NCD Governor Powes Parkop is urging Papua New Guineans to do more to protect the country’s rich biodiversity as PNG enters its 51st year of independence.

Parkop made the call while officially opening the 2026 National Orchid and Flower Show, saying the event provides an opportunity to appreciate not only the country’s orchids and flowers but its wider natural heritage. He said Papua New Guinea’s rainforests, lowlands, swamps, islands and atolls have sustained generations of people for thousands of years.

According to Parkop, these natural environments are part of a proven system that has supported communities for generations and must now be protected for the future and that the responsibility is not only to respect PNG’s heritage but to ensure its natural resources are maintained and passed on to the next generation.

“We need to value and protect and maintain” the natural environment, Parkop said.

Parkop described PNG’s biodiversity as a national treasure inherited from the country’s ancestors.

Stating more that the current generation has a responsibility to protect that inheritance while recognising its importance to the rest of the world.

The Governor aso added tha the National Orchid and Flower Show helps remind Papua New Guineans of the natural beauty that makes the country unique.

He said the country’s 51st Independence anniversary should also be a time for reflection and a challenge to do better in the years ahead.

Parkop said PNG has an opportunity to build on its achievements over the past 50 years and address the challenges that have held the country back. He further encouraged Papua New Guineans to appreciate the country’s culture, arts, flora and fauna as part of its national identity.

He also linked the need for greater environmental protection to the country’s future, saying natural resources must be preserved so that future generations can continue to benefit from them.

Parkop said the celebration of independence should therefore go beyond culture and entertainment and include greater appreciation of the natural environment that has sustained Papua New Guineans for generations.

He urged the public to support conservation and appreciate the orchids, flowers, artwork and other cultural displays featured at the National Orchid and Flower Show.