This Initial National Communication contains a series of activities implemented by the Government of Papua New Guinea (GoPNG) in consultation with communities and nongovernment organisations since 1998. The Office of the Environment and Conservation (OEC) was tasked to co-ordinate the implementation of the initiative with UNDP and the appointed Coordinator to manage the project.
Papua New Guinea (PNG) signed and ratified as a Non-Annex I Party the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992 and 1994 resp. and the Kyoto Protocol in 1999 resp. 2002. The Initial National Communication was prepared in 2000, then got endorsed by cabinet in late 2001 and officially submitted after the ratification in 2002. The Office of Climate Change and Development (OCCD) of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change is the national focal point for the UNFCCC and is responsible for the preparation of this Second National Communication (SNC).
Papua New Guinea (PNG) has both very low absolute emissions and relatively low per capita emissions. The nation is, however, committed to also be a responsible global citizen contributes meaningfully to the reduction of global emissions by transitioning to a low carbon economy. PNG shares the deep concerns of its nearby Pacific Island neighbours in terms of existential threats to some of the more vulnerable low lying countries. In addition there are the same existential threats to coastal and low lying areas of PNG itself.
The Island of New Guinea is the largest tropical island in the world and contains the third largest tropical rainforest after Amazon Basin and Congo basin. Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a well-known centre for biological endemism and diversification. Most forests in PNG are under customary ownership and play an important role in sustaining the traditional subsistence livelihoods of most of the population. Currently PNG’s forests are relatively intact. PNG’s forest covers 80% of the country’s land area and 60% of the forest are undisturbed.
Papua New Guinea signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in June 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and became a Party after its ratification in March 1993. On 21st September 2016, PNG ratified the Paris Agreement in New York during the 72nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly. PNG is also a member of the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and aligns itself with the Alliance of the Small Island Developing States (AOSIS) in the context of the UNFCCC.
FAO, at the request of its member countries, regularly monitors the world´s forests and their management and uses through the Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA). This country report is prepared as a contribution to the FAO publication, the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2015 (FRA 2015).
The last devastating El Niño experienced in PNG in 1997 and 1998 caused a severe reduction in crop yields due to below average rainfall, with up to 80 per cent in many areas. An increased occurrence of frosts were experienced as low as 1,450m above sea level but with most affected areas above 2,200m in the Western Highlands, Southern Highlands and Central Provinces (Allen, 2000). Surveys (Barr, 1999) conducted throughout 1997 found virtually everyone in rural PNG was affected to some extent and an estimated 40 per cent were seriously affected.
This study aimed to assess the association between climate factors and the incidence ofchildhood pneumonia in Papua New Guinea quantitatively and to evaluate the variability of the effect size according to their geographic properties. The pneumonia incidence in children under five-year and meteorological factors were obtained from six areas, including monthly rainfall and the monthly average daily maximum temperatures during the period from 1997 to 2006 from national health surveillance data.
Papua New Guinea has a monsoonal climate characterized by high temperatures and humidity throughout the year. Two monsoonal seasons are recognized: the northwest monsoons, which occur from December to March, and the southwest Monsoons, which occur from May to October. Indeed, the country is home to one of the wettest climates of the world and rainfall in many areas of the country exceeds 2500 mm, with the heaviest events occurring in the highlands. Temperatures are relatively steady across the country, and mean temperatures in Port Moresby range from 26:C to 28:C.
The proposed Sustainable Highlands Highway Infrastructure Program (SHHIP) is envisaged as a ten- year, multi- partner, multi-tranche financing facility aiming to restore and upgrade the Highlands Highway in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The executing agency is the PNG Department of Works (DoW). The initial climate screening of SHHIP using AWARE determined the Investment Program to be at medium risk to climate and climate change. As a result, ADB procedures require that a climate risk and vulnerability assessment (CRVA) be undertaken during the design stage.
Climate change is already affecting millions of people worldwide. In urban areas, which are typically characterized by significantly higher population density, climate change will exacerbate and compound existing climate vulnerabilities, especially for the urban poor. As a result of climate change, it is expected that storm frequency and intensity will increase, flooding will become more serious and drought will affect food production in rural areas, which will have damaging effects in urban areas. Coastal areas are also threatened by inundation from storm surges and sea-level rise.
This fourth National Report to the CBD describes the measures taken by PNG to implement the various Articles of the CBD and especially through implementation of the NBSAP and the progress it has made towards the 2010 target and implementation of its Strategic Plan.
Considered as one of the world’s biodiversity rich countries, Papua New Guinea ranks among the megadiverse countries and the last frontiers for biodiversity conservation. This land of diversity hosts 6-8% of the global species, hosts one-sixth of known languages, and rivals Borneo, the Amazon and the Congo in terms of biodiversity wealth. PNG comprises the eastern half of the largest tropical island on earth, along with hundreds of smaller outlying islands, and its land mass only occupying less than 0.5% of the world’s total.
There is no use of ODS alternatives in the local foam manufacturing nor is there any solvent sector. There are no manufacturers of aerosol nor was any solvent use identified that would be relevant for this survey. Foam manufacturing does exist but the com.
The Five Directive Principles of Papua New Guinea’s Constitution provide the vision and tools to enable our society to
achieve the concept of sustainable development/sustainable living in the 21st century. Many of our village societies continue to live sustainably as our people have for hundreds of years, living a life balanced and in harmony with the environment.
The Tonda Wildlife Management Area (WMA) is the only Ramsar site in the south Pacific region outside Australia. It was declared a Ramsar site on 23rd March, 1993 because it is believed to support internationally significant populations of both resident and migratory shorebirds and waterbirds and is probably an important staging point for shorebirds during migration between eastern Australia and the breeding grounds in eastern Russia.
The Convention on Wetlands is an intergovernmental treaty adopted on 2 February 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar, on the southern shore of the Caspian Sea. Thus, though the name of the Convention is written “Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, Iran, 1971)”, it has come to be known popularly as the “Ramsar Convention”. Ramsar is the first of the modern multilateral environmental agreements on the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources, and compared with more recent ones, its provisions are relatively straightforward.