Photo credit: UNGA
Prime Minister James Marape will attempt to advance a number of issues on behalf of Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Blue Economy at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP-26) in November 2021 in the United Kingdom.
On Friday, he addressed this in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York City (Saturday morning, PNG local time).
Marape encouraged governments to commit to energy objectives, address land use issues, fight for biodiversity protection, and be more aggressive in their climate funding pledges.
“These issues are important to PNG and the Pacific Islands Forum countries and we will be seeking support and advocacy from developed and industrialised countries to back our domestic and regional efforts towards adaptation and mitigation through global funding assistance,” he said.
“I will be seeking an understanding to build a special set of criteria that is simplified to enable us to qualify for financial support for our adaptation and mitigation strategies.”
Marape urged the world community to fulfill its commitments under the Paris Agreement by submitting individual Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) as soon as possible.
“PNG was among the first countries to submit our Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) in 2020, outlining our goal to be carbon neutral by 2050,” he said.
“This plan includes the drafting of our NDCs implementation plan, regulations and alignment of NDC adaptation and national adaptation plan, thanks to the support of the UNDP.
“We want to see major carbon emitters in the industrialised nations to be genuine and committed in their actions to fund climate change mitigation and adaptations.
“A failure in that regard is a denial of that responsibility.”
Marape argued that the US$100 billion yearly climate finance commitment made by rich countries to developing countries should be treated differently from official development assistance.
“This will allow its guidelines to be sensitive to the climate change mitigation and adaptation agenda and their specific requirement,” he said.
“As a natural gas and oil exporter, PNG is working towards ensuring our carbon footprint is minimised by implementing our Sustainable Development Goal 13 Roadmap 2020-2030 on climate change launched last year.
“We need to see a more practical demonstration of genuine commitments.”
Reference: Post Courier (27 September 2021). “PNG’s Chief Executive Highlights Pacific’s Concerns At UN”
