US funds environment programme

THE United States has invested US$1.5 million (K4.7 million) into a joint research programme to strengthen environmental policies in Papua New Guinea, US ambassador Catherine Ebert Gray, said yesterday.
Gray was in Lae for World Environment Day celebrations at the Coca Cola Amatil depot and Forest Habitat at the PNG University of Technology.
She said the programme is a five-year project between the US and PNG’s Department of National Planning and Monitoring.
Gray said a school curriculum will be developed to improve natural resources management and strengthen PNG’s capacity to adapt to changing climates, with the plan being to use science and education to make people, plants and animals more environmentally resilient.
“PNG is one of the last natural  enclaves on earth and it is now time for us to preserve and make the environment friendly for all of us,” Gray said.