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Global perspective Human stories

FROM THE FIELD: Saving the tree kangaroos of Papua New Guinea

In Papua New Guinea, local communities and conservation groups are fighting to save the tree kangaroo. (file August 2010)
Bruce Beehler
In Papua New Guinea, local communities and conservation groups are fighting to save the tree kangaroo. (file August 2010)

FROM THE FIELD: Saving the tree kangaroos of Papua New Guinea

SDGs

The survival of an endangered animal which looks part kangaroo and part lemur has been secured thanks to a project in Papua New Guinea (PNG) supported by the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

Papua New Guinea's rare cloud forests are a high elevation rainforest characterised by low-level cloud cover. (14 June 2011)
Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo | Papua New Guinea's rare cloud forests are a high elevation rainforest characterised by low-level cloud cover (14 June 2011). 

The tree kangaroo which is only found in the rainforests of Australia, West Papua, and PNG is threatened due to hunting and habitat destruction.

But now the local and indigenous people of PNG, who typically hunted the marsupial, are acting as custodians of the ancient rainforests by promoting the sustainable use of the land and the management of what is now a conservation area.

Ahead of International day for Biological Diversity marked on 22 May, read more here about how the tree kangaroo is being protected by the people.

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