promoted at ITB the world’s largest travel show

Update from Zhon Bosco Miriona from Bougainville Experience Tours in Germany ( our stand on PNG Tourism at left) Hi everyone at home and everywhere around the world..it has been great here at ITB promoting Bougainville. It was a great opportunity to attend the international show trade show.

Here are the facts

5 Continents…
> 185 Countries
> 850 Qualified Top Buyers
> 10,000 Exhibitors
> 23,000 Convention Visitors
> 50,000 Private Visitors
> 115,000 Trade Visitors
160,000 Square meters
6,7 Bn. Euro Turnover

We have attracted many travel agents to market Bougainville in Europe who will sell Bougainville

“Tourism is everyone’s business and every one’s responsibility to make Bougainville a better place for the world to come and see and enjoy.”

WEBSITE to book tours

Read all our Tourism Posts HERE like

Help needed for Bougainville tourism

Peterson Tseraha 0 Comment Sep 19, 2014

Tourism on Bougainville is another economic gold mine, a potential foreign currency earner, and income generator and the perfect tool to market Bougainville to the world.

A lot of village based people, especially those living in Bougainville rural areas, still need the light of reality to shine on them.

The major issue affecting tourism on Bougainville is the crisis propaganda still stuck in people’s heads.

A local tourist operator on Bougainville, Bruno Laita, told the PNG Loop that propaganda regarding tourists coming into Bougainville still exists and it needs to stop.

“Tourists are foreigners coming in to enjoy the beauty of our home, Bougainville, but some are being discouraged by high prices, and these so called rumours that they are spies being sent by Australia America and PNG to spy on us, propaganda at its best, this has to stop,’’ Laita said.

“We have issues of people demanding money before we go see sights on their land and some say foreigners are not allowed.

“And the kind of money they demand is K10, 000.00 and upwards as if they own five star hotels.

“We also have another issue of people accusing tourists as being spies coming in to spy on us and those tourists are coming in to spy on our gold and copper deposits. These are all rubbish,’’ he said.

“Awareness is greatly needed in order for tourism to grow into a multi-million-kina industry on Bougainville, it has the potential to draw in millions but some people are still left in the dark about tourism.”

Laita said that the ABG needs to fund the Tourism Division so that it can deal with these issues in which awareness is highly recommended.

“This is a very high potential division in the Bougainville administration; tourism gives the potential for grassroots to participate in activities like being tour guides and dancing in singing groups to entertain tourists,’’ he said.

“Tourism is everyone’s business and every one’s responsibility to make Bougainville a better place for the world to come and see and enjoy.”

Mar 5 2016

Bougainville Tourism News: Some insights into tourism development in #Bougainville #PNG

“ABG recognises the largely untapped potential of tourism and is aware Bougainville has the natural attraction to lure adventure and niche’ travellers to its shores. But a lot needs to be done . Success does not come overnight. There are no short cuts and quick fixes in success in anything.

ABG’s financial resources and capacity which has to be shared with other areas and services seeking more urgent attention has not been easy. Clearly, this creates a lot of room and space for private enterprise driven participation in an industry that can be both profitable and enjoyable with the right advice and approach and sense of ownership.

Simon Pentanu was appointed Speaker of the Bougainville House of Representatives in June 2015.

Picture above Bungalows under progress at Uruna Bay Retreat

He comes from Pokpok Island where he has a home and a private retreat through which community participation and paid employment of women and youth amongst its Island communities is being promoted. He advocates“small, rural and local is beautiful” across Bougainville.

Bougainville’s natural beauty and attractions, including its vibrant culture like the rest of the country, can be best showcased with serious and deliberate government involvement. For now this is lacking and can be explained largely as a result of lack of resources, capacity and focus and due to the fact that since it was established the tourism office and responsibility has been moved from pillar to post. The settling in, focus, funding and seriousness has been amiss.

With so much potential staring at us in the face tourism in Bougainville it is time our political leaders and bureaucrats alike take the attitude that if tourism has to contribute to ABG’s coffers, then it should be well-intended and for good gain. A number of private operators that have been self-starters to promote tourism are the ones carrying the baton up front. The amount of promotion they are doing both out of joy in promoting the beauty of the Island and as a business is a good story.

