‘Drowning in Waste’: Port Moresby’s flooded streets and the Coral Triangle crisis

In Papua New Guinea’s capital, rising floodwaters are carrying more than rain, they carry the weight of waste, mismanagement, and neglect.

An environmental crisis is unfolding across Port Moresby, where the illegal dumping of rubbish and household waste is choking storm drains and triggering chronic urban flooding.

What began as a local nuisance has escalated into a major public health hazard and a growing threat to the Coral Triangle, one of the most biodiverse marine regions in the world.

Port Moresby resident Lepi Kari, 48, said the situation has deteriorated significantly over the years as urban development has expanded without adequate drainage upkeep.

"Before, the drainage used to be running and flowing properly, but now with changes taking place here and developments coming up, heavy rain carries debris that blocks off the drains," Kari said.

"NCDC should do something, come clean the drains and let the water flow… when heavy rain falls, it's blocked, causing flooding which spoils our homes and livelihoods. It is always a metre high, and we're always in a pool of water every rainy season. We struggle."

Systemic waste and infrastructure pressures

Papua New Guinea relies heavily on imported goods, bringing in hundreds of millions of kina worth of plastic products annually, much of which ultimately ends up as unmanaged waste.

While the National Capital District Commission [NCDC] is tasked with garbage collection, street cleaning, and drain maintenance, service delivery remains inconsistent. Rapid population growth, resource constraints, and unserviced informal settlements have exacerbated the accumulation of waste in public waterways.

For families living in affected communities, the annual wet season brings severe disruption.

"We don’t sit down properly, we don’t sleep properly, the smell is very bad," one local mother said during recent flooding. "I am eating with tears… house is under water. I see the water, I didn’t eat, I just cried and questioned why our homes are underwater."

Beyond the city's suburban streets, local transport operators navigate damaged, flooded roads, while runoff pushes vast quantities of synthetic waste through waterways and into the ocean.

A threat to the Coral Triangle

The impacts of Port Moresby's waste crisis extend directly into the ocean. PNG is part of the Coral Triangle alongside Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Timor-Leste, and the Solomon Islands, a region home to 76 per cent of the world's coral species.

Lisa Bun, a Marine Protected Area officer with the Conservation and Environment Protection Authority [CEPA], said plastic pollution is actively suffocating marine ecosystems.

"Plastics do not only affect coral but everything in the ocean," Bun said. "Non-biodegradable plastics don't break down; even if they do, they remain in the environment as microplastics. The obvious impact on coral reefs is that they smother or suffocate them. Corals are animals, so when they suffocate, they die."

She said while national-level discussions on legislation and environmental policies are underway, trans-boundary ocean currents also carry marine debris from neighboring countries into PNG waters, requiring both local and regional action.

Community-led responses

In response to the growing crisis, civil society organizations and local youth groups have begun taking action directly.

Civil society group Emplesia Inc, supported by the French Government, recently organized youth volunteers from the Morata Catholic Parish [St Martin De Porres] in Port Moresby's North West electorate to clear choked drainage channels.

Guided by environmental and human rights activist Rosa Koian, the initiative drew inspiration from Pope Francis's environmental encyclical, Laudato Si', which calls for the protection of the planet.

"What we see is plastic everywhere when we clean," one youth volunteer said. "Boxes and other items decompose, but it's the plastics that are spoiling the drainage. That is why we are cleaning the drains."

A local youth leader emphasized that the problem extends well beyond suburban streets to iconic coastal sites, including Hanuabada and Ela Beach.

"When you go out fishing, it’s hard because plastic has damaged the marine ecosystem, where the fish and sea animals find it difficult to reproduce," the youth leader said. "When we look after the environment by controlling plastic pollution, the environment then takes care of us."

While residents acknowledged routine bag collection efforts by NCDC sanitation workers, community leaders maintain that urgent, systemic action across all levels of government and society is required to address the root causes of urban plastic waste before the damage to local communities and marine ecosystems becomes irreversible.