All language subtitles for Into.The.Jungle.2018

A year after
Jim and I were married,

we went to Papua New Guinea
to attempt what many people

thought would be an impossible task.

We had come here to try and
persuade over 10,000 people

to not hunt an endangered
animal that had been part

of their staple diet for centuries.

While some people thought we were crazy,

others feared an even darker outcome.

- I don't believe a child
is born who doesn't,

within the first few years of his life,

become fascinated by natural world.

He or she is not concerned
with, as it were, value.

He is concerned with wonder.

Take a four year old and turn over a stone

and he sees an earwig or
a slug and he's amazed

because that thing shares
something that you have,

which is life.

But if you actually lose that fascination,

if you actually lose that
wonder of the natural world,

you've lost a great treasure.

- Discovering the natural
world came to me very early.

I was very interested in
animals from day dot, really.

When we started going on family
holidays to Mount Hotham,

Wilson's Promitory, I started
to make the connection

between the animals I kept at home

and the animals in the wild.

And that's when I started really thinking

about conservation, I think.

About animals belonging and
being part of the web of life.

Jim and I met at Melbourne Zoo.

We were both keepers at the time

and studying science at university.

- We were working together on
the native mammal department,

so with wombats, kangaroos, koalas.

I just thought, oh no, she's really nice

and I actually noticed Jane being nice

when we were working together.

And I remember having a
very deep and meaningful

conversation with Jim.

We'd really want it to
do more and I thought,

hey, you know, we're connecting here

because we have the same
values and really liked

the idea of doing
something for the planet.

- I've been involved in
conservation for a number of years,

working with recovery programs.

And I always got frustrated.

I didn't feel I was making
enough of a difference.

Yeah, I just wanted to sink
my teeth into something.

Let's see if we can make a difference

in the saving of endangered species.

- This is fairly dense forest.

- Yeah.
- Happy, Roger.

- Yeah, oh, it is, yeah.

There's not a lot of--

- Tim Flannery and Roger
Martin are two legends of mine.

They wrote a book that changed my life.

I think.

So, you see any
scratches in here, Jim?

They've been studying
a special type of kangaroo,

relatively unknown, unstudied.

- And they're very good at
using even the smallest bit

of canopy to hide behind.
- Yes.

- Well, my experience is that there's

very few of them, Roger.

These kangaroos
live in small groups

or are solitary.

Unlike their land-based cousins,

they possess a unique quality

that is different from
all other kangaroos.

These kangaroos live in trees.

They're such
weirdly anomalous creatures.

You know, we're all used
to kangaroos on the ground,

but the idea that a clumsy,
hopping animal like that

might inhabit the tree
tops of a rainforest

seems so unlikely.

In the early days,
Tim and Roger's passion

for tree kangaroos
inspired me as a young man.

Their enthusiasm's
contagious and sitting here

with them now, around the campfire,

still really fires me up.

Back in the '90s, Tim
headed off on a quest

to find new animal species.

He headed overseas,
just North of Australia,

to the tropical rainforests
of Papua New Guinea.

For animal scientists,

Papua New Guinea was still a new frontier.

Tim worked there for a number of years,

finding and describing
new species of mammals,

unknown to science never seen before.

Just found in a small area,

but his biggest bond was
a new spaces of kangaroo,

the black tree kangaroo,
a very special species

and the locals called it Tenkile.

This almost
certainly would have died

if it had stayed down.

- It's good though, that
he's eating so well.

Oh wow, that's just wonderful.

There's lots of different
kinds of tree kangaroos,

15 different species, but
the Tenkile is really unique.

It's this big, boofy,
muscular tree kangaroo.

It's almost taken the
same evolutionary path

as the gorilla and eats
lots of fruits and leaves

and gets it to be a big animal.

So when Tim and Roger's book was released,

I got it straight away and
I read it cover to cover,

about four or five times, within a week.

Such beautiful creatures,
but for some of them,

only a little time left.

The Tenkile Conservation Alliance,

commonly known now as TCA,
was established in 1999

to bring an end to the
hunting of the Tenkile.

Two Australian guys, Peter
Clark and Gary Slater,

established a contract
for the villages to sign

so that they wouldn't
hunt the tree kangaroos.

So, I kept pushing and
pushing to get over to TCA

and help save these animals.

Send me to PNG, I'm your man, send me,

I want to go, I want to do it.

When Jim came home to say,

do you want to go to Papua New Guinea,

it wasn't like I just
jumped at it and said, yes.

I seriously considered
it, but at the same time,

was quite torn about
which way to go, you know,

because we'd literally just
got ourselves into a mortgage

and we were only just
married less than a year.

