Milne Bay Provincial Disaster and Emergency Services
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World Food Programme and Milne Bay Provincial Disaster and Emergency Services El Nino food security impact in Milne Bay Papua New Guinea May 2016 Produced by WFP in support of National Disaster Center and the Government of Papua New Guinea Interagency Assessment Conducted by WFP/IOM/UC PNG/ MBPDES World Food Programme / Milne Bay Provincial Disaster and Emergency Services The impact of the 2015/16 El Nino on food security in Milne Bay Province KEY MESSAGES From April 22nd - 26th 2016, the World Food Programme (WFP) in close consultation with the Milne Bay Provincial Disaster and Emergency Services Coordinator (MBPDESC), Ward Councilors, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the United Church of ⛳♍ PNG (Church Partnership Programme) conducted an interagency field assessment to examine the impact of the 2015/16 El Niño on food security and livelihoods in Milne Bay Province. WFP and partners carried out the survey in 8 LLGs and 46 wards, which MBPDES and NDC in 2015 classified as experiencing very severe or extreme drought conditions (NDC categories 4 and 5). A total of 161 questionnaires were completed with feedback from these affected communities, using tools developed by WFP to collect food security indicators at the community level. The findings are comparable and complementary to the nationwide mobile phone survey that WFP and NDC carried out earlier this year during January and February. In addition, based on field reports, MBPDES assessed an additional 6 LLGs (68 wards) and compared the general findings with results of the quantitive survey conducted in the selected 8 LLGs to derive at an overall estimate of needs for the Milne Bay Province. Drought has severely impacted food security in the majority of the Local Level Governments (LLGs) assessed, affecting an estimated total of 77,770 people - out of Milne Bay Province’s total population of 282,000 (MBP, 2015 census). The 77,770 estimate is a compound of two numbers: 51,612 people who are facing extreme food shortages as determined by the quantitive survey undertaken in 8 LLGs by WFP and partners and a further 26,158 people who were identified by MPBDES based on field reports in 6 LLGs. Communities in these areas are facing severe or extreme food shortages. Supply of food in local markets is limited, and prices of most locally produced staples have increased significantly. Prices of imported rice have increased but not significantly. Almost two-thirds of the households with children interviewed reported sick child in their household. Of these, commonly reported illnesses include diarrhea, respiratory illness, malaria and skin infections. Water stress emerged in virtually all areas assessed as a primary issue of concern, specifically a marked lack of drinking water; water sources (wells) have dried up and there has been insufficient water in most communities for washing and maintaining gardens. The MBPDES should be commended for the significant efforts to use available resources at the provincial level to deliver food to the most acutely affected communities in late 2015 and early 2016. However, due to resource limitations this assistance was not adequate to mitigate the impacts of the drought on food security in most areas. Produced by : 2 World Food Programme / Milne Bay Provincial Disaster and Emergency Services INTRODUCTION Since April 2015, Papua New Guinea (PNG) has been population is spread broadly across over 160 severely impacted by the effects of a severe global, atolls/smaller islands, many of which are highly ongoing, El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event. isolated and lack mobile phone network The last time the country was hit by a disaster of coverage and electricity. The province covers similar scale was during the 1997/98 El Nino, which 14,345 km2 of land and 252,990 km2 of sea, at its peak affected an estimated 1.24 million people with a total of 600 islands located therein. - of which 260,000 were classified as critically food insecure (national assessment). In Milne Bay province in particular, 79,882 people were estimated to be As such, and based on continuous reports of affected by El Niño in December 1997, some 50% of food insecurity in Milne Bay Province , the the population.1 MPBDESC in April 2016 requested that WFP and Given the ongoing drought conditions, the NDC partners conduct a follow-up survey to better conducted a nationwide assessment in January- assess the state of food insecurity in the February 2016, with support from the World Food province. Programme (WFP). The assessment was done through a mobile phone survey conducted with the The initial assessment conducted by the NDC in mobile operator Digicel PNG, using WFP’s mobile September 2015 identified Milne Bay as an area Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping (mVAM) survey of critical concern. Subsequent reports received techniques. Based on this assessment, almost 1.5 by the Milne Bay Provincial Disaster million people were identified as severely impacted Coordinator’s office as early as April 