PNG Shares REDD+ Experience At COP23

Port Moresby, 13 November 2017 – An official Side Event to be hosted by UNDP and supported by the Papua New Guinea Government at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate ChangeConference of the Parties (COP23) in Germany, on 16 November will provide a platform for PNG to share with other countries its experiences on how REDD+ can contribute to achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and PNG’s National Determined Contribution (NDC)^[1].

PNG is part of international efforts to protect and restore forests as part of global initiatives to address and mitigate climate change. These efforts are formally referred to as REDD plus (+). REDD+ stands for countries’ efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD), and foster conservation, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks (+).

A challenge for developing countries is to design national REDD+ strategies that will effectively and efficiently reduce net emissions while simultaneously ensuring that the other climate and non-climate services provided by forests are not adversely affected.  REDD+ most obviously contributes to the achievement of SDG Goal 13, “Action on Climate Change”; yet because forests provide a wide range of ecological, political, economic, social and cultural services, a narrow focus on climate mitigation could mean that the multitude of other services which may have the potential to achieve multiple SDGs may be overlooked, or their benefits adversely affected.

To illustrate how this challenge has been addressed, PNG and two other countries from the Asia-Pacific region, Myanmar and Mongolia, will present their visions for REDD+ and explain how their REDD+ strategies will contribute to meeting SDG and NDC goals.

PNG identified national priorities on climate change and other sectors by including a target of a 50% reduction in GHG emissions by 2030 and to reach a point of carbon neutrality by 2050 in the NDC and National Strategy for Responsible and Sustainable Development (StaRS).

A REDD+ delegation from PNG comprised of senior government officials will present PNG’s progress in integrating REDD+ into the National Strategy for Responsible Sustainable Development and Climate Change Commitments under the Paris Agreement of PNG. Participants expected to attend the side event are board members for Green Climate Fund (GCF), donors, development partners, and government officials from diverse countries.

^[1]SGDs are a set of the 17 global development goals that were agreed as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted, by all 193-member nations of the UN including PNG, in 2015.