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Porebada Community Losing Its Heritage and Land
On the outskirts of Port Moresby, thirty minutes toward the West of the Motuan Coast is Porebada village. Porebada is a big village consisting of two ward members serving a population of ten thousand plus men, women, boys and girls.
Over the years, the community has experience extreme coastal weather conditions, mostly strong winds, sea swells, hot and dry conditions and the biggest which is sea level rise. The community also has no natural water source apart from rainwater and relies solely on a water cart service where they pay to fetch jerry cans of water for their household needs.
During the capacity building training conducted in the community’s primary school classroom, members of the Climate Change Committee shared their concerns on their greatest threat to their lives, and that is, the sea is slowly eating away their land. About half of their beach has been taken back by the sea.
The old village cemetery has also been taken by the sea. During high tides in the morning, the cemetery is completely underwater. Houses along the coast do their best to adapt to the changing climate and its effects. Few people have relocated, however, most have nowhere to go and still live along the beach front.
The members of the Climate Change Committee have expressed their interest in climate mitigations such as planting of mangroves to help protect what is left of their land.
