ABOUT US

Lush green mountains of Lamo Auru covered with dense forest under cloudy sky.
Lush green rainforest of with mist or fog drifting through the trees.

Friends Of Lamo Auru is a Community Interest Company founded and based in the UK, with close ties to international partners.

Our partners include world leading ecologists and conservation scientists, expedition and remote region specialists, world leading environmental charity workers and high end film production teams.

Our Mission

A diverse group of 16 people, including men and women of various ethnicities, posing together in a lush, green jungle of Lamo Auru. They wear outdoor gear with backpacks and hiking equipment, some making peace signs and smiling at the camera.
Graphic image showing Papua and Papua New Guinea

Our mission is to support and celebrate the Indigenous communities in New Britain, Papua New Guinea as they protect their ancestral lands in the Lamo Auru Caldera. Land that they live intrinsically with and have done for generations. Friends of Lamo Auru work in partnership with the Nakanai community of Biakakea in the Bialla region.

Papua New Guinea is home to the oldest and third largest tropical rainforest in the world, constituting to a massive and vital carbon sink, holding an estimated 4,770 million tonnes of carbon.

Graphic of Bialla region, New Britain, Papua New Guinea

Helping Papua New Guinea’s indigenous communities to protect and preseve their ancestral lands is a mission of global importance.

Graphic of Lamo Auru Caldera in New Britain
Protect Lamo Auru

Our Goals from the UK:

  • Generating funds to benefit the communities own conservation efforts

  • Assist with sourcing legal support and generating formal written documents.

  • Finance their ranger team who guard the land and provide them with equipment and vehicles to do so safely

Indigenous communities are by far the best guardians of a regions’ forests and are vital guardians of the environments that they inhabit.

Despite managing a huge portion of global biodiversity, indigenous communities recieve less than 1% of climate funding.

The fight for indigenous land rights is not just for indigenous communities but is essential for global climate goals and preventing species extinction. Indigenous knowledge is increasingly essential for climate adaptaion and preserving biodiversity for the future.

Our work in the Field

We will launch a series of scientific expeditions to the region to collect data that bolsters efforts for the sites UNESCO inclusion

High end documentary film production that elevates the voices of the Nakanai people and generates awareness to emotive, impact and tangible storytelling

Social media coverage that provides educational insight to the current issues faced by marginalised communities in the tropical forests of Papua New Guinea

Research programs initiated that can be continued by the indigenous communities

Build infrastructure in the region to benefit ecotourism and scientific visitors such as birding platforms in the tree canopy

Provide practical field research and training to the community to develop their skills

Dense green palm leaves overlapping each other in a lush jungle setting.

Who are the Friends of Lamo Auru?

Smiling Waldo Etherington in red winter gear and a beanie outdoors in snow, carrying a backpack, with a yellow tent in the background.

Waldo Etherington

CO - FOUNDER, EXPEDITION LEADER, RISK MANAGEMENT & PROFESSIONAL ADVENTURE ATHLETE

Internationally recognised expertise in rope access as well as complex expedition management and safety. Director of Remote Ropes

Georgia Hall stands in Olduvai gorge in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in Tanzania

Georgia Hall

CO- FOUNDER, PRODUCTION AND BUSINESS MANAGER & IMPACT PRODUCER

Highly experienced in financial and logistical coordination for remote expeditions and film productions

Ross Vernon McDonald crouches holding a longlens camera next to some penguins on a remote beach with mountains in the background

Ross Vernon McDonald

CO - FOUNDER, EXPEDITION CINEMATOGRAPHER & CONSERVATION FILMMAKER

Conservation and documentary filmmaker specialising in humanitarian and wildlife stories. Director of CineWanderer

  • Close-up of a man wearing a tan baseball cap and sunglasses resting on the cap, with a blue sky in the background.

    Dr John Lane

    GEOLOGIST

  • A woman sitting on the forest ground, resting against a tree, with a serious expression, wearing outdoor gear and gloves, surrounded by trees and foliage.

    Beki Henderson

    PRODUCER & CO-DIRECTOR OF HOW TO PROTECT A FOREST FILM

  • A man observing a camouflaged stick insect on a large green leaf in a lush outdoor setting.

    Dr Thom Dallimore

    ENTOMOLOGIST

  • A woman with long curly hair and a yellow flower in her hair, smiling while sitting outdoors near water with trees in the background.

    Dr Jennifer Gabriel

    ANTHROPOLOGIST

  • A man wearing a beige shirt and khaki pants kneeling outdoors, tending to a small fire with sticks in a natural setting with rocks in the background.

    Ben McNutt

    BUSHCRAFT AND WILDERNESS EXPEDITION EXPERT

  • Smiling woman sitting on sand dunes in desert landscape with distant mountains under cloudy sky.

    Debs Nickolls

    BUSHCRAFT AND WILDERNESS EXPEDITION EXPERT

  • Close-up of a man wearing a green beanie and black jacket, outdoors on a cloudy day.

    Nick Ogden

    EDITOR

  • A man wearing a teal baseball cap and black t-shirt operating a professional movie camera indoors.

    Luke Ogden

    DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY

  • A person wearing a yellow bike helmet and a red shirt uses a camera trap in a lush jungle to capture wildlife.

    Ollie Thomas

    CANOPYCAM TECHNICIAN

What began as a passion project has evolved into something more. We’re proud to be working with the Nakanai community of Baikakea, New Britain and are hopeful of the impact that we can have in our support for the Lamo Auru Conservation Association.

Protecting our planets forests is essential for all life on Earth and in the fight against climate change. Can you help support us?

DONATE TO SUPPORT US HERE