Australia Forest Carbon Partnership Agreement with PNG

The agreement would enable the creation of a framework aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions in PNG from deforestation and forest degradation, improve the livelihoods of forest-dependent communities, and promote the protection of Papua New Guinea’s biodiversity.“If you look at the overall challenge of climate change, the big source of emissions is coal-fired electricity generation around the world; the second big challenge for the overall climate change dynamic is what happens with deforestation and avoided deforestation. “How do we best manage that into the future? And it is in this area where countries like Brazil, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea have such a significant role to play. “That’s why in this Papua New Guinea-Australia forest carbon partnership, we’ve outlined a new framework to work together on this, a regular dialogue on how we can advance this agenda within the international forums of the world,” Rudd said after signing the PNG-Australia Forest Carbon Partnership Agreement with Somare.As part of the agreement, PNG and Australia will engage in a policy dialogue on climate change issues, mainly focusing on how emissions from deforestation and forest degradation can be reduced using the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).Rudd said a private carbon market scheme could be created as part of the agreement, which would enable PNG to make a revenue from such a scheme.A recently released report on climate change, produced by Rudd’s climate change advisor Professor Ross Garnaut, recommended that Australia signed partnership agreements on greenhouse gas emissions with Indonesia and PNG.Garnaut said such an agreement if built around a framework utilising large revenue flows for the sale of emissions permits for development purposes (including cash and development opportunities for village communities currently enjoying cash and services from forestry operations), could be beneficial to PNG.