Abdul Aziz. The other refugees call him Mandela. He is a leader in the detention camp and is often singled out by the PNG guards. Abdul Aziz has been held on Manus island for several years by the Aust...

Amin Afravi showing where he had his throat slit by a PNG security guard while trying to escape from the detention centre. Amin has been held on Manus island for several years by the Australian govern...

Pakistani refugees walk to Lorengau Hospital to keep vigil outside a morgue where the body of a Pakistani refugee has been kept for over a week without air-conditioning or refrigeration. The men asked...

Dawn beside the ocean in Messi village.

A Motuan man emerges from the water near his house after spearfishing. Hanuabada is a coastal village situated on the outskirts of Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea. Makeshift houses are c...

Jack Pombo (41) from Trin village holds a dead bird of paradise. He finds many dead birds when he goes to logging areas. 'Before our forest was full of birds. We had parrots, birds of paradise. Now ma...

Children playing among palm trees on the shore of Mbunai village.

Avapura Joe Moses (46), the head of the Paga Hill community, sits in his tent, which was errected on the site of his demolished house. Moses and other elders pressed the charges in the court against t...

Avapura Joe Moses (46), the head of the Paga Hill community, sits in his tent, which was errected on the site of his demolished house. Moses and other elders pressed the charges in the court against t...

Children sit around a table in the primary school, built on the beach in Labu Tale village.

A member of the Vijari Jajora tribe blows on a conch shell during an evacuation drill (a signal used in case of disaster).

Grace Tovoba stands next to her rain water catchment made from corrugated iron.

Antipas Kiriwang blows a conch shell (a traditional form of communication and warning in Papuan traditional societies).

A welcoming dance troupe of the Vijari Jajora tribe.

A man crosses a rickety bamboo footbridge to a toilet on the other side.

Antipas Kiriwang, standing on a rural road, blows a conch shell (a traditional form of communication and warning in Papuan traditional societies).

A welcoming dance troupe of the Vijari Jajora tribe.

Sua Kembos (Lambu people of the Bong tribe) with a conch shell, blown to warn villagers of disaster.

A cowry shell, a traditional form of currency in Papua New Guinea and also a broom used in marriage ceremonies.

A member of a welcoming party of the Hurundi people.

Kalapua banana, a staple of Papua New Guinea.

A view from the highlands down to the lowlands beside the Ocean.

A member of a welcoming committee dance troupe of the Atzera people.

40 year old Antipas Kirwang blows a conch shell, traditionally used to warn communities of emergencies (flooding, tsunamis et cetera).

Children watch on as a man filters crushed sago palm during the production of sago starch, a staple food in PNG and beyond.

Chief Lester Hara of the Hurundi people (holding a Kundu drum). A widower, he lost his wife to cyclone Guba in 2007.

A member of a welcoming party of the Hurundi people carrying a Kundu drum.

Chief Lester Hara of the Hurundi people (holding a Kundu drum). A widower, he lost his wife to cyclone Guba in 2007.

Men crush and beat sago palm during the production of sago starch, a staple food in PNG and beyond..

Haraga 'Speedy' sends a text messages to one of his partners. Haraga, 35, is a gay man from Hanuabada/Elevala village which is considered one of the few places in PNG where gay men can live in safety....

Haraga 'Speedy' looks at a picture of one of his partners on his mobile phone. Haraga, 35, is a gay man from Hanuabada/Elevala village which is considered one of the few places in PNG where gay men ca...

Haraga 'Speedy' walks with women from his clan in Hanuabada village to deliver presents to a house where the bride price ceremony is taking place. 'When our clan participates in bride price, I always...

Haraga 'Speedy' kisses a young man near the water front in Hanuabada village. Its not uncommon for strangers to approach local gay men and kiss or touch them. Men from the village or other places in P...

Haraga 'Speedy' with women from Hanuabada village, all dressed for the bride price. 'When our clan participates in bride price, I always dress myself as a woman', says Haraga. Residents of Hanuabada s...

'Martiana' performs during the Miss Gay World 2013 show at Port Moresby's Diamond nightclub.