Leaving the suburbs to
go to the third largest

tropical rainforest in the
world, that's a huge decision.

We would have to go and
live in the remote jungles

of Papua New Guinea
for at least two years.

It is home to some of the
richest natural biodiversity

on the planet.

At the time, we really had
no idea that this journey

would end up taking us far beyond

what we could have ever imagined.

Our goal was to save a single
species of tree kangaroo.

So who would have thought
a small animal on the verge

of extinction could bring new hope

and affect the lives of over 10,000 people

living in one of the most
remote places on Earth?

- Hello!

Driving in our new car.

Well, it's a second-hand
car, but it looks pretty new.

It's new compared to the shit box combi

I've been driving for the last six years.

And we drove from, we went to Lumi,

not knowing anything about the road.

We knew the conditions of
the road weren't too good,

but we thought we had a
strong four-wheel drive car.

We were wrong.

It took two days, 48 hours,

to get from Wewak to Lumi.

On that first trip we got
bogged at least 15 times.

I haven't done much, if any,

four-wheel driving in Australia,
so it was a crash course.

- And I was helping
pushing the car as well.

You'd go through the bogs and
I'd be at the back pushing,

pushing you along with the locals.

So I was literally covered
head to toe in mud.

- I wasn't, that was great.

That was a good part of the story.

Sometimes we're in a bog
for four or five hours

and I think that was the longest bog.

I thought, what
the hell are we doing?

This is crazy.

It was just bizarre.

Totally bizarre.

It was such a
relief, such an achievement

getting up to Lumi.

We were literally
cheering and high-fiving

and then we just crashed.

We were just exhausted, covered in mud

and just literally went straight to bed

at seven o'clock that night.

And we didn't care
what sort of conditions

we were living.

We knew we had a bush hut,

but it was like aw, anything
that just has a roof

over our head and keeps us
dry, that's all we want.

The news spread like wildfire

that we had arrived in the area.

People were talking about us.

There's a real buzz of activity.

People coming to visit us,
tell us what they knew.

We had become very public
figures almost overnight.

People brought us all kinds of animals

and it didn't take long

for us to have a bit of a collection.

It was like a mini zoo.

Here's a little baby
bandy who was brought in.

It fired us up to get out there.

Visit the villages with
Tenkile on their land

and convince them to
resign the hunting ban.

Many people didn't believe
we had any hope of success.

Many of the villages are only
accessible by narrow walking

tracks through this incredible jungle.

Most of the villages sit on
ridges divided by valleys.

So you're constantly climbing
up and down the steep grades

that are made even more treacherous

by being so wet and slippery.

When we first started walking,

we thought aw we'll stay at
this village for one night.

I think we stayed there
for two or three nights

because we're so unfit and
so unused to the humidity.

We had a lot of arguments
that first patrol,

because we're just so
tired and frustrated.

We didn't know the language.

So that sort of got under our
skin a little bit as well.

The first patrol was a huge icebreaker

because for many people, it
was the first time they'd seen

a white person in their
village and for many children,

it was the first time they'd
ever seen a white person.

- Some were really frightened
of us and would run away

in tears, but then
others were quite curious

and they'd slowly, slowly sneak up to us

and then they'd come
along and go like this.

Or you'd feel, or you'd feel
someone touch your hair,

just slightly like that
and then they'd be like,

it wasn't me.

- Integrating into the community

was very difficult because
the people are very,

very short and I'm six 6'1",
big white guy with long hair.

So I was very conscious of that

because of pretty much a giant
towering over these people,

so I didn't want to intimidate
them, but at the same time,

I didn't want to be intimidated myself.

So I found the best approach
was just to be relaxed,

listen to what the people say,

even though initially we
didn't understand pidgin,

so it was just a lot of nodding
of the head and smiling.

But from that, I learned
that a smile goes a long way.

Papua New Guinea people are very friendly.

As soon as you smile, it really
does break the ice for them

and they feel more relaxed
in in talking to you

and opening up to you.

So on that first patrol,
we had a lot of challenges,

a lot of cultural differences
that are in our face

for the first time ever.

A lot of people asking for things,

things that we couldn't
deliver a new road,

a vehicle, new house and we
had to get used to saying, no.

We had to actually practice saying no.

We had to really
drop that expectation

and say, look, that's not who we are.

We're not a bank.

We're not a mission.

We're not the government.

We're just two people
that care about animals.

But generally, the
feeling was we're welcomed here.

We're going to make an impact here.

This wasn't sort of like,
oh, this is too hard,

we're going to give up, no.

