SEA LEVEL RISE - MANUS ISLAND - PNG

Island residents didn't see it coming, but quick thinking saved most houses from the waves -- for now. December is normally the stormy season on three small islands in Manus Province, Papua New Guinea. But nothing in history had prepared the islanders for the unprecedented fury of the 2008 storm they called King Tide. Having engaged in community wide rescue operations with no government help, residents are bracing for more extreme weather this year -- at the very time that delegates will be meeting in Copenhagen to decide policy on climate change. If the islanders could go, they would ask: who is responsible for the rising seas and angry storms? Who's responsible for our relocation costs? The video is produced by MATUSA (Manus Tumbuna Save association), to raise awareness on how Manus Islanders in Papua New Guinea are being affected by sea level rising and climate change. The Filming is done by Ngenge Sasa, Lou Island, PNG. The film is presented in public for the first time at the National Museum of American Indian, during the symposium co-organized by Conversations with the Earth in October 2011. The project was facilitated by InsightShare as part of the conversation with the earth project. Conversations with the Earth is a collective opportunity to build a global movement for an indigenous-controlled community media network. CWE works with a growing network of indigenous groups and communities living in critical ecosystems around the world, from the Atlantic Rainforest to Central Asia, from the Philippines to the Andes, from the Arctic to Ethiopia. Through CWE, these indigenous communities are able to share their story of climate change. Through the creation of sustainable autonomous indigenous media hubs in these regions, CWE fosters a long-term relationship with these communities, based on principles of local control and supporting indigenous media capacity. For more information: www.insightshare.org www.conversationsearth.org