7 Jul 2015

Bougainville's Carteret Islanders struggle for food

5:06 pm on 7 July 2015

There are hopes a Carterets Atolls community being relocated to the Bougainville mainland will be able to supply food to those islanders who have not moved.

The atolls to the north of Papua New Guinea's Bougainville have long been affected by storm surges, king tides and the resulting coastal erosion.

An NGO, Tulele Peisa, in conjunction with the Catholic Church on Bougainville, is moving a number of the families to Tinputz on the Bougainville mainland.

But organiser Ursula Rakova says the islanders who stay back cannot grow food because of the environmental destruction that has occurred.

"Right now people are living on fish and just two weeks ago, my community, the community in Tinputz actually sent 15 bags of food to the island. This was in response to a request by the Emergency and Disaster in Bougainville."

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