Located in the South West Pacific, Papua New Guinea (PNG) comprises the eastern half of New Guinea island, four additional islands (Manus, New Ireland, New Britain, and Bougainville), and 600 smaller islets and atolls. PNG is home to a diverse range of ecosystems, including mountain glaciers, humid tropical rainforests, swampy wetlands, and immaculate coral reefs. In addition to harboring abundant natural resources such as gold, copper, oil and natural gas, PNG boasts 7% of the world’s biodiversity. Agriculture, fishing, community forestry, and artisanal and small-scale mining are primary livelihood activities in rural areas. Widespread poverty, poor infrastructure, corruption, safety and security concerns, among other factors, all heighten the vulnerability of the local population across PNG. PNG is already prone to numerous natural disasters and climate variability and change are set to accelerate the occurrence of landslides, soil erosion, deforestation, and loss of biodiversity, as well as increase occurrence of recurrent floods and droughts. 

The Office of Climate Change and Development (OCCD) is the coordinating body for all climate change related policies and tasked with ensuring a path of climate-compatible growth. Towards this goal, the government launched a 40-year development strategy in October 2009 called “PNG Vision 2050” to develop sustainable development measures in all sectors to increase resilience to the impacts of climate and environmental changes. In May 2015, the PNG Government passed the Climate Change Bill to become the first nation in the Pacific region to implement a law that will, among other things, minimize the effects of climate change as a result of infrastructural development. PNG ratified the Paris Agreement on September 21, 2016 and its Nationally Determined Contribution can be found here.