Papua New Guinea's Rabaul MP, Dr. Allan Marat is urging the public to recognize the Government and the churches as equal service providers for development services to the communities.

Dr Marat

Dr. Marat said the Government is focused on social services while the churches are focused on spiritual guidance and principles.

He noted it remains an historical fact that churches landed first on the shores of New Britain and other parts of PNG followed by the Colonial Administration which established the Government Systems.

Dr. Marat said churches laid the foundation of converting the people to civilization and the colonial administration introduced physical developments to the people.

By Vanessa Saun/FM100

A group of researchers specialized in the field of amphibians and volunteers from the International Union for Conservation and Nature (IUCN) Red List and Amphibian Ark are undergoing a weeklong workshop to assess the extinction risk of all amphibians (frog and toad) species in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

A volunteer with an Amphibian Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation and Nature, Ms Jennifer Leudtke says, the workshop aims to update all of the amphibian assessments with the IUCN Red List to help with the understanding of the conservation status of all the amphibians in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

Kevin Johnson of the Amphibian Ark says, in conjunction with the Red List Assessments, the two organizations have also been running the conservation needs assessments to help prioritize the conservation of species that needs urgent conservation action.

Ms. Leudtke says, despite working on a global level, most of the amphibians in PNG only occur in Papua New Guinea which means they are only found in Papua New Guinea so these organizations and scientists will assess the entire rate distribution of amphibians but to save these species from extinction, that’s when conservation needs assessments come in.

Kevin Johnsons adds, with each species, the Amphibian Ark will be looking at the threats to each species which may be climate change, habitat destructions and or logging but that will vary from country to country.

The IUCN Red List in a nutshell involves gathering of all the information available on the different species which helps with the generation of a measure of the extinction rate or the endangered or the critically endangered species.

Solomon Islands will host the 2023 Edition of the Games in Honiara.

President of the Pacific Games Council, Vidhya Lakhan, announced this during his speech in the closing ceremony of the 6th Pacific Games last night in Apia Samoa.


Papua New Guinea wrapped up the games in second spot with 38 Gold, 57 Silver and 35 Bronze medals, a total of 130 medals.

New Caledonia topped the medal tally with 76 gold, 55 silver and 51 bronze, a total of 182 medals, to win the Games.

Host, Samoa finished in third spot with 38 gold, 42 silver and 48 bronze, collecting 125 medals.

A total of 981 medals were won throughout the two weeks of competition.

Over 5,000 athletes and officials participated at the games with over 3,000 volunteers ensuring they were facilitated well.

NBC News