Oxfam predicts PNG will be worst-hit country in Pacific from the weather pattern, with up to 3 million people affected nationwide

Families across Papua New Guinea’s Highlands are facing depleted harvests and the threat of hunger after the El Niño weather pattern brought frost and prolonged dry conditions that have destroyed food gardens providing sustenance and income for thousands of households.

The effects of El Niño emerged in recent weeks, bringing drought conditions, falling water levels and frost that are threatening food security in some of the country’s most agriculturally productive regions.

Initial testing found evidence of metals in water samples, months after province’s residents began reporting unusual numbers of dead fish washing ashore

Papua New Guinea’s government has warned communities not to fish from parts of the New Ireland coastline as preliminary tests show evidence of metals in some water samples, after months of residents reporting dead marine life in the area.

On 7 May the fisheries minister, Jelta Wong, said initial testing conducted by an independent company detected various metals in water samples taken from affected areas around Kafkaf village and Larairu lagoon in New Ireland, an island in eastern PNG.

In mid-December PNG said the company did not have a licence to operate in the country and ordered it to halt operations

Frustration is growing in Papua New Guinea weeks after the government ordered Starlink to shut down operations in the country as businesses, health providers and communities struggle without access to internet services.

Starlink, owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, is a satellite internet company that provides internet to remote places. In mid-December, the National Information and Communications Technology Authority (Nicta) ordered the company to halt operations because it was not licensed in PNG.

James Marape skipped the meeting last year in protest but will attend Cop30 due to ‘encouraging signs’ on climate finance

Papua New Guinea’s prime minister, James Marape, has criticised Cop climate summits as “long on talk and short on action” but will attend the upcoming meeting of world leaders in Brazil, after pulling out last year in frustration with big emitters.

The leader of the Pacific nation of about 10 million people skipped the meeting in 2024 in “protest at the big nations” for failing to support to the victims of climate change. Marape will take part in the annual UN climate summit, which officially beings in Belém, Brazil on 10 November, due to “encouraging signs” emerging from developed nations on climate finance.