And as we learned pidgin you know,

taking a good three months
before we understood

most of it or able to speak a lot of it,

that's when we realized,

okay, we are making a
bit of an impact here.

Let's keep the momentum
running, get going.

- Going to the villages
for the very first time,

our mandate was to introduce ourselves

and let people know why we were there.

So we had a message.

You have this special
animal, it's a Tenkile,

that's only found here in your forest.

You own this animal.

If you keep hunting it,
it will become extinct.

And the people will tell us,
well, this is what we eat.

We got to keep eating.

What are we going to eat if
we don't eat the Tenkile?

That's when it hit us
where we thought, yeah,

that's a good point.

We can't just expect people not to hunt it

because we love it and we think it's cute.

- We're asking people not
to hunt a tree kangaroo

that they'd been hunting for
tens of thousands of years.

And we went around to all of the villages

and we saw lots of sickness,

lots of kids with dribbly noses,

extended bellies, everyone coughing.

And we just thought, how
can we ask people not to eat

one species when everyone
here looks pretty sick?

The bigger picture here
is to help the people,

to then help them save their own animal.

After the first patrol, we
felt we'd achieved a lot.

We certainly shed a lot of kilos.

We'd walked at least 80
kilometers to 18 villages

and had them all resign
the hunting moratorium.

So up until now, things
had been pretty good,

but we'd realized that there
was just so much more to do.

The initiation, the
honeymoon was nearly over.

Here at PNG, we're in
the middle of nowhere.

People have the basics

and the number of times
we've heard people say,

we are still in the stone age,

help us get out of the
stone age, is a lot.

And you've got to feel
empathy for the people

because they don't have electricity,

they don't have running water,

they don't have transport.

Not all their kids can go to school

because they have to pay for school.

They don't get subsidies.

There's no pensions.

You know, they really are in a hard place.

I was responsible for developing

an education program to teach the people

about the Tenkile and why
it was critically endangered

and what they could do about it.

So one of the first programs I did

was to visit school groups.

I designed a three day education
program to teach students

about basic science,
ecology-based concepts,

things like that.

So food chains and food webs
and all the different species

that are found in the
Torricelli mountain ranges

that are unique.

We developed a puppet show
because we wanted to really

engage the local communities
with what we were doing.

Rick the Rat, he
was the snaky character.

He was the devil's advocate.

The one that was always
on the bad guy's side.

So he would support the
mothers, the minors,

the bad decisions, and then
you'd have Clement Cocky

would be the one that
didn't really understand

and wanted to hear both points of view.

Then he had Timmy
Tenkile, on his last legs,

critically endangered, imploring everyone,

not to kill him and hunt him,

to look after these environment,
protect the rainforest.

Most people in the communities

don't have an education past grade four.

So anything that was written,

probably would be completely
useless in that context.

So then I developed a training
program that used drama

as a form of education.

It was fantastic because
people were looking

at their cultural
significance of the Tenkile

and the species in their rainforest.

So they would do a play
on the Tenkile itself,

hunting the Tenkile, any
kind of traditional stories

that they had, they would
perform that in a play.

It showed us that it
wasn't just an animal.

You know, it wasn't just food.

It had a lot more value to it

than just eating it,
hunting and eating it.

- We learnt a lot about
the Tenkile and the people.

Different villages had
different ancestral stories.

So woobatey had ancestral
story in which they believe

the Tenkile rose out of a sacred lake

with all of these spiritual ells about.

Whereas, wegotee believed that the people

actually evolved from tree
kangaroos, from Tenkile.

People came out from the
mountains originally,

a long time ago, from
Tenkile, they are Tenkile.

- It was quite strange when we
were doing the reenactment of

all of the traditional stories,

the audience would be
laughing and I'd be like, oh,

people actually think this is funny.

And then it dawned on me.

They're not laughing because
the Tenkile is dying.

They're just looking at their
uncles and their brothers.

- Dressed in black--
- Dressed in black.

- Someone wack them over
the head with a stick.

Protein was one of the main things

that people raised at
meetings and at villages.

We need meat.

We're not getting enough.

They used to have lots, now
we don't have hardly any.

And we could see that in the people too,

the state of the children,
the health of the people.

There are a lot
of villages to look after.

There were 18 villages at
the time, around 6,000 people

and everyone's hungry
and the clock is ticking.

- So we racked our brains,
trying to work out a way

to satisfy peoples hunger for meat.

We knew that anything that
we did would have to be

fairly cheap, easy to do and sustainable.

We had some funding at that point in time,

and it had been agreed upon
to start rabbit farming

for the first protein farming.

And we thought that was a good idea

because it meant the
Tenkile is being replaced

by another mammal, being in rabbits.

