WCS PNG leads the first community ranger training in Kwiop and builds up the community-based organisation operational capacity to protect the Mount Goplom Conservation Area

On 31 August 2021, the remote Highlands village of Kwiop, eight clans of the Manga Indigenous Peoples achieved a historic milestone with the signing of the Mt. Goplom Conservation Deed. Through community-based organization, the Kuakam Landowners Foundation (KLF)—named after the Narak word for “cloud and rain”—the clans legally formalized their rights to manage and protect 4,200 hectares of pristine cloud forest along the Bismarck Range. The deed, witnessed by U.S. Ambassador Erin McKee, Governor William Tongamp, and MP Wake Goi, not only secures community ownership but also establishes clear rules for land use, resource access, and enforcement, ensuring the forest is safeguarded for future generations.

With support from the EU’s Sustainable Wildlife Management Programme and USAID’s Lukautim Graun Programme, KLF partnered with the Wildlife Conservation Society to train local hunters as conservation rangers. Drawing on their deep knowledge of the land, five men were selected after intensive training to become the community’s first ranger team, known as the WASMAN—“watchmen” in Tok Pisin. Equipped with GPS, smartphones, and new monitoring skills, they patrol the forest, record data, and report back to the community. Their graduation was celebrated with pride in Kwiop, where leaders reminded everyone that this effort is about more than conservation—it is about protecting heritage, sustaining livelihoods, and leaving a legacy of stewardship for generations to come.