PNG lacks carbon policy

PAPUA New Guinea lacks the capacity, technology and finance to collect, store and analyse blue carbon data, therefore does not have a blue carbon policy, says Climate Change and Development Authority official Jason Paniu.
He attended a two-week Pacific blue carbon training programme on North Stradbroke Island in Australia to address climate change in the Pacific.
“PNG has a diverse area of blue carbon ecosystems in the country, but we have overlooked its importance because of our incapability,” he said.
“The main objectives of the training programme were to build capacity on how to collect, measure, map, and be able to do analysis on blue carbon data, formulate a policy for PNG and incorporate it into the national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory.
“Blue carbon is the removal of carbon dioxide from the earth’s atmosphere by the world’s oceanic and coastal ecosystems, mostly by algae, sea grasses, macro algae, mangroves, salt marshes and other plants in coastal wetlands.
“This occurs through plant growth, and the accumulation and burial of organic matter in the soil.”
Colleague Everlyn Paul said since blue carbon was new to PNG, more training should be conducted.
“To implement blue carbon projects, we still need more training to successfully implement in the country and importantly to incorporate blue carbon into the current GHG inventories,” Paul said.