It seems incredible, given the vast ocean surrounding the atolls in Bougainville’s north, that these palm-clad places could experience drought.

Yet the tiny specks in the Solomon Sea to Australia’s northeast have suffered six months without rainfall, imperilling lives and sparking a mighty effort to bring relief.

Gideon Haukani, who grew up on the Nuguria islands, says the desperation has forced the closure of schools “because teachers need to go and look for food for their family”.

Locals wake as early as 2am to paddle by canoe to nearby islands on the hunt for coconuts or food to bring home.

As well as obvious challenges like water shortages and failing crops, the drought has drawn less expected difficulties.

Dwindling water sources have led to sandfly and mosquito populations intensifying near human settlements, leading to mass bites and infections. 

Around 150km southwest of Nuguria, on Nissan Island, Sylvia Rennethsie says the unyielding heat eviscerated her yam crop and took a toll on her community.

“A widow fell off and slit her face on a stone because she was hungry,” she tells AAP.

“She got skin disease due to excessive heat. To make it worse, there was no medicine … the government cannot afford medicine so we suffer the consequences.”

Mr Haukani’s Nuguria is one of a series of atolls and islands in the north of Bougainville, the wantaway region in Papua New Guinea’s far east.

Tourism is non-existant and few outsiders visit, though whaling ships passed through in the 19th century.

Nissan Island was briefly a theatre of World War II visited by future US President Richard Nixon, then a humble supply officer.

For thousands of years before that, the isolated chain has been home to subsistence-focused communities.

“People are living a simple life,” Mr Haukani says.

That was until the drought, which began in November last year, which Mr Haukani rates the worst elderly locals can remember.

Needing humanitarian relief, Australia answered the call, funding a $500,000 package through CARE Australia including immediate needs – primarily water and food – and later, the installation of water tanks.

But it is one thing to offer relief and quite another to deliver it.

Emily Meren, CARE Papua New Guinea‘s humanitarian projects manager, says they received a green light in April to take aid to Pinapel Island and Nuguria, deemed to have the highest need.

That involved procuring and sailing goods from Morobe province on mainland PNG some 900 kilometres east to Buka, the Bougainville capital, taking two weeks.

As that ship had other contracts to attend to, the group was then stranded in Buka for a fortnight while sourcing another vessel to sail north for the 11-day distribution journey.

Logistical difficulties such as these are a reality of life in under-developed and under-resourced PNG, and Ms Meren encountered no different on arrival at Mantoia on Pinapel Island.

“There was no jetty, mind you, so we had to anchor offshore and the community had only two outboard motors functioning,” she says.

“The whole community’s lined up to like an assembly line to pass the relief items to shore and it took us well into the evening … it was exhausting for everyone.”

Next came packing and a fair distribution negotiated through chiefs, before a second drop-off at the village of Rogos on Pinapel’s other side.

“We had to ask the leaders in Mantoia to walk across (the island) to support their people at Rogos to speed it up,” Ms Meren says.

Then, another 12 hour overnight sailing north to finish the job at Nuguria, where conditions were worsened by previous storms.

“In good times, they have bananas or cassava growing,” Ms Meren says.

“When the drought heats, all of those dry up so they have to go back to mangrove seeds and coconuts to live on, which means drinking water from coconuts as well.

“But in Nuguria, there was a king tide last year and so many of the coconut trees died out.”

The logistical delays meant that by the time they landed, minor rainfall had arrived, along with some rice from another aid effort, helping avoid a catastrophic situation.

The aid allowed locals to top up their dwindling tanks – installed more than a decade ago as part of another CARE relief effort – and turn their minds to prevention efforts.

Islanders are in no doubt more is needed to safeguard the communities: regular ferries, economic development, better health support.

“Because it’s so isolated, when teachers or others come back for their break, its very hard to get back,” Mr Haukai says.

“A health officer came to Buka and was stranded because there was no transport going back home for six months.

“There is no economic projects that are happening … we have resources in the sea, we have fish, sea cucumbers, copra, coconut but we don’t have a relay-able service to ship their products.”

Ms Rennethsie also laments the changing climate and increasing likelihood sea level rise will alter their lives.

When a patchy signal allows, she shares a picture of a young child via Whatsapp, explaining the drought caused misery for her family.

“She does not like to eat anything else apart from pawpaw and her parents found it hard to deal with her demands during the drought,” she says.

“I am afraid the effect of climate change might have a great impact on my island … we are a vulnerable community.”

---

Written by: Ben McKay (AAP)