For several years now JCJ has helped fund initiatives for the Tulele Peisa, the organisation helping relocate Carteret Islanders from their climate change threatened atolls to the larger island of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea.
Our support in 2016, 2018 & 2019 was centred around funding the establishment of cocoa farms which allowed the islanders to make a living on their new land. They have purchased cocoa seedlings, powered their administration building & tractors, ran workshops around cocoa farming, financial literacy & climate change adaptation with JCJ funds. They also constructed raised garden beds on the atolls to prevent saltwater intrusion from ruining crops for the people still living there.
Top & Middle Left: Workshops at community centre, Right: Planting cocoa saplings, Bottom Left: Drying first crop of cocoa beans.
This last project was all but wiped out by immense king tides in February 2021, a devastating and visible consequence of climate change.
In June 2021, we funded a chartered boat to provide plants, seedlings, and food to the 2,700 people who still inhabit the island. Moved by the Islanders’ predicament, the JCJ committee used some of their personal money to fund the charter, with the remainder of the contribution coming out of JCJ’s project fund. Watch them preparing supplies here >>