Conservation stakeholders get financing skills training

KEY conservation stakeholders in Papua New Guinea would benefit from a training to strengthen sustainable financing skills to reduce funding gaps facing the country’s ‘protected areas’ network.
The ‘business planning for protected areas’ training lab held in Port Moresby, at PNG’s National Protected Areas Forum, focused on financial management for communities and organisations that managed protected areas across the country.
The intensive training sessions, delivered by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with the Government’s Conservation and Environmental Protection Authority (CEPA), focused on the processes involved with developing a protected areas business plan.
The training included providing practical exercises and best practice international case studies.
Representatives from some of the organisations that attended the training included World Wildlife Fund, Wildlife Conservation Society and the Sepik Wetlands Management Initiative.
UNDP resident representative Dirk Wagener said the main objective of the training programme was to help protected areas implementers consider how they could plan and administer self-financing options that contributed to the management of protected areas.
“UNDP has long been involved in supporting PNG expand its protected areas network,” he said.
“This is critical to conserving the country’s incredible biodiversity.
“These stakeholders received training in financial management.
“This included grant proposal writing to increase capacity to apply for funding.”