The Department of Justice and Attorney General launched the Marine Scientific Research Guidelines 2021 yesterday.
Since December 2021 the Marine Scientific Research Guidelines 2021 guideline was completed and ready to be authorized in the country.
Acting Deputy Secretary for Legal and Policy, Lillian Ipu, spoke about the overview of the Marine Scientific Research Guideline 2021, saying it was a milestone for the country to endorse the guidelines.
With the Act, it establishes the Marine scientific research committee which consists of the Dept. of Justice and Attorney General (DJAG), the Dept. of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Conservation and Environment Protection Authority (CEPA), The National Fisheries Authority (NFA), The National Maritime and Safety Authority (NMSA), University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG), Dept. of Mineral Policy and Geo-hazards management, National Research Institute (NRI), National Weather Services (NWS), Mineral Resources Authority (MRA), PNG Customs, National Mapping Bureau, Department of Provincial and Local Level Government Affairs (DPLLG), Maritime Surveillance, Dept. of Defense, PNG Science and Technology Council, Climate Change and Development Authority (CCDA), and the Investment Promotion Authority (IPA).
“With the Research guideline it provides for basic information or the main steps and processes to assist competent International Marine Science Research Organization who are interested in carrying out Marine Scientific research in PNG waters. It also includes measures for addressing Marine genetic resources of PNG their products and etc. for scientific research and any other purposes.
We thank the Committee and its leadership with the Oceans Office, through that legislation the committee is established and it also provides the functions and powers of the committee to be going through a vetting, the applications for Maritime Scientific Research to be taken place in PNG”, said Ipu.
DJAG Secretary Dr. Eric Kwa said that about 3 applicants had been received from foreign partners to do Marine Scientific Research in PNG waters.
“This document is actually a licensing guideline for marine scientific research, so those who want to undertake research in the PNG Ocean. So what we have do now is we have launched the guidelines for permitting research in Papua New Guinea, what is very important about this documentary is that this document gives us a step by step in which we can approve a research, once the research is completed in Papua New Guinea, it will involve the discovery of new genetic materials in the ocean. Those materials might then be developed into marketable items.
With the launch of these guidelines, developed countries can be able to undertake research and can lead to the development of particular pharmaceuticals and certain technological items, and PNG will still have a right to that research and discovery.