We started breeding in Lumi.

A lot of people in Australia
and other countries

would think rabbits have run feral

and destroyed the landscape,
especially in Australia,

but we looked at the science.

There's no native rabbit
that lives in the rainforest.

They don't do well there.

It's too wet, it's too humid.

You have to provide an
artificial environment

in the rainforest for them to survive.

After that we've got materials,

distributed them to the
18 Tenkile villages,

and then once we got the rabbits breeding,

we then distributed the
rabbits to the villages

and started to educate the people

on how to look after them
and breed them themselves.

- People were interested
and they were curious

about it, but when they
actually saw the rabbit

for the first time, they were like--

- What the hell's that?

Why's he got such big ears?

I don't understand.

And then they started to think,

oh, if our children ate it,

maybe our children will
grow big ears as well.

- We'll get big ears
if we eat this animal.

Oh, don't know about that.

So we had to obviously,
start to educate people

on not just how to look after
the rabbits in captivity,

but also that it's not going
to do all of these other things

that you think it might do.

- It really, it really affected me.

And part of me wanted to keep on going

and let's turn this around,
but part of me thought,

well, is it, are we here too late?

Have we come too late?

We were all in shock,
not only Jean and myself,

but many others in the communities,

and also our local TCA staff.

A senior project, officer Matthew Agon,

he really took it hard.

He went to the villages to
try and sort things out.

We had to overcome, well,
this project is failing

at the moment.

People are still hunting the animal.

We nearly gave up at that point.

It was very hard.

So here in PNG, people
are used to gardening.

They've been gardening
more than any other culture

on the planet.

They're used to hunting.

They've been doing that for generations.

And we went around to the villages.

Yeah, we saw lots of chickens
running around, a few pigs,

but we didn't see any cages.

There's nothing housed, really.

You know, animal
husbandry was a new thing.

So with us starting the rabbits,

that was really the first of
people keeping animals in cages

and this a totally new concept for people.

So yeah, of course,

many gave up because it was something new.

But fortunately, not all people gave up.

We're hoping that with Vincent's success,

others will follow his lead.

Jean and I both agree that this
is going to take some time.

It's a really long road.

When you're saving an animal species,

there's a lot of trial and error

and it can take a long
time, years in fact,

before you see any results.

So we'd been in Papua New
Guinea for a number of years

without seeing a Tenkile.

We've heard stories, we'd seen scats,

we'd seen bones of animals
that had been hunted previously

and it was quite frustrating.

Here we are, trying to save this animal

that we'd never seen.

So coming back to
Australia every Christmas

was very frustrating.

What are you doing in PNG?

Oh, what a waste of time,
you haven't even seen one.

And it was like, well, you know,

we're not going over there to see it.

We're going there to save it.

But it was a huge relief

when we finally saw our first animal.

Staff of mine had gone out
into the mountains on a patrol

and they'd found three
and they caught one,

brought it back to Lumi.

We kept this animal, named
Suna, for about six weeks.

So seeing the first Tenkile,
it was just magnificent.

It's like, oh, this is great.

We studied her, we got lots of photos.

We weighed her, we measured her.

We collected some hair
samples, some scat samples.

She was like no other tree
kangaroo I'd seen before,

and I'd seen six or
seven different species,

but the Tenkile's behavior,
just the way about it.

It was very different.

She was very calm.

But Suna just had this look in her eye,

like she knew what was happening,
bright red eyes, red eyes,

you know, not many animals have red eyes

and of course the black coat.

And you can basically just
pick her up if you wanted to.

And it was so beautiful to see.

And then we put her back into the wild.

But that was, that was huge, seeing that,

because it was only then that we realized

that people had an
empathy for the animals.

There was huge celebrations at
every village we went through

and there was gifts presented to Suna,

as if it was the prime
minister or if it was a VIP.

It as incredible.

That's right, that's right.

There's no worry at that
point of her being hunted

on this village's land, 'cause
they were so proud to have

the animal back there.

This is one village that
didn't think that they had

the animal on their land.

- And the pride that came with that

and the cohesiveness in the village,

there were are all these
other little aspects

that we noticed from that experience.

It was about the community themselves,

who united more because of that.

- Finding Tenkile in the
wild is extremely difficult.

It's painstaking exercise.

So when technology becomes
available that makes it easier

to find the animals, you want it.

So when camera traps
became more affordable

and we could get them through
grants, we jumped on board.

So little boxes, strapped onto a tree

with a remote sensing trigger.

Animals go past it and viola,
we've got photos of all

of the animals that
are in the Torricellis.

Hey, that's fantastic.

