Indigenous Peoples and Conservation Organizations

The Foi in Papua New Guinea 109
involved in the recovery of traditional
knowledge and how it is connected to
nature. The young are in danger of losing
their link to their past, yet they may be in
the best position to adapt their heritage to
invent a habitable future. In this equation,
the vitality of the culture and the vitality of
the resource base may well rise or fall
together.
Endnotes
1. I want to acknowledge the valuable comments
and contribution made by Tanya Leary, the architect
of the Fish Monitoring Program, and the Foi
leaders of Tugiri, Wasame, K-Point, Yo’obo, and
Gesege villages of Lake Kutubu.
2. Scientists originally identified only 10
endemic species. The monitoring project discovered
that the Foi had names for two additional
species that scientists had been lumping together
with fish that looked similar. Double-checking
proved the Foi to be correct.
3. K= kina, Papua New Guinea’s currency. In
1995, one kina = U.S. 90 cents.