A consultative workshop to discuss the Protected Area Policy Bill will be held this week from September 27-29 in Port Moresby.
Papua New Guinea is a party to the Convention on Biological Diversity since the Rio Earth Summit in 1992.
The workshop will also discuss the protected area implementation plan and the National Biodiversity Strategic Action Plan (NBSAP).
The plan and the Protected Area Bill will become the main vehicle to implement the PNG Policy on Protected Areas, which was endorsed by the National Executive Council in early December 2014.
Together the policy and the plan will improve PNG’s implementation of the NBSAP.
The three days stakeholder workshop is aimed to provide feedback and finalize the Government’s Protected Area Network Implementation plan and Protected Area Bill.
An earlier workshop in March 2016 agreed for this follow up workshop to focus on the Protected Area Policy and the plan.
The workshop is organised by the Conservation Environment Protection Authority (CEPA) in partnership with PNG Mama Graun Conservation Trust Fund.
The workshop also aims to seek input from the key stakeholders from other Government Agencies, Private Sector, Development Partners and NGO’s on the Protected Area Bill.
It aims to engage key stakeholder decision makers through stakeholder participation in the development of Protected Area Implementation Plan and Protected Area Bill.
Workshop organisers hope that the following outcomes will be met by the end of workshop.
Caption: A portion of a locally managed marine area in Milne Bay Province
Picture courtesy of www.archive.constantcontact.com