This National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) demonstrates the Papua New Guinea s commitment to comply with the provisions of the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) and moves from the consideration that Papua New Guinea s native animals, plants, and other forms of life are under threat and decline, because many actions of the rural subsistence population resulted in extinctions of some of the country s unique biodiversity ecosystem. As Papua New Guinea is committed to protecting the global environment and considering its dependance on biodiversity to sustain its livelihoods, the government has recognised the urgency to review with new goals and targets the 2007 NBSAP, in order to realise a living evolving document, adapted to the new challenges threatening the environment and its resources. This NBSAP, in close linkage to the Papua New Guinea s 40-year Development Strategic Plan (2010- 2050), the Vision 2050, also represents a guiding policy framework for provincial and district authorities, civil society and the private sector in their approaches to biodiversity conservation and ecosystems management. The Document is structured as follows: 1) Executive Summary, including Papua New Guinea s development vision, importance of biodiversity and natural resources to Papua New Guinea, status and trends of biodiversity in Papua New Guinea. 2) National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan 2019-2024, including: purposes, vision, objectives, targets. 3) Papua New Guinea s biodiversity wealth, ecoregions and ecosystems, marine ecosystems, terrestrial ecosystems, protected areas, traditional knowledge and genetic resources, globally significant plant biodiversity and endemism, drivers and threats to biodiversity. 4) Background to Papua New Guinea s roadmap to the biodiversity agenda. 5) Papua New Guinea Vision 2050. 6) Action Plan for biodiversity. 7) Key Lessons learned.
This revised National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan defines its vision and objectives, based on the slogan Living in harmony with nature : the government provides for biodiversity valuation, conservation, restoration and wisely use, maintaining ecosystem services, sustaining a healthy planet and delivering benefits essential for all people. The objectives of the Document focus on: development of sustainable development measures in all sectors, to increase resilience to the impacts of climate change and environmental changes, including emissions; increasing environmental sustainability with educational awareness on values of biodiversity, and economic opportunities such as carbon trade, payment for ecosystem services, and ecotourism; effective participation and cooperation with national and international community on environment and climate change agendas; enhancement and establishment of mechanisms for fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilisation of genetic resources. The NBSAP concerns the division of the country into ecoregions, in order to classify and monitor endemic IUCN endangered and threatened species; marine ecosystem, focusing on coastal management and protection, inshore lagoons, fringing and barrier reef systems, the exclusive economic zone (EEZ), marine protected area systems, fight against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing; terrestrial ecosystem, focusing on: vegetation types, rainforest and secondary forests classification and protection, protected and conservation areas, including mountain and national parks.
The Document also focuses on: protection of species of birds and mammals, amphibians and reptile richness; local languages and culture protection as a gateway to traditional ecological knowledge; rural communities fishing activities and fishing tools; the following threats to biodiversity: industrial logging; subsistence agriculture, with deterioration in soil fertility, biosecurity risks and habitat destruction; commercial agriculture, with increased demand for food commodities such as coffee, cocoa, copra, rubber, spices, palm oil, sugar plantations and livestock products, that has led to land conversion, increased settlement and smallholder agriculture and migration of rural workers; increasing mining activity, with liquefied natural gas production and mineral extraction; bushfires; extreme weather conditions due to climate change; invasive alien species; hunting and resources exploitation. Concerning key actions for biodiversity, the Document concerns: monitoring and reducing risks to natural disasters, improving access to drinking water and achieving reliable and equitable sanitation and hygiene measures.