Policy drafted to save PNG’s biodiversity

By ANCILLA WRAKUALE
THE Environment and Conservation Department has drawn up a draft policy to conserve the country’s unique biodiversity, deputy secretary Gunther Joku said yesterday.
He said it was understandable that Papua New Guinea was a developing country and would like to develop its natural resources for economic purposes but it was equally important that “we protect our biodiversity for future generations”.
The department conducted a one-day public consultation in Goroka, Eastern Highlands province, yesterday on a discussion paper on Natural Protected Area System (NPAS), a first for the government.
The aim of the meeting was to gauge views and stimulate discussion among stakeholders and landowners so that their views could be fairly represented in the policy.
The department would be working closely with sector agencies, the private sector in agriculture and mining and international donor agencies to implement the policy.
The discussion paper is the first step towards establishing a systematic framework and process for establishing a NPAS and draws lessons from PNG and selected international experience.
“The protected area system will be developed primarily on customary land tenure on land, marine or freshwater and the long-term support of local communities will be critical to the success of the initiative to create the NPAS,” he said.
The department will be conducting similar public consultation with stakeholders and landowners in the coming days in Madang, Kokopo and later in Port Moresby.
REDD+ officer with the Wildlife Conservation Society in Goroka Benson Ken said such policies would need full government support to make them work.
He said many conservation efforts in the past had failed because there was no link between the government and implementers such as NGOs.
According to the Wiley online conservation index, four of the largest and most species-rich countries – China, Indonesia, India and Thailand – contain 82% of the region’s large reserves and 86% of the region’s area designated for protection.
The index also indicated high potential for conservation efforts in Papua New Guinea, Laos, Myanmar, New Caledonia, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands, which have a high percentage of remaining forested habitats and high species richness but which lack comprehensive protected area systems.