Papua New Guinea: Building Resilience to Climate Change in Papua New Guinea

Public sector management / Public administration

PNG is a lower middle-income country of approximately 6.5 million people with high vulnerability to volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, cyclones, droughts, and other weather-induced extreme events. Key impediments facing PNG's efforts to facilitate transformational change toward climate-resilient development include (i) inadequate human, technical, and financial resources at all levels; (ii) limited knowledge of climate change risk management; and (iii) poorly designed infrastructure that is vulnerable to climate change impacts. Climate change is therefore a critical challenge with enormous implications for the entire range of development concerns in PNG: poverty alleviation, sustainable livelihoods, and food security. Climate change has the potential to reverse the country's hard-earned development gains, and could compromise its ability to achieve its plans for a prosperous, peaceful, and secure growth. As such, climate change response ought to be mainstreamed into government policy, planning, and programming in order to help improve the resilience of communities and mitigate increasingly severe climate change impacts.

Climate change could result in losses of up to 15.2% of PNG's gross domestic product by 2100 (under a business-as-usual scenario), with agriculture being the most affected sector. Coral reefs around the Pacific will be affected, with implications for recreational opportunities for tourism, coastal protection, habitat, nursery functions for commercial fisheries, and other goods and services. Some 4,500 kilometers of the total 17,100 kilometers of shoreline are expected to be inundated, affecting up to 30% of PNG's population. Those most vulnerable to climate change are the 2,000 coastal villages with a combined population of around 800,000. Food shortages are common in the island regions. Poverty rates are high, and increased during 2003-2008 from 37% to 54%.6 Ports and wharves are critical for interisland transport, but are not designed to withstand climate extremes. Upgrading such coastal infrastructure is necessary for timely delivery of perishable food products to markets, and for agricultural inputs for farming and fisheries. Given the declining productivity in agriculture due to limited arable land, unsustainable farming practices, and overexploitation of coastal resources, climate-induced storm surges and coastal flooding are likely to worsen the situation. Public health will also be affected.

There is, therefore, a clear need to (i) build institutional, technical, and financial capacity to deal with climate change risks; and (ii) enhance resilience of island and atoll communities by increasing productivity of the natural resource base, increasing access to water supply and sanitation, improving food processing and storage, and strengthening port infrastructure. Establishment of an enabling policy environment is a prerequisite for success. Addressing these impediments will not only facilitate mainstreaming climate change in development but also ensure sustainable use of the country's natural resources and the long-term economic development of the country.

Sustainable fishery ecosystems and food security investments piloted in nine vulnerable island and atoll communities

Climate change and vulnerability assessments carried out and adaptation plans developed for target communities.

Enabling framework for climate-resilient infrastructure established and communications network extended.

Initial activities are expected to commence in 2019

Initial activities are expected to commence in 2019

Initial activities are expected to commence in 2019

Initial activities are expected to commence in 2019

Initial activities are expected to commence in 2019

Project implementation is expected to commence in January 2016. The executing agency will be CCDA under the guidance of a project steering committee that will be cochaired by a secretary-level officer or designated representative from the Department of National Planning and Monitoring and CCDA. The steering committee will consist of representatives from the Department of Treasury, Department of Health, the Coastal and Inland Fisheries Development Agency, the National Disaster Centre, PNG Ports Corporation, National Agricultural Research Institute, and representatives from the five participating provinces, with ADB as an observer. The steering committee shall meet quarterly initially and then biannually once implementation stabilizes or, as required, to review project implementation performance and approve annual work plans and budgets. A PMU will be established in the CCDA, headed by a full-time project director seconded from the CCDA who will be supported by a full-time national project coordinator and PISCs. The PISCs will provide technical support to the PMU as well as financial management, procurement, and support for SGF-related activities. The PMU will be the secretariat for the project steering committee.

Implementation arrangements are summarized in Table 3 and are further detailed in the project administration manual.

All consultants and NGOs will be recruited according to ADB's Guidelines on the Use of Consultants. the terms of reference are provided in the Project Administration Manual.

The Project Implementation Support Consultants (PISC) to be recruited will provide implementation support for the project providing additional resources for the Project Management Unit to implement the project as intended. The PISC consultant has been recruited and commenced the services in August 2018.

The PNG Ports Corp. Ltd. (PNG PCL) Enabling Framework consultants will be engaged following QCBS procedures to assist in developing the enabling framework that will assist in addressing the variations expected from climate change. The PEFC consultant has been recruited and services commenced in August 2018.

NGO contracts will also be recruited to support the implementation of Outputs 1 and 2 in the 21 priority vulnerable islands. United Nation Development Program (UNDP) has been recruited on March 2020 however due to COVID19 their service commenced on July 2020.