Key conservation stakeholders in Papua New Guinea will benefit from training to strengthen sustainable financing skills to reduce funding gaps facing the country’s Protected Area network.
The Business Planning for Protected Areas training lab held in Port Moresby, at Papua New Guinea’s National Protected Areas Forum - focused on financial management for communities and organizations that manage Protected Areas across the country.
The intensive training sessions, delivered by UNDP in partnership with the Government’s Conservation and Environmental Protection Authority, focused information on the processes involved with developing a Protected Area business plan. This included providing practical exercises and best practice international case studies.
Representatives from some of the organizations attending the training included World Wildlife Fund, Wildlife Conservation Society, and the Sepik Wetlands Management Initiative.
UNDP Resident Representative, Dirk Wagener said a main objective of the training programme was to help Protected Area implementers consider how they can plan and administer self-financing options that contribute to the management of Protected Areas.
“UNDP has long been involved in supporting Papua New Guinea expand its protected areas network. This is critical to conserving the country’s incredible biodiversity. These stakeholders received training in financial management. This included grant proposal writing to increase capacity to apply for funding and manage and report grants outcomes to potential donors,” Wagener said.
The training materials will be published on a national website which hosts a toolkit of resources for Protected Area managers: www.pngbiodiversity.org.
Additionally, business planning guidelines for Papua New Guinea’s Protected Areas will also be produced as a resource tool for stakeholders to develop and implement their own business plans.
Business Planning for Protected Areas was delivered by the United Nations Development Programme in partnership with Government’s Conservation and Environmental Protection Authority. This work is made possible with funding assistance of the Global Environment Facility.