Sharing responsibility to protect environment seen as vital

Sharing the responsibility of protecting the natural and business environment will benefit PNG, US Ambassador Catherine Ebert-Gray says.
Ebert-Gray, pictured, told a workshop in Port Moresby that the private sector had made many valuable contributions to PNG to reduce litter, protect the environment and respond to natural disasters.
But the private sector cannot do it alone.
“Investing in risk-reduction measures, while struggling to stay afloat in today’s volatile markets is no longer the smart approach,” she said.
The workshop, focussed on improving the private sector’s ability to access to climate change financing and promoting private public partnerships, was attended by 40 participants from Fiji, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea.
Ebert-Gray said the workshop was timely because of the need to strengthen Pacific Island countries’ resilience was high on the development agenda.
“Threats brought about by extreme weather and natural disasters in the Pacific Island communities are not something that governments can handle alone,” she said.
She said the workshop was good for PNG because it had some of the largest private sector groups in the region. As the largest Pacific Island nation, Papua New Guinea was one of the lowest recipients of climate finance.
Ebert-Gray said compared to Samoa, PNG had received US$6.9 million (K21.5 million) in 2016 while Samoa received US$120 million (K375 million).
She said the workshop was a step towards PNG’s private sector bettering its position to access climate funds to address extreme weather events.