The Autonomous Region today is, in many ways, at the stage in its attempts to promote tourism where PNG was about 30 years ago. Then, PNG started its budding attempts to promote the industry. It wasn’t something easy like a casual walk along the beach, a nearby bushwalk or a small hill climb. It was gradual with early forays into areas of unique attractions like for example driving into a village in Asaro to be greeted by its famous mystical Asaro mud men. There are other numerous examples such as the early cruises up the Sepik or the Baining Fire Dance and the Malagan mask phenomena in the New Guinea Islands. Along the way tourists started fitting their itineraries and visits to the annual calendar of many provincial Cultural Shows which have now become well renown and frequentedannual events. Bougainville can not only learn enormously from these early starts, including teething issues in the rest of PNG but can start to fit its own cultural events around some of the dates of these events.

The PNGTA is a vast repository of information and experience that Bougainville tourism authorities can tap into. The world has become small in an industry that has virtually encompassed countries globally and where there are no boundaries or barriers to movement or travel, barring religious and fanatical wars. PNGTA is benefitting enormously from its membership, attendance and participation in regional and global tourism events. It has also learnt that it does not have to copy or compete for the same markets like others but has created its own brand of adventure, cultural and niche’ attractions.

SEE Papua New Guinea Tourism Promotions Authority Website

Along the way PNGTA has learnt some hard, some sad but many useful lessons. The aches and pains have come with the successes and joys in seeing and industry grow into many niche’ attractions around its many tribal and ethnic cultures, languages, landscapes and seascapes. Bougainville stands to gain a lot from the road travelled and challenges met by PNGTA. Bougainville does not have to reinvent the wheel but we can improve the oiling and lubrication in our spokes and nuts and bolts to cruise forward with so much potential begging to be tapped.

SEE : Bougainville community support and vision puts Bougainville tourism on the world’s stage

Zhon Bosco Miriona, Managing Director of Bougainville Experience Tours for second time in the past few years was able to represent Bougainville on the world stage supported by Colin Cowell an International media and tourism consultant with over 25 years’ experience marketing Indigenous tourism

In March 2016 Zhon is representing Bougainville in Germany at ITB the worlds largest travel show VIEW ITB SITE Listing

Download the PNG ITB Promo press release

2016_03 PNG, unspoiled, wild paradise_ITB-Berlin-News-Preview-Editon

Top Photo Social media : Online tour bookings site , Facebook ,@YesBougainville on Twitter and Bougainville Tourism INSTAGRAM are playing an important role in Bougainville Experience Tours International Marketing

Second Photo Above : Developing partnerships with Wako Napusu Inbound operator Country Tour PNG and Asian operators above to bring in small groups for a 7 day Bougainville Tour Experience

PNGTA has also matured in keeping in check the pros and cons of tourist invasions, so to speak. It is a very sensible approach. The country does not necessarily want to promote tourism for arrivals en mass. This is a very important consideration in developing niche’ markets and keeping cultures genuinely intact. No one can ever completely preserve cultures in a test tube or a freezer but impact of outside influence and modernity can be managed with sensible long term policies and cooperation between government policy makers and independent state supported tourism bodies or corporations. In this regard, in terms of government support to PNGTA it has been a journey on bumpy roads, through humps, pot-holes and sometimes swaying bridges along the way. But the Association has been the richer and mature for the experience.

Bougainville can learn from all of the above. We can forge meaningful contacts, contracts and understanding for assistance in going forward in a planned and deliberate fashion with PNGTA.

It is heartening to see emerging self-start operators like Zhon Miriona Bosco from Bougainville Experience Tours and others in north and south Bougainville to establish links with PNGTA in brooding tourism in Bougainville. In time, there is no doubt other individual operators will emerge as Bougainville continues to open up to one of the cleanest and visible industries that can promote the Island.

ABG recognises the largely untapped potential of tourism and is aware Bougainville has the natural attraction to lure adventure and niche’ travellers to its shores. But a lot needs to be done over the years. Success does not come overnight. There are no short cuts and quick fixes in success in anything. ABG’s financial resources and capacity which has to be shared with other areas and services seeking more urgent attention has not been easy. Clearly, this creates a lot of room and space for private enterprise driven participation in an industry that can be both profitable and enjoyable with the right advice and approach and sense of ownership.