A great result from the camera
traps is that we're also

getting a greater respect for the elderly

in each community because
they're able to identify

all of the animals on the
camera traps themselves,

where most of the young
people have never seen

a lot of the species before.

And this has been fantastic
in terms of getting

the communities working better together.

Really, really impressive results.

I'm overwhelmed, I didn't
expect to see that.

At one of the drama programs,

a village a few kilometers away,

visiting to try and
encourage us to have them

in the project as well.

And they presented us with a live Weimang

or gold mantled tree kangaroo.

When I realize that the
Weimang was still in existence,

it wasn't extinct, as Roger
Martin thought it might be.

I just said, why should we
just protect the Tenkile

in half of the Torricelli mountain range

and leave half the lot vacant,

where there's also another
critically endangered

tree kangaroo, called the Weimang?

So for me, it was like, oh
wow, it's still in existence,

it's not extinct!

We still got a chance here,
we've got to go for it!

This is what we're going to do.

This is part of the reason I
came here in the first place.

I'm not going to do a half ass
approach and do half the job,

no, gonna do the whole
bloody job or not at all.

- Morning.
- Morning.

When I first came to Papa New Guinea,

I didn't really know how I
was going to convince people

to stop hunting tree kangaroos.

And I guess I've evolved
over a long period of time.

It's try this approach, try this approach,

try this approach, different ways.

Even maybe simpler, using--

And it was a lot of work.

You know, a lot of thought, a
lot of time, a lot of effort.

And we talked about
nutrition and gardening

and water tanks and rabbit farming.

And you know, it was such
a big job and you know,

not getting paid to do
the job, wore me down.

And I, you know, I was like, Jim,

I haven't got the energy
to do this anymore.

And then he comes back
from the Weimang villages

and says, we've got to
sign up these villages.

And I was like, what the
fuck are you serious?

I am, I'm done Jim, I can't do any more.

I am full up of work.

And I just got so angry
and I was just like,

why am I doing this?

You are on your own on this!

I was ready to go see
you later, pal, I'm done.

24 extra villages under our program.

That was a huge deal for us.

That's extra travel.

That's extra education, more
meetings, more rabbit cages

for over 6,000 extra people.

I mean, Jim's a big picture
man, he's the visionary

and I'm the one who actually
has to make it all work.

I have to put it all
together and make it happen.

I was overwhelmed.

So I go from my morning
walk, trying to unwind

and try and just collect my
thoughts again and get focused.

Often, I try and debrief
on my way up the hill

and then have a stretch and
then listen to the birds

and just take it all in
because there's nowhere else

like this that I know of.

When you're standing here at the mountain,

it's very easy to put everything

back into perspective again.

It took a lot of internal
dialogue within myself

to actually say, you know,

there's more to this than
me and there's more to this

than what I'm feeling.

There's more to this then, you know,

wanting to give up, you know.

I think that's where it
flipped into a life of purpose.

And I did a pregnancy test.

I remember the pregnancy test.

- Yeah and then I told Jim and
showed him the little stick

and it's all really exciting
and scary at the same time

because living here and you know,

there's not a lot of
support for women here.

I went to the local hospital.

That's where the local people do it.

I thought, well, I'm part,
I'm experiencing the culture.

You know, I need to get myself
involved in all of this.

And then I realized that I
wasn't prepared to go that far.

And I thought, no, I need to
go home to have this child.

As I was in labor, feeling the
labor pains and contractions

and I felt guilty actually,
being in this beautiful,

clean hospital with white
sheets and you know,

nurses at my beck and call
and doctors in the next room.

And I thought, how do
women do this in the bush?

And you know, the stories
that we'd heard of women

giving birth in toilets
and women giving birth

when they were scraping sago
and totally on their own.

- Taji was born on the 8th of June, 2006,

the same birthday as me.

I was just blown away, 'cause I was there.

I was the anchorman,
cut the umbilical cord.

Saw the whole thing,
pretty bloody amazing.

- We went to a pediatrician
and I thought, well,

we need to make sure that we're prepared

to take a child back to PNG.

The first thing that the
pediatrician said to me was,

well, if you want my advice,

you don't take a child
to Papua New Guinea.

He was just straight up
matter of fact about it.

And he said, "So is that possible?"

So Taji was only two months
old when we arrived in Lumi.

And it was great because
we had all of the staff

here greeting us.

You know, there's a little
sign saying welcome home Taji

and Jean and I, it was beautiful.

It was really nice.

And you know, I was crying and you know,

everyone was giving us hugs and you know,

they just welcomed him in.
- Big deal, huge deal.

Hardly anyone had seen
a white baby before.

