REDD+ strategic plan ready

The National Weekender

By PETER S. KINJAP
LIKE I said last week, today we will look at PNG’s National REDD+ Strategic Plan (NRSP) which got approved by NEC decision number 126/2017.
The Government of Papua New Guinea officially launched its National REDD+ Strategy (NRS) 2017-2027 in 2017.
The NRS was developed by the Climate Change and Development Authority and PNG Forest Authority including other government agencies, civil society and the private sector representatives.
The launch event also marked the publication of PNG’s new REDD+ website: http://www.pngreddplus.org.pg/, which comes on top of the launch earlier this year of PNG’s national forest monitoring system website: http://png-nfms.org/portal/. In these two websites, you can get additional information about the status of REDD+ programmes in Papua New Guinea and how communities can potentially participate.
Key part of response
The strategy is a key part of the country’s response to climate change and of the Green Growth Development agenda as per the National Strategy for Responsible and Sustainable Development.
The NRSP aims to strengthen sustainability of Papua New Guinea’s forests while helping to improve land use planning and management to ensure forests and environments are protected. The ultimate aim is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce the vulnerability of communities to climate change.
The high-level launch event was attended by four then ministers, John Pundari (former Minister for Environment, Conservation and Climate Change), Justin Tkatchenko MP (former Minister for Lands and Physical Planning), Kevin Isifu MP (former Minister for Inter-Government Relations) and Douglas Tomuriesa (Minister for Forestry), along with the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP’s) Director of the Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, Haoliang Xu, and high-level delegates from the governments of Australia, Italy, Germany and Japan, and the European Union.
PNG’s National REDD+ Strategy marks the culmination of six years of REDD+ capacity building, readiness preparation and institutional coordination, and was made possible through the commitment of the government, with leadership from the Climate Change and Development Authority (CCDA) and PNG Forest Authority (PNGFA).
Global initiative

Sonia Baine, REDD+ officer in the Climate Change and Development Authority (CCDA), presenting PNG’s REDD+ website at the National REDD+ Strategy launch event in Port Moresby. – Pictures courtesy of UNDP

In essence, REDD+ is a global initiative under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to reduce greenhouse gas emission from deforestation and forest degradation – which account for about 10% of global human-induced emissions – and promote sustainable forest management, conservation and reforestation in developing countries.
PNG led efforts to include REDD+ in the UNFCCC negotiations in 2005, and has been at the forefront of negotiations on the topic over the past 12 years. REDD+ was included in the Paris Agreement on climate change of 2015 as an important mechanism for developing countries to contribute to global efforts to reduce emissions.
Everyone’s involved
PNG’s National REDD+ Strategy targets action by government, communities and the private sector to help manage the country’s forests while also promoting sustainable rural development. It will support improvements in legislation and capacity across government sectors, including climate change, environment, forestry, and lands, as well as stimulate partnerships with the private sector to help strengthen economic activities and increase the opportunities for rural communities.
The development of the strategy was led by CCDA and PNGFA with contributions from other government agencies including Agriculture and Livestock, Lands, Planning, Finance, as well as civil society, private sector representatives, and other partners including from the UN, and national and international NGOs.
“I am extremely proud to present this strategy, which has the potential to provide real benefits to our communities, our environment and our nation and provide the pathway to future sources of funding for the implementation of the Strategy,” said former Minister Pundari at the launch.
Xu congratulated stakeholders on reaching this important milestone, adding “It is my privilege today to witness PNG’s progress in fighting climate change and the strides the country is taking towards the Sustainable Development Goals. REDD+ will help ensure forest development that is sustainable and supports green growth in PNG”.
What’s next?
Next steps in PNG’s REDD+ process include the development of a REDD+ Finance and Investment Plan, which will serve as an implementation plan for the Strategy – and set out the details of REDD+ implementation in PNG over the next five years.
CCDA is working in close collaboration with key stakeholders in its preparedness towards the implementation of REDD+ in PNG that is transparent and is inclusive of all key stakeholders. The following are key stakeholders from government, private sector, civil society organisations as well as key development partners which are part of this process.
From government are the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, CCDA, PNGFA), Conservation and Environment Protection Authority (Cepa), Department of Lands and Physical Planning (DLPP), Department of Agriculture and Livestock (DAL), Department of Finance and Treasury (DFT).
Academic institutions include University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG), PNG University of Technology (PNGUOT), National Research Institute (NRI) and National Agricultural Research Institute (Nare).
Private sector partners are PNG forest industry and PNG Palm Oil Council.
International development partners are United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Food Agricultural Organisation (FAO), UNDP, Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), and European Union (EU).
Partners from the civil society institutions are The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Eco-Forestry Forum Inc (EFF) and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).
And to further enrich yourselves about the REDD+ model, you can visit the following website to do online training on REDD+ Academy, http://pngreddplus.org.pg/
The REDD+ Academy is the UN-REDD Programme’s capacity development initiative. As part of the programme’s knowledge management support to partner countries it seeks to enable systematic, focused capacity development to deliver REDD+ on the ground.
By implementing REDD+ PNG will contribute to global efforts to address climate change and stand to gain international finance that can be used to strengthen our national development agenda. As such, REDD+ is a true representation of the concepts of climate- compatible development, as laid out in our policy.
In the next article, I will discuss on the failures and successes of other countries in the world have implemented REDD+ model well ahead of Papua New Guinea. Their cases could be beneficial to the implementation of PNG REDD+ programmes.