1. Forest Policy and Planning Directorate
Pacific Week of Agriculture Side Event Forestry Technical Meeting Theme: “Sustainable Forest and Landscape Management for a Resilient Future in the Pacific Region” Papua New Guinea 30th September, 2019, Apia, Samoa
Ruth Turia (PhD)
Director
Forest Policy and Planning Directorate
PNG Forest Authority

2. Contents REDD+ PNG’s achievements Challenges and Lessons learnt
Priorities moving Forward
Opportunities for regional co-operation
Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR)
Pacific regional target setting
National FLR approach

3. 1. REDD+ The Warsaw Framework
National Strategy (NS) or Action Plan (AP)
National Forest Monitoring System (NFMS)
Safeguards & Safeguards Information System (SIS)
Forest Reference Emission Level (FREL/FRL)

4. PNG’s Achievements
Developed the National REDD+ Strategy and published on UNFCCC in April 2018
Submitted FRL in 2017 and is published on the UNFCCC website:
Developed a NFMS: PNG REDD+ and Forest Monitoring Web-Portal (

5. NFMS Component PNG MRV System CO2 PNG MRV Collect Earth Terra PNG NFI
Managed by Climate Change Development Authority (CCDA) and PNG Forest Authority (PNGFA)
PNG MRV System
Forest carbon stock data
EMISSION FACTOR
Area change data from satellite remote sensing
ACTIVITY DATA
Inventory of GHG emissions
CO2
EMISSIONS ESTIMATE
PNG MRV
Collect Earth
Terra PNG
(and also Hansen data)
NFI
(and also PSP data & IPCC guideline)
Disseminating information
TRANSPARENCY
PNG REDD+ and Forest Monitoring Web-portal

6. NFMS Component Under the JICA & PNGFA (2015-2019) Goals
National Forest Monitoring Systems

7. BUR AND REDD+ Technical Annex
PNG submitted it’s first BUR and REDD+ Technical Annex and available on the UNFCCC site. The technical report on the technical analysis of the technical annex from the UNFCCC technical team was sent to PNG (CCDA) last month for follow- up questions on the annex which the country has provided feedback and now waiting on the technical team’s assessment.

8. Progress of SIS
Work done on the Summary of Information (SoI) should be submitted either end of this year or early next year

9. Challenges and Lessons learnt
 Institutional arrangement with defining the roles and responsibilities in the initial phases with the development of REDD+ activities
 Land tenure will always be an issue for any development which will hinder the progress of REDD+ activities if the local people don’t fully grasp the concept of REDD+ which will require continuous awareness
 Implementation phase of REDD+ activities may not have the same monetary values compared to any development activities such as logging, mining, etc.
Lessons Learnt
 To have a baseline for comparison for deforestation and degradation rates at different levels or scales (national, provincial, regional, project- based)
Means of monitoring, reporting and verifying emission reductions, and
preventing leakages and avoidance of double accounting
Local communities’ participation is crucial in the initial phase of REDD+ activities at all levels (sub-national, national & international) for sound decision and policy making.
Collaborative work between all stakeholders will guarantee a transparent REDD+ mechanism for Papua New Guinea

10. Priorities moving Forward
 Climate Change (Management) Act under review
 Reviewing of the Forestry Act
Safeguards & Safeguards Information System- complete the SoI for submission to UNFCCC as for the SIS there is still on-going work
Financial Investment Plan (RFIP)- on going work with various stakeholders with priority areas under the NRS
Biennial Update Report (BUR) and REDD+ Technical Annex (TA)- preparatory work on BUR2 (GHGi, etc.) and REDD+ TA is accepted by the UNFCCC Technical review team.
Develop and test mechanisms to manage and distribute benefits to those bearing the costs of avoided deforestation and degradation, including the resource owners.
 To have a mechanism in place for the benefit sharing distribution
Address land tenure issues promptly following the FPIC process
Improving the capacity to develop methods to quantify the potential for emission limitations or reductions before the measures are implemented (ex ante) to facilitate the monitoring of progress and the assessment of the results of different mitigation measures (ex post) in addition to the estimation of co-benefits from applying the programmes and projects
REDD+ Communications and Knowledge Management Strategy- targeting journalists/public relations officers from various stakeholders on proper reporting of climate change issues

11. Opportunities for regional co-operation
Establishment of regional hub of the experiences and lessons learnt of the whole process of REDD+ activities
Take stock of trainings especially with the tools or software used by various countries and how best can capacity be built in the region (countries can request neighboring countries expertise on specific software training)
Countries in the region are at different phases of REDD+ and have different support in terms of financial and technical, from development partners.
For any regional program how best can this support from development partners or donors be utilized for each country’s specific needs (identifying and prioritizing cost of this activity and can this be achieved in the given time frame)

12. 2. Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR)

13. Pacific regional target setting
Discussion points:
What would be the minimal target of FLR (% and timeframe)and priority of focus on landscape for the region?
What sort of guidance can be provided for stakeholder engagement and support for participatory governance (planning, strategies, monitoring, etc.)?
In terms of genetic resources, for the region how do we enhance resilience in landscape restoration in the medium to long term to effectively reflect on policies or management plans?

14. National FLR approach Discussion points:
Case of PNG, logging is the main driver of forest degradation;
At the provincial level or project site specific depending on the scale of the operation as well the area of degraded forest the FLR target would vary, how can this be addressed depending on countries’ circumstances?
To promote natural regeneration, are there management tools that have proven to be effective in natural regeneration?
Are there inventions in place to allow for multiple functions for multiple benefits by different stakeholders groups encompass ecological, social and economic aspects across a particular landscape?

15. Thank you