Last year MENCERTC conservation center, was one of the winners of the UNDP’s 2022 Equator Prize, preserving Papua New Guinea’s beauty as a whole has become Kerry’s mission.
If there’s anything that Moses Kerry would like tourists to know about visiting Mauberema, in Papua New Guinea, it’s that the location has indigenous cultures and traditions unique to anywhere else in the globe. “We would love to display Mauberema’s uniqueness to the rest of the world,” Kerry explains. That said, further international exposure, while sometimes lucrative, can come at a steep price: environmental damage, infrastructure disruption, economic codependency, and endangerment of the area’s indigenous people.
For this reason, Kerry has taken the initiative to strike a balance between inviting visitors to experience Mauberema’s scenery and culture while also prioritizing the protection of the humans and wildlife who call it their home. From rare species of plants and animals to insects and geography, preserving the beauty that Mauberema—and Papua New Guinea as a whole—offers has become a mission for Kerry, especially as more tourists flock to witness its exquisiteness for themselves each year.
In short, Kerry is developing the area’s participation in ecotourism—a mode of travel that focuses on ethically responsible stays, supporting an area’s conservation efforts, and improving the wellbeing of native people, among other things. In doing so he became the founder and director of the Mauberema Ecotourism, Nature Conservation, Education, Research & Training Centre (MENCERTC) in Papua New Guinea, an organization that raises awareness about the Mauberema community and works to preserve the area’s natural beauty and culture.
“Our commitment, hard work, patience, and perseverance has been truly recognized and rewarded,”
Kerry’s efforts haven’t gone unnoticed: MENCERTC was one of 10 recipients awarded the Equator Prize 2022 by the United Nations Development Programme. The Equator Prize aims to highlight indigenous peoples and local communities who organize nature-focused economic and development transformations for their communities. There are hundreds of nominees per year, and winners receive a 10,000 US dollar prize to use toward their organization and the opportunity to participate in events associated with the United Nations General Assembly.
“It’s our greatest achievement,” says Kerry, when asked about receiving the award. “Our commitment, hard work, patience, and perseverance has been truly recognized and rewarded,” he says, explaining that MENCERTC’s success is “a communal effort and we appreciate everyone [involved in its network] for their undivided support and contribution towards our progress, success and achievement.”
For MENCERTC to be recognized on the global scale is certainly not a small feat, and Kerry’s work won’t stop there. Kerry hopes to use the prize money to build an eco-research facility in the middle of Mauberema’s forest for staff, students, researchers, tourists, guests and friends who visit Mauberema to have at their disposal.
Among other things, this year’s prize highlighted groups who uplift indigenous women and promote gender equality in their communities as well. Why? Indigenous women have always been at the forefront of conservation efforts, and ensuring that their inarguable presence was recognized through the prize as well was of the utmost importance.
“Ecotourism is everyone’s business,” As Kerry explains— MENCERTC specifically helps women from Arboreta carry out various conservation activities and ecotourism businesses while also earning an income for their family. “Women can be engaged in farming and livestock, catering services, sets and crafts business, cultural performance, setting up the eco-resort or ecolodge business, and more,” he says. “There are so many opportunities available,” he explains, as long as MENCERTC has the support and financial resources to ensure the program can continue.
One of the primary ways in which women specifically are helping with conservation efforts in Mauberema is by collecting and storing feathers, fur, and materials from the region’s endangered species—including the New Guinea harpy eagle, dwarf cassowary and the pademelon marsupial —that are used to create traditional indigenous costumes and clothing. Collecting those items is important, as it reduces the unnecessary strain that costume-making might have on the animal species facing threats to their future. “We cannot go back to hunting all these animals,” Kerry says, instead, the focus is on collecting in nature what is needed to recreate the costumes in the future.
“We also protect other biodiversity, particularly our forest, because our goal and mission is to reduce the global phenomenon of climate change, which is currently happening at a faster rate than normal.”
And obviously, the preservation efforts don’t stop there. “Our main goal is to protect, preserve and increase the number of the endangered wildlife and plant species,” Kerry says, many of which are almost breaching extinction—especially when it comes to the Mauberema Forest.
“We also protect other biodiversity, particularly our forest, because our goal and mission is to reduce the global phenomenon of climate change, which is currently happening at a faster rate than normal,” Kerry says, echoing the sentiments that many hold about the escalating climate crisis. Above all, Kerry hopes that the group’s effort will help future generations so that they are still able to experience the beauty of Mauberema’s environment years from now without also dealing with the impact of major climate tragedies and losses.
Another way in which Kerry focuses on forwarding his mission is through the education of these future generations so that they can take the state of the world into their own hands, too. “We have been engaging university students over the years in various research as part of their field trips, internship programs, or undergraduate research projects with Mauberema,” he explains. The group’s work with students spans studying environmental impact assessments, cultural documentation, business plans, and more. In short, all of their work with students is tied to improving the lives of those who live in Mauberema and, in turn, those who visit as tourists as well.
“To continuously promote conservation in our community, ecotourism is a booster, therefore younger generations must also be informed about how it can bring sustainable benefits into their lives.”
Teaching and training play a vital role in ecotourism, as well as ensuring that it can be practiced in a “sustainable and environment-friendly manner” that also helps the community experience economic gain, says Kerry. “To continuously promote conservation in our community, ecotourism is a booster, therefore younger generations must also be informed about how it can bring sustainable benefits into their lives.”
All in all, Kerry’s sights are set on his hopes for the coming years and the new heights to which he can take MENCERTC with this award and attention. His “hope and goal for the future” is to build a rural-based economy for those who live in the Mauberema community, one that’s focused on “self-reliance, self-sustainability, conservation.”
He wants a “government system based on love and equality, where everyone enjoys equal benefits and oneness in nature”. It’s safe to say most people can only hope for the same.