2016 by acute food insecurity, of which 162,000 were highlighted critical food and water shortages in considered to be extremely food insecure and small and remote island communities. Of these subsequently targeted for emergency food communities, those living in coral atolls were assistance. particularly affected and requested assistance. The subsequent reports have been ongoing. Despite providing nationwide data on the impact of El-Nino on food security, one of the limitations of the This report presents the findings of the field mVAM survey was that it did not succeed in assessment, conducted as a follow-up to the classifying food insecurity in locations where mobile mVAM assessment to further explore food coverage and mobile access is low. This affected the insecurity in Milne Bay Province. The report will results in areas like Milne Bay Province, where the provide a presentation of the following: 1. Methodology 2. Food security impact 3. Health and hygiene impact 4. Markets prices and livelihoods 5. Assistance provided ________________________________________ 1Allen Jonathan, The El Niño Drought: an Overview of the Milne Bay Experience, Provincial Disaster Office, Milne Bay Administration, Photo 1 – Failed Kaukau (sweet potato) crop, Liluta ward, Kiriwana LLG (Photo: Venkat Alotau, Milne Bay Province, PNG. Dheeravath/ WFP) Produced by : 3 World Food Programme / Milne Bay Provincial Disaster and Emergency Services METHODOLOGY 161 Household interviews The data in this assessment was collected through 8 LLGs covered a series of field visits. A total of 46 wards were visited in 8 LLGs. Milne Bay Provincial Disaster 16 Islands visited Coordination and Administration identified an 46 Wards visited additional 68 wards in 6 LLGs through field reports. These wards however were not visited by the assessment teams. Households and community questionnaires were administered in 46 wards from April 22nd – 26th, 2016. Three teams were deployed to cover the Trobriand Islands, the North Coast of mainland Milne Bay (Rabaraba) and the Calvados Group of Islands in the Samarai-Murua Electorate. Milne Bay provincial officers including agriculture, fisheries, and rural development, ward counsellors participated and supported the mission. The assessment was conducted through community group discussion and visiting of Map 2 - Geographic distribution of field visits planting areas. WFP Food Security tools were used to collect the food security indicators at the The survey was divided into three sections, with community and household level, and the questions relating to: assessment also focused on what relief supplies 1 - Overall community food security situation had been provided to date. A total of 46 severely 2 - Household-level food security experience drought affected wards (16 out of 31 islands) 3 - Aid assistance received until now were visited during this assessment. Questions on the overall community food security situation were used to identify the level of food security impact in each ward, based on the same methodology used previously in the January – February 2016 mVAM analysis. Subsequently, questions on household-level food security indicators were used to capture how respondents were experiencing and coping with food insecurity at the household level. A comparative analysis of household-level and overall community-level experiences of food insecurity was conducting using responses from community and household questionnaires. This Map 1 – MPDEC-NDC Map identifying drought- enabled the assessment team to verify the affected communities in Milne Bay Province consistency of reported experiences at both levels, facilitating the identification of locations where food insecurity was identified as an urgent and severe issue. Produced by : 4 World Food Programme / Milne Bay Provincial Disaster and Emergency Services FOOD SECURITY IMPACT A total of 77,770 people are currently exposed to acute food insecurity in the LLGs that have Food security phase classification been identified in this assessment. The table below lists the LLGs in Milne Bay Using the same food security impact Province that are most-affected by extreme classification as applied in the nationwide food shortages and require immediate, life- mVAM assessment (low, moderate, high or saving assistance. severe food security impact), nearly all of the 46 wards assessed indicated an extremely high LLGs Affected Population level of food insecurity. Details on the Bwanabwana Rural 6,501 classification method are provided in Annex 2. Daga Rural 1,890 Dobu Rural 1,943 3 High food security impact Goodenough 6,812 Huhu Rural 1,891 4 Severe food security impact Kiriwana 14,297 Louisiade 6,680 79% Wards identified as Makamaka 8,466 Maramatana 6,364 Highly or Severely Food Murua Rural 5,749 Insecure Suau Rural 1,366 In keeping with the observations and records of Weraura 7,429 the MBPDES, a large proportion of the wards West Ferguson Rural 3,130 classified as highly or severely food insecure are Yeleyamba 5,252 located in small islands throughout the provinces, particularly those classified as coral Table 1 - LLGs and their populations requiring atolls.