Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) natural environment is the foundation upon which the country’s economy stands.
The terrestrial environment underpins the country’s productive sectors and supports the livelihoods of 80 percent of PNG’s population who live in rural areas.
A recent ‘Analysis Report: Making Nature’s Value Visible’, released by the Conservation and Environment Protection Authority, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme’s Global Environment Facility, stressed on the need to maintain the natural environment.
“The role that the natural environment plays, and the importance of its ecosystem services are often undervalued because either they are unseen (take place under ground or under water) or there is no tradable market value placed on them.
“The result is an environment sector that receives an inadequate budgetary allocation that relatively relates to its contribution to the economy and livelihoods.
“In PNG, this is certainly the case. Currently, only PGK112 million per annum (US$32 million) is allocated to environment protection. This equates to 0.5 percent of total government expenditure.
“This represents a significant underinvestment, as the value of nature is not appropriately captured in traditional accounting, such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“Therefore, focusing on ‘beyond GDP’ measures allow for a more comprehensive approach to fully consider the wide range of values held for ecosystem.
“The Total Economic Value of the natural environment in PNG is estimated to be worth PGK1 trillion (US$310 billion) per annum, 13 times the value of the country’s GDP in 2020.”
