Climate Change

Preparing for and responding to natural disasters as they affect access to food for millions of people in the Pacific Islands, was of the major themes at the meeting.

50 representatives from governments, non-governmental and UN organisations, jointly hosted by Food Security Cluster co-lead Coordinators: the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).

The three-day event was designed to foster collaboration, coordination and the sharing of ideas and experiences amongst members.

Malcolm Turnbull is due to meet the American president on Thursday in New York.

Mr Bainimarama, who is in Australia, said he has asked Mr Turnbull to reinforce his earlier message to Mr Trump for the US to stay in the Paris Agreement and to continue to take a leadership role.

In his speech in Melbourne at the opening of the 4th Australasian Emissions Reduction Summit Mr Bainimarama said his message was simple.

He called on the president not to let the side down by leaving the Paris Agreement when there was a clear game plan and so many scores on board.

Sea level rise is an effect of climate change which is causing coastal impact on the islands.

Mbuke Group of Islands is located in Ward One of Pobuma Local Level Government.

Head of the local NGO Marine Environment Awareness and Response Team, former WWF Marine Officer Selarn Kaluwin, said they’ve started to relocate due to sea level rise and population growth.

The Government of PNG, with the support of the United Nations Development Authority (UNDP), has been developing the PNG National REDD+Strategy since 2015, under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

REDD+ is an important part of PNG’s plan to take action against climate change and PNG was one of the countries that supported its inclusion in the Paris Climate Change Agreement.

The strategy is on REDD+ including sustainable forest management, conservation of carbon stocks and enhancement of carbon stocks (REDD+) for the period of 2017-2027.

The signing of the $US27.29 million (K88.79 million) project was between the Climate Change Development Authority as the executing agency and the Office of the Coastal Fisheries Development Agency as the implementing agency.

This climate adaptation project is funded by the Government Investment Fund and is administered by the Asian Development Bank.

The BRCC project will be rolled out in five provinces; Milne Bay, Manus, Morobe, East New Britain and the Autonomous Region of Bougainville.

The meeting brought together government representatives, non-government organisations, and the private sector.

The regional project will operate in: The Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

The project headquarters is located in Suva, Fiji with sub-regional offices in Port Moresby and Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia.

PNG is currently in the process of developing REDD+ for the country under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and in accordance with the 2015 Paris Agreement.

The National REDD+ Strategy was the main focus of discussions and training sessions at a workshop this week in Kavieng attended by 60 representatives from the government and private sector.

The outcomes from the workshop will be in a revised document that will help provide clear direction on how PNG can reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

PNG is among many countries under the UNFCCC that rectified the Paris Agreement and must report on their status on the NGHGI.

The Paris Agreement and the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) that underpin the Agreement provide a framework for the collective action necessary to address global climate change.

This includes specific action in the agriculture and land-use sector.

Koaru village in particular has been hard hit by rising sea level caused by climate change and majority of the villagers have been moving inland to resettle away from the coast.

The village has a population of  more than 800 people and has been dependent on water from wells dug out from the sand over the years. It was recently that they discovered the taste of the water turning salty.

Approximately 10 per cent of global GHG emissions are caused by land-use change and, in particular, the destruction of tropical forests. Papua New Guinea (PNG) has one of the most significant areas of largely-intact tropical forest in the world but these forests are facing acute and imminent threats.

Since 2008, PNG has been at the forefront of negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to develop an international mechanism to compensate developing countries for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD plus).