Everyone wanted to hold him,
just started holding him.

They didn't want to give him back!

No, no, no, come on.

I want to white baby!

No, no, it's our white baby.

I love being a dad.

But as a new parent,

I was now more protective
of Jean and Taji.

Their safety and security
was of paramount importance

and I started looking at our environment

in a very different way.

Papa New Guinea is often dubbed
the land of the unexpected.

And that certainly comes true
when people lose their cool

and become violent very
quickly, people can just snap.

But every time it happens,
there's a string of events

that have occurred beforehand
building up to that explosion.

It seems the fuses are
quite short in PNG sometimes

and we've been very surprised
on a number of occasions

when people become very angry.

So in Papua New Guinea I've been attacked

at least six times with
pretty brutal bush knives.

You know, I thought I
was going to get cut up

on a number of occasions,
real heart beating stuff,

where it's like, whoa, you
only see this in the movies.

What am I doing in this?

But there was this one
time when things got taken

to another level.

I was traveling back to base by road.

It was a dispute over
money and he came at me

with a very sharp ax.

He was gonna kill me,
I thought this is it.

This is it, game over.

He had that look like he
wanted to kill in his eye.

It was just that look of terror.

I defused the situation.

I paid the bribe, didn't feel
comfortable in doing that,

but I got away with my life.

That was absolutely
terrifying to go through that.

I already know what to think.

It was just absolutely gut wrenching

and if he's prepared to try and kill me,

is he going to be prepared
to try and kill Jean and Taji

if on a patrol in that area.

At least clear that
Jim had to get out of PNG

and so we went back to Australia.

A lot of things
went through my mind.

Is it worthwhile going through this sort

of drama and stress?

I received counseling

and my dad died suddenly, out of the blue

and it hit us hard.

Should I just stay here in Australia

where it's nice and comfortable,

with a lovely house, family?

I can just go back into a normal job

and raise my son and spend
more time with my wife,

spend more time with family and friends

and just sort of plod along.

Hey, I've done six, seven
years in PNG, that'll do.

So my perspective
on that situation

was quite different to Jim's.

My perspective was it's just one man,

don't let him get to you.

I think by that stage, I had
invested so much of my energy

and work into it that I wasn't
ready to give it all up.

Are our lives worth risking

for the protection of the tree
kangaroo and the environment?

And I think in my mind it
was like, yeah, it is still.

And I had to convince him to come back.

Coming back to
PNG meant a few changes

to the way in which we worked.

We added more security

and applied for funding
to expand the base.

When the money came through,

TCA exploded into a frenzy of activity.

Adding 24 new villages to our program

meant we couldn't travel to all of them.

So it made better sense
if people came to us.

We built a research
station, staff accommodation

and a training center for up to 120 people

to attend our meetings and courses.

We now had 42
villages under the TCA project

and we had two representatives
from each village.

This meant that the communication
flow could continue.

We could have education programs.

We could still have community engagement.

So we teach the
representatives, who in turn,

go back to the villages
and teach the others.

With a background in teaching science

at a high school in Australia,
my approach was to focus

on the science.

And then through this process,

I realized that learning the facts,

learning the science of species

and protecting the environment
is actually quite irrelevant

in the end, because it's
about the people themselves,

how they live their lives, how
they feel about themselves.

Their emotional intelligence
is really important

to create cultural change.

So I noticed that people didn't have

a lot of confidence in themselves.

They underestimated their capabilities.

And then you're explaining why.

I'm trying to teach people how
they can develop the skills

that they need to become independent,

to help communities grow,

not just in terms of their infrastructure

and the things that we provide them,

but help them grow personally.

Okay, you stop, you stop, say yes, okay.

Stop the negative thinking.

A lot of the programs
that we've implemented

do involve both men and women.

And even though Papua New
Guinea is primarily patriarchal,

by nurturing the female leaders
that we were recognizing,

that's helped transition, I
think, into the 21st century.

It was clear to us when
we went to communities

and started to talk to
people and were living

in the villages
themselves, that, you know,

there were a lot of issues
that people had to deal with

and one of the issues was water supply.

Most villages live
on the ridges of mountains.

So although plenty of rain,

they don't have any way to collect it.

- Most women that live in the communities

that we work with, they
live on the top of a hill

and they have to go down to
the creek to collect water.

And it sometimes can take
up to an hour, round trip

and that has to be done every
morning and every afternoon.

So it's two hours in a day a
woman spends collecting water.

So we applied to the European
Union that had a program

called the Rural Water
Supply and Sanitation Project

and it was being rolled out
throughout the whole country.

So we applied to
introduce 243 water tanks.