Clear, comprehensive, comprehendible mid to long-term policies is one way ABG can put tourism on a better footing. It is from this position that the Ministry, office and authority charged with responsibility to promote tourism in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville can develop deliberate and better long term view from the standing, stationary start is at now.

In the present Momis-Nisira Government the Minister for Economic Affairs Hon Fidelis Semoso MP has the will, the clout, the credentials and the leverage required to establish a meaningful and working contact with PNGTA. This would move the office from its dormant existence to at least some level headed planning view to where or how far Bougainville wants to take its tourism.

There are some aspects of office work that does not necessarily need huge funds but rather just thinking things through and mapping out. One such area concerns the risks and inhibitions to any opportunity to attracting and expanding tourism as an industry. First and foremost is the issue of law and order. This is a major concern in selling tourism in PNG but to its credit the PNGTA has spared no effort in putting better and localised perspective to this menace. Bougainville can certainly learn a thing or two from the arduous efforts PNGTA has made in this area. Landowner issues is another one when trekking and bird watching or just bushwalking is involved. Issues of benefits to a local community are matters that should attract attention to authorities. Advice and mentoring to willing starters in local areas is another area our officials in tourism office can help without much expenditure in resources or efforts.

The cost of travel to and within PNG is expensive. In more Bougainville it is even more expensive right across the board including airfares, local transport, accommodation, even food in lodges and motels. This should change over time and there is some evidence of this as the level of accommodation and variety of food in Buka and Arawa in more decent accommodation is improving.

Bougainville Office of Tourism Website

Developing an annual calendar around cultural events that are staged by communities for their own importance and purpose at their own time is something the office responsible for tourism in Buka can certainly work on. It is more reliable to plan this way because for communities these cultural events aren’t scheduled around tourist visits but have been a part of their life and cultural significance for years. On the part of tourist office staff this involves going out to the people to promote awareness over time. Instead of waiting for large funds the tourism office should go out to the people for which the cost shouldn’t be huge at all.

Some training and education for intending and existing tour operators and tour guides is a must so there is proper awareness on the do’s and don’ts of tourism. Again there is no need to reinvent the wheel. A working relationship can be established with PNGTA to help the tourism office in Bougainville. To this end there are also opportunities annually for the office of tourism and for private operators to attend tourist expositions hosted by PNGTA and by other Associations in the region.

It often begs the question, what does the office of tourism actually do in Bougainville? This is not a rhetorical question but a question that is being asked more and more. And rightly so. When you have good, attractive, usable and functional product to develop and promote and sell very well why is it hard to promote and sell. Everyone boasts about how Bougainville is beautiful, how we might become a Mecca for tourists looking for authentic pristine beauty or how relatively peaceful it is for tourist to find once they get here. BUT who is doing the hard yakka that’s got to be done?

The Minister responsible for tourism can be best served by the tourism office by providing good briefs on where we are at, where we want to be in the next four years based on the remaining years of the current Government. And, in addition, how best the Government and private operators can best consult each other. The experience of PNGTA in this regard would be quite valuable. The current Minister’s audacious, no nonsense and result oriented approach would bode well with the benefit of good, regular advice from those that are charged with developing the industry. As already mentioned, establishing meaningful links with PNGTA is bound to pay good, tangible dividends.

Bougainville has always learnt the hard way from its shortcomings. The courage and conviction of the people to succeed at all is always there and has always moved everybody on and forward. Tourism has the potential as a reliable and clean income earner and cash generator . We can do this through joint effort between government and private enterprise and through humbling ourselves to ask others that have travelled this road to help and guide us, specifically PNGTA. PNGTA is already a very recognisable product, a global brand name in the tourism industry.

Bougainville can prove its worth best through doing the hard work led by those tasked and paid in the office of tourism. Any other joint effort will come if the officers and authorities start pegging and advancing their work inside and outside the office. It is not enough to just trumpet out the all too familiar metaphor we are so used to chanting and hearing that “we can do it”.

Simon Pentanu pictured above learning international tourism marketing from Colin Cowell ” selling ” to 30 international buyers at a travel Expo in Port Moresby 2014. From left Zhon , Colin ,Simon and James Tanis.

“Bougainville is a land of simple, untouched pleasures; from our turquoise seas to lush rain forests.Experience our unique Bougainville Island, nature, culture, history and friendly people “

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