Hanuabada village, one of few places in Papua New Guinea where gay men can live in safety. Elsewhere gays are targeted and physical and sexual assault is common.

Haraga 'Speedy', 35, a gay man from Hanuabada/Elevala village. This village is considered one of the few places in PNG where gay men can live in safety. Male homosexuality is prohibited according to s...

Haraga 'Speedy' (left, 35) outside Kenny's (38) house in Hanuabada village, considered one of the few places in Papua New Guinea where gay men can live in safety. Male homosexuality is prohibited acco...

Moses Tau, in Papua New Guinea (PNG) he is a famous gay singer. Despite being very popular in PNG, his participation in 2000 Sydney's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras festival as Queen of the South Pacific,...

A member of Port Moresby's gay community applies make up in a dressing room of the Diamond nightclub before performing at the Miss Gay World 2013 show.

Haraga 'Speedy', 35, a gay man from Hanuabada/Elevala village, sitting on a raised walkway above mounds of discarded rubbish. This village is considered one of the few places in PNG where gay men can...

A club customer takes a photo of Johnathan 'Mother Superior' while he performs during the Miss Gay World 2013 show in Port Moresby's Diamond nightclub.

Two gay friends from Hanuabada watch a video where two men were forced to kiss each other by police at gun point. Although the men in the video were not gay, police brutality is common against the mem...

Papua New Guinean and Filipino gay men in the Diamond nightclub during a gay night.

Haraga 'Speedy' and a friend, Sqye, hug each other at a party. Haraga, 35, is a gay man from Hanuabada/Elevala village, considered one of the few places in PNG where gay men can live in safety. Male h...

Haraga 'Speedy', 35, doing his laundry. A gay man from Hanuabada/Elevala village, considered one of the few places in PNG where gay men can live in safety. Male homosexuality is prohibited according t...

Members of Port Moresby's gay community in a dressing room at the Diamond night club. There are only two nightclubs in Port Moresby where gays can go for parties and performances, but going there can...

Heni waits for his friend 'Speedy' to go out in the evening. Male homosexuality is prohibited according to section 210 of the Papua New Guinea penal code and those caught engaging in anal sex can be p...

Haraga's neighbour grabs him and kisses him, much to the delight of those around them. Hanuabada/Elevala village is considered one of the few places in Papua New Guinea where gay men can live in safet...

Haraga 'Speedy', 35, a gay man from Hanuabada/Elevala village. This village is considered one of the few places in PNG where gay men can live in safety. Male homosexuality is prohibited according to s...

Hanuabada residents Mike 'Marbelline' and 'Shantelle' in Pacific Leisure nightclub in Port Moresby. Hanuabada/Elevala village is considered one of the few places in PNG where gay men can live in safet...

A security guard at the Pacific Leisure nightclub watches a member of 'PNG Drag Queens' gay group coming out of the female toilet.

'Speedy' and his friend Toua (20) visiting grave, in Hanuabada village, of their friend Vagi who died from AIDS at the age of 38. Hanuabada/Elevala village is considered one of the few places in PNG w...

Hanuabada residents Mike 'Marbelline' and 'Shantelle' at a gay night at the Pacific Leisure nightclub in Port Moresby. Hanuabada/Elevala village is considered one of the few places in PNG where gay me...

A tree trunk lies by the side of the road in the Trin logging area. Some of the rejected logs are burned by the logging company but others are just left by the side of the road. Most of the demand for...

Children leap into a river from the trunk of a tree fallen across the water.

A man standing on the shore looks at a ship used to transport logs from the island.

A person walks on the shore at dusk. Just 30 kilometres off Messi's beach is the site pegged for the world's first commercial deep-seabed mine Solwara 1 ('saltwater' in PNG Pidgin) operated by Canadia...

A boy drinks coconut water while sitting on a canoe beside the sea.

People gathered in front of a Catholic church.

Eliuda Toxok, a shark caller from Messi village, paddles his outrigger canoe in Bismarck Sea while trying to catch a shark. Shark calling is the ancient tradition among the fishermen of New Ireland. T...

