POMIO: WHERE LAND IS LIFE.
Across two expeditions with WWF-Pacific and WWF-Belgium, Tom travelled through the remote Pomio District of East New Britain to document its communities, wildlife and growing conservation efforts. With a new office established in Palmalmal in late 2024, Pomio has become one of WWF’s newest project sites in Papua New Guinea.
The district is home to vast rainforests, remarkable biodiversity and coastal ecosystems deeply connected to the lives and traditions of local communities. As pressures from logging, agricultural expansion and the unsustainable use of natural resources increase, WWF is working alongside communities to strengthen locally led conservation from the forests to the sea. Through photography and film, this ongoing project follows the people protecting Pomio’s natural heritage—and the extraordinary species that depend on it.
On assignment for:
WWF-Pacific & WWF-Belgium
EXPEDITION ONE — EXPLORING POMIO.
Tom’s first expedition to Pomio introduced him to a region of immense forests, remote coastal communities and extraordinary biodiversity. Travelling alongside WWF and local partners, he documented the landscapes, people and conservation priorities shaping the organisation’s expanding work across the district.
The expedition also led to an unexpected discovery: the first-ever photographs of the New Britain Goshawk, one of the world’s least-known birds and a species that had remained undocumented by science for decades.
The first photo ever.
During this expedition, Tom photographed the New Britain Goshawk, a rare bird that was on the “Lost Species” bird list. This great conservation news went viral and where shared by dozens of news outlets across the world, garnering hundreds of millions of social media impressions.
Read the WWF Press Release here.
The story was covered by more than one hundred different outlets across the world including:
STORIES FROM POMIO.
The expedition resulted in a short documentary introducing WWF-Pacific’s expanding conservation work in Pomio, accompanied by two portrait films featuring people helping shape the future of conservation in the region.
EXPEDITION TWO — RETURNING TO POMIO.
In late 2025, Tom returned to Pomio with WWF-Pacific and WWF-Belgium to continue documenting the region’s communities, biodiversity and evolving conservation work. The second expedition expanded the story from the rainforest to the coast, highlighting community efforts to protect forests, marine ecosystems and important turtle nesting areas.
Through a new collection of photographs and films, Tom documented the people leading this work and the close connections between Pomio’s communities, cultures and natural environment. Together, the two expeditions offer a broader view of locally led conservation across one of Papua New Guinea’s most remarkable regions.
MORE STORIES FROM POMIO.
The second expedition resulted in two short documentaries exploring Pomio’s turtle monitoring programme and the People Powering Biodiversity project. These were accompanied by four short films highlighting the people, communities and locally led conservation efforts at the heart of WWF’s work across the region.
One of the many media outcomes from the assets gathered by Tom during the expedition was this great interactive article with several participants of the expedition.
"LAND IS LIFE AND LIFE IS LAND"
