Tonda Wildlife Management Area is a vast coastal and floodplain wetland system covering approximately 590,000 hectares in Western Province of Papua New Guinea, within the Trans Fly ecoregion near the border with Indonesia. The site comprises a diverse range of habitats, including coastal mangroves, extensive grassland plains, seasonal wetlands, rivers and floodplains, savanna woodlands, and freshwater swamp forests. These ecosystems support high biodiversity, with more than 250 recorded species and at least 10 East Asian Australasian Flyway migratory waterbird species. Tonda has historically supported large congregations of species such as Little Curlew and Australian Pratincole, and forms part of a broader transboundary wetland landscape connected to Wasur National Park in Indonesia. 

The wetland provides essential ecosystem services, including fisheries resources, subsistence livelihoods, and cultural values for local communities, with approximately 1,500 people living within the area and relying on hunting, fishing, and small-scale resource use. The site is managed through a community-based system supported by government agencies, but faces increasing pressures from climate change, illegal hunting, encroachment, mining impacts, and insufficient management capacity. Strengthening community-led site management, biodiversity monitoring, and sustainable tourism development presents key opportunities to improve conservation outcomes while supporting livelihoods.

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