People play guitars, sing and pray at the United Church during Sunday worship.

An albino boy with his mother during a meeting, where locals gathered to discuss seabed mining and climate change. Climate change is much discussed – not in the abstract, but as a presence. 'What wa...

A boy stands near the entrance of Messi primary school. A board outside the school depicts the tools of the village's famous 'shark callers'. These are a 'larding' which is made of coconut shells and...

People travelling by boat from Pamachau Island to Lorengau, the capital of the Manus Province.

Mark Pokakes, 41, stands near his house in Bunai village on Pamachau Island. The only fresh water source on the island comes from rain. Pokakes is dressed in a shirt of the Australian rugy league team...

Josephine Kiou (in the middle), a mother of four children, sits at the window of her home with her sister watching their children playing outside. Her house was destroyed by a 'king tide' in 2012 but...

A woman walks through a village on the sea shore on Pamachau Island. Just 40 people live in nine houses on the island.

Stacks of logs stored prior to export. Most of the demand for PNGs timber comes from China. However the World Bank estimates 70% of logging in the country is illegal.

An aerial view of Karkar Island. A study of tropical mountain birds found that they were shifting their ranges upslope to escape warming temperatures. According to the report by Cornell Lab of Ornitho...

A deforested area near Trin village. The World Bank estimates 70% of logging in PNG is illegal. Malaysian companies dominate the logging business in PNG and they have been accused of serious human rig...

Stacks of logs stored prior to export. Most of the demand for PNGs timber comes from China. However the World Bank estimates 70% of logging in the country is illegal.

Men travelling in a pickup truck along a road built by a logging company.

Swindu Sangi, a resident of Koptui village, that is affected by illegal logging. He says the: 'Logging company destroyed my gardens while I was sick. When I got better and went to see what happened, i...

People in the forest near Koptui village, one of many in Turubu area where it is claimed a Malaysian logging company has made an illegal land grab in order to access the timber.

Piesen Henri, 10, sits inside a 'karamut', a traditional musical instrument played during celebrations.

Geoffrey Swindu, 30, extracting the core from sago palm to make a traditional 'sak sak' meal. Geoffrey claims that many sago palm trees died after a logging company started working near his village of...

He claims to find many dead birds when he enters the logging areas around his village. Jack describes how: 'Before our forest was full of birds. We had parrots, birds of paradise. Now many of them are...

Martha Wokma, 49, stranded, with her nephew, beside a collapsed bridge that was used by illegal loggers to bring timber out of the forest. Martha says: 'We can't take this road anymore, we can't visit...

A boy washes his face in a stream beside a collapsed bridge built by loggers to bring timber out from the forest. It collapsed shortly after the logging company stopped using the road. The bridge's ti...

Goreti Kirua, 30, sits with her three year old son Sebilon on a log cut down, but then rejected by loggers. Kirua says: 'Foreigners forced us to sign consent forms, then they destroyed our forest.' Th...

Women collect water from a public standpipe.

Martha Wokma, 49, in her house in Manwara village. She describes what happened when a logging company wanted to operate locally: 'My family lived in a traditional house for many years. Then the logger...

Villagers dismantle an old house.

Nobert Mor, 13, sits on a dead tree trunk surrounded by children playing on the sea shore.

The roots stump of a palm tree partly buried in the sand in Turubu Bay. Turrbu Bay is one of many places in PNG where logging companies are practising land grabs and illegal logging. Locals report tha...

Christophilda Milik, 19, holding a fishing pole while she stands in a mangrove swamp near to where a logging company loads timber onto transport barges. Milik says: 'I used to catch fish in this swamp...

A dogs walks among some dead palm trees lying on the sea shore. Locals blame logging companies for environmental damage that they claim has been a recent development in their region.

Two children swim in a mangrove swamp beside a site where a logging company loads timber on to barges for transport to offshore transport ships. Residents claim that oil spills and leaks from machines...

A woman stands in an area of her hillside garden that was destroyed by a land slide. Illegal logging is claimed to be one of the causes of landslides that can damage agricultural land and roads.