The idea of doing a water
supply program was like, well,

you know, we've never done this before.

How are we going to do this?

It was out of our league,
but it was so important

to the local people to
actually have something,

some tangible benefit
for the conservation work

that they are involved with
and so we just had to learn.

Like everything else, you know,

thrown in the deep end
and just work it out.

This was messy for us.

I mean, people have to
remember that it's just myself

and Jim and the local people.

It was a huge undertaking.

We had to write the grant of our lifetime.

Eventually we got the green light

and what a moment that was
when we got the go ahead

to buy all these tanks
and help the people out,

more than they've ever been
helped before in their lives.

It was something they've always wanted

but never thought they'd get.

A lot of surprise, a lot
of eyes like saucepans,

like wow, we're going to
be getting how many tanks?

So some villages got you
know, more than 10 tanks.

Once we got the grant,
we got the green light,

I headed down to Wewak to place the order

for all of these water
tanks and the supplies.

So Mikey, are these
the 1,000 gallon tanks?

Yeah, this the one.

- Okay, write this down.

We need 243.

7,290 sheets of tin roofing,

eight foot length.

Now as a small NGO, I'd never
really written a big check

before and this was massive.

And I was nervous, I was shaking.

I actually botched the
check up, I was that scared.

First time writing a check
for nearly 2 million kina.

That's a big deal.

When I saw that first truck
come up, I was so relieved.

I thought, you beauty.

We can do this, we can make this happen.

We will build a tippy tap.

We will build a VIP toilet.

We will build a tappy tank

to help out village get healthy.

We had to teach
people how to build

the water tanks stands,

putting gutters up and
connecting the downpipes

to those gutters and then
connecting to the water tank,

explaining the importance of
the filter in the water tank.

The education
side of the water program

is quite intense.

It's like you taking the
community through a whole

step by step process.

It all goes back to
this community ownership

and mobilizing the communities,

getting them excited
and motivated and yeah,

I really want to do this.

Once we got to the
point where the villages

could collect the materials,

then they had to physically
carry all of those water tanks

and cement and tin roofing
back to their villages.

They took it, that was huge.

They initiated
those consultations

with their neighbors and
organizing the exchange of food

and coordinating those
groups to come together.

It's a lot of coordination.

We're talking hundreds of
people involved in carrying

those materials from the
base, to their village.

So the women were amazing.

They were carrying 40
kilogram bags of concrete

on their heads and carrying
children at the same time.

They would then stop, feed everyone

and then away they'd go again.

- Yes!

Everyone's using water tanks.

They've all got tanks
and they're all starting

to tell stories and then the
story started to filter in,

how happy everybody was.

You know,
people started to go, aw,

here's a tangible benefit.

- That was sort of like, wow,

this is what conservation is about.

We're addressing the issues,

we're giving people what they've asked for

and it's making a difference.

That's when I thought, man,
we've made a huge impact.

These animals are not
going to be extinct now.

That's what I thought
after those water tanks.

That's what I felt, that's what I knew.

When the tanks, the
toilets and the tippy taps

were installed, I think
that many people saw this

as a sign of our true
commitment to the area.

This immediately sparked
a more positive attitude

from people towards their environment.

- The only way to do
conservation in Melanesia

is on a win-win basis, where
the community is gaining

benefits from the conservation of species.

And that is a very difficult thing to do.

Jim and Jean have found an
ingenious way of doing that,

where they've in effect,
restored the prestige

the Tenkile enjoyed in earlier times when,

it was a fully tribal society

and this was a very deeply
spiritual animal for the people.

Now with belief in themselves,

that they can go on with projects

and take the lead for
their own environment.

And they're now labeling
Tenkile as their gold medal,

their gold medal and they
want to keep it shining.

That has been sent to
us from the villagers.

- I believe that what
Jim and Jean are doing

is absolutely the only way to go

if we care about preserving the forest

and the animals in it.

But unless we can have the
local people as our partners,

then we can't hope to conserve

any other animals living in the forest.

When you leave a village,

especially after such a success,

everyone wants to say goodbye,

and it can take quite a long
time to get on your way.

This goodbye was
especially important to me

because Jim and I had decided
that I would be returning

to Australia with Taji
permanently in a month.

Taji needs to start school next year.

We could stay here and do
homeschooling with Taji,

but I just don't want to be his teacher.

I just want to be his mum.

He has never really had a routine.

He's just a free spirit
and he can go and do

whatever he wants.

So, I think he's going to
really miss a lot of that.

Feel sad about leaving.

I think I'll be in tears in
a couple of weeks from now.

- I don't know how I'm
gonna cope without Jean.

