Papua New Guinean climate change activist, Latin N’Drihin, says he will commence an 80-kilometre pilgrimage walk on the eve of World Environment Day Celebrations on Monday 5th of June.
He will be carrying a 12ft cross from downtown Port Moresby to Sogeri promoting peace with nature.
On Sunday, he commences the 5-day walk from the Climate Change and Development Authority office in downtown Port Moresby to the Sogeri National High school and return by Friday 9th of June.
N’Drihin created the “Nature Peace Cross” as he calls it to symbolise love, care, respect, peace and understanding of God’s creations.
The Nature Peace Cross according to N’Drihin, was commissioned by Father Dominic Maka from the Lorengau Catholic Parish in his home province, Manus in 2014.
According to N’Drihin, the Climate Change and Development Authority has supported his pilgrimage walks for the past six years including this one.
He says he hope to make the nature peace walk an annual event as an avenue for people to “connect with nature”.
On Monday he meets up with officers from Conservation and Environment Protection Authority at the Varirata Park to launch World Environment Day celebrations under the theme “Nature to connect”.
N’Drihin, now in his mid-40s, is widely known in the Pacific, for his radical advocacy campaigns.
In 2015, he narrowly avoided deportation from Fiji in 2015, when he returned to the country 10 days and close to two kilometres into a similar three-month peace walk.
In 2012, he attempted to walk 5 million footsteps to raise K11 million in a bid to save the mangrove population in PNG.
Probably his most radical act yet was turning himself over to police in Manus in 2014 to be locked up, as a statement of support for climate action.
