UN Special Envoy’s visit to Papua New Guinea
Newly appointed United Nations Special Envoy on El Niño & Climate Ambassador Macharia Kamau visited Papua New Guinea to meet with El Niño-affected communities and understand their challenges and priorities.
The Special Envoy’s mission aimed to collect first-hand experiences from El Nino affected communities and use these findings to raise awareness and mobilize resources for relief and recovery interventions.
Papua New Guinea was the first country Mr. Kamau visited in his mission.
Much of the rural Papua New Guinea has been severely impacted by El Nino. The high altitude areas in the Highlands have been particularly badly affected by the frost and drought. Inconsistent rains and frosts have left more than 2.2 million people in the region with poor, depleted crops. Over 162,000 people were assessed to be facing severe food shortages.
During his mission, Special Envoy spent time meeting with governments, UN agencies, churches and faith-based organizations, development and humanitarian partners, working to assess the situation and identify immediate and long-term steps that can be taken to improve the resilience and human security of affected communities.
He also visited the Trobriand Islands in Milne Bay accompanied by the Minister for Forestry, Hon. Douglas Tomuriesa, where they met with local Government officials, villagers, community leaders who shared their stories and difficulties experienced during the recent drought.
“The biggest takeaway from my visit to the drought-stricken areas is a rather self-evident one. Water is the biggest and most desperate challenge for communities. This represents a direct threat to life, not just to people but also to livestock and other critical community assets. As these slow-onset emergencies unfold, communities sell their assets, lose their livestock and crops, the health of their people and children deteriorates, children drop out of school, women and girls become more vulnerable and desperation sets in. This is very much unlike the drama that comes with an earthquake, tsunami or typhoon but it is just as debilitating and destructive” , — said Ambassador Kamau after meeting with the community members.
Mr. Kamau continued his travels and visited Timor-Leste next.
After concluding his mission, he will present the findings at various high-level meetings, including at the UN General Assembly later this year.
The high-level visit was supported by the UN country team in Papua New Guinea, including UNDP, WFP and UN Resident Coordinator’s Office.
WFP is providing short-term food assistance for people suffering from acute food shortages in the outer islands of Milne Bay Province.
Support for the food intervention work was provided by donors, including U.S. Agency for International Development, European Union Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO), Government of Japan and Central Emergency Response Fund of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Photo credit: WFP/Mats Persson