It's gonna to be difficult
emotionally without Jean there

and I'll get lonely, I'll miss her.

The day to day activities,
talking to the locals

that'll be fine.

I won't be able to confide in any one.

It's going to be very hard
without Jean being with me.

But this is our life, this is my work

and conservation is what I do.

So we're going to have to
slowly work our way through it

and take the hurdles as they come.

Last day, I remember
being very emotional,

having to say goodbye to
everyone and being female,

you always have that
special bond with women

in Papua New Guinea.

You have that real nice connection there.

And seeing the kids and the
kids saying goodbye to Taji,

you knew that that was
going to be really hard

for them as well.

Next time you come back--

Bye!

It'll be a test, that's for sure.

We'll see how it goes.

Like all of our work
over the last you know,

nearly nine years, we're pretty flexible.

So if it doesn't work,
then we remodify it.

Go back to the drawing--

Evolve, like
we have with everything.

Which will probably mean Jean'll

have to come back here and
Taji'll have to skip school.

So TCA is becoming more sustainable,

the longer we're running
and we're doing that

by addressing the real
issues of the people

and being realistic on what
projects can be successful.

Fingers crossed that
rabbit farming will become

more successful and it will
become part of the norm

in a couple of generation's time.

That's the hope.

We've now embarked upon fish farming,

which seems to be the easiest so far.

And so we're breeding fish here

and sending out young fish to the villages

and they're making their own ponds,

just digging holes in the
ground and letting them fill up

with rain water and putting
their fish in there.

We want to help the people
with their cash crops

so that they can get
money in their pockets

to pay for school fees,
the basic necessities,

the things that we take for
granted in Western society.

The cash crops, we're looking
at mostly cocoa and vanilla.

And if we can
strengthen those projects

through training and providing
the markets for them,

they will have a constant
source of income,

independent of TCA.

So right now, we're
pretty close to establishing

the Torricelli mountain range

as a legislated conservation area.

The conservation area will encompass

the forested areas, where
the tree kangaroos live

and also the villages themselves.

So everything is under this
huge conservation area.

We spread the net as
wide as we possibly can

so that everything is being addressed.

The needs of the people, in
terms of better lifestyles

for them, the management
of the rainforest,

so that they're going to be
there for future generations

and surveying the endangered species

to make sure that they're
improving as well.

- We just could not
predict that we would have

this much impact on the lives of people,

not just the lives of the
Tenkile tree kangaroo.

The intention is to actually
have the local people

running this project on their own.

It's been a long road.

I think that's the case with conservation

anywhere in the world,
but we're very happy

with the relationship with the
Papua New Guinea government.

- And now we're at the
stage where we're waiting

for the government to give
us the final tick of approval

and we're very close
and we're really excited

about that happening soon, we hope.

I think the thing that humbles
me most is the local people,

who have very little, welcomed
us into their communities,

not knowing who we were.

We were complete strangers to them,

and yet they were there
with open arms saying,

yes, come let's work together.

- Gives one great hope really,

that people can do what they
have done and to have brought

such a change in such
an area as rural PNG.

It's really remarkable.

- Jim and Jean have changed
a small part of the world

with their dedication.

But what's more important
is they've taught us

how to do conservation in tribal areas.

And that model-led pioneered
is going to be valuable

in South America, Africa and Australasia.

I think it's the key
to preserving hundreds,

if not thousands of species.

- Present this award to Jim and Jean.

- This award is extremely special to us

because it's the first award
we've achieved together

and it really has given
both Jean and I a huge boost

to continue our work in saving
the Torricelli mountains,

working with people.

With work with 50 villages at the moment.

We're now being by the
Papua New Guinea government

and this will hopefully,
mean we'll be able to protect

at least 180,000 hectares

of mid mountain tropical rainforest.

- The rainforests of the world

and around the equator
are an essential part

of the whole system that
governs the earth, climatically.

The vapor which rises from the forest

to create the conditions
in the atmosphere,

which affect the rest of the world.

There are changes and
always have been changes.

The speed at which we are
now changing the surface

of our planet is very frightening.

- Open your eyes, open your
mind to what's going on here.

You've got a choice.

It's in the world's hands,
we've got to do something.

If we don't do it, we could lose so much.

- We depend on the natural world

for every bite of food we take.

We're dependent on it for
every lung full of air.

We are in short, part
of the natural world.

And if you damage the natural world,

you damage humanity in the end.

- To keep them the
Torricelli mountain ranges

protected as a conservation area,

there's a lot we need to do.

We need more support,
we need more partners.

We need more people
understanding how important it is

to save the rainforest in the world.

And hey, they can start with this one

because this is working right here.