Papua New Guinea (PNG) has taken a global lead in seeking to combat climate change since 2005, at COP11 in Montreal, Canada, when PNG and Costa Rica introduced the concept of REDD+ to the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), particularly by proposing measures to realize the carbon abatement opportunity offered by preserving and sustainably managing tropical forests. Since then, the Government of Papua New Guinea (GoPNG) through the Climate Change and Development Authority (CCDA) and its key stakeholders with support from development partners have progressed REDD+ readiness, demonstration and implementation in the country.
Under the UNFCCC, PNG has established all four REDD+ design elements (National REDD+ Strategy, Forest Reference Level, National Forest Monitoring System, and Safeguard Information System) required for participating in REDD+. To ensure social and environmental risks are minimized and that benefits from REDD+ implementation are enhanced, CCDA had developed and completed specific safeguards guidelines to strengthen PNG’s adherence to UNFCCC safeguard requirements. The National REDD+ Safeguards Guidelines (NRSG) developed include the; National REDD+ Development Guidelines (RDG), National REDD+ Free Prior and Informed Consent Guidelines (FPIC), National REDD+ Benefit Sharing and Distribution Guidelines (BSD) and National REDD+ Grievance Redress Mechanism Guidelines (GRM).
The NRSG represent a significant milestone in Papua New Guinea’s efforts to address climate change and promote low carbon growth and sustainable development. They provide at an in-country safeguards framework for the implementation of REDD+ activities while safeguarding local communities and biodiversity at the national level as well as subnational/project level.
The RDG is a mandatory reference document for all REDD+ implementers and prospective and active project developers as it carry out the design, execution, monitoring and reporting on REDD+ activities. The RDG can be used by implementing national and sub-national government agencies, judicial authorities, local government, organizations of local communities, forest users, customary landholders and local communities, civil society, private sector, academia, and any individual (s) or group(s) concerned or interested in REDD+ implementation.
The RDG seeks to improve the governance and implementation of REDD+ initiatives to be consistent with PNG’s constitution and environmental, natural resource and customary laws, existing obligations under international laws, including human rights laws and other related instruments.
The purpose of the RDG is to;
- ensure that all REDD+ initiatives in PNG comply with internationally recognized technical modalities as agreed under the UNFCCC and VCM standards (for instance, Verra and CCBS) to reduce emissions
- contribute to the improvement and development of the policy, legal and organizational frameworks regulating climate change, mitigation, REDD+, adaptation and related initiatives across all sectors
- enhance the transparency and improve the functioning of existing and future systems in implementing REDD+
- strengthen the capabilities and operations of REDD+ stakeholders and promote cooperation between these stakeholders
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