Devastating Impact of Climate
Change in Papua New Guinea:‘Loss and Damages’

Centre For Environmental Law
and Community Rights Inc.
July 2024

Introduction
Papua New Guinea (PNG) is located in the south west
Pacific and encompasses the eastern half of New Guinea
and its offshore islands. It is home to around 15 million
people and more than 800 languages and thousand tribes.
Papua New Guinea, the largest Pacific island state, is also
facing significant challenges due to climate change. As anation with diverse ecosystems, including forests and coral
reefs, it is home to 7% of the world’s biodiversity. However,the impacts of climate change are already being felt inPapua New Guinea, leading to environmental challenges
and global warming concerns.
Climate change is projected to have the greatest impact on
the agriculture and water resources sectors, as well as thehealth and overall well-being of its people.
Papua New Guinea is experiencing the impacts of climatechange, including landslides, deforestation, and loss ofbiodiversity.

Climate Change in Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea is among the top 20 countries most vulnerable in the world to the impacts ofclimate change.
Already, the country has experienced an increase in temperature of approximately 0.8-0.9°C, asmeasured in the difference between average temperature in 1900–1917 and 2000–2017 (World Bank2021).
In PNG, inter-annual variation in precipitation can be very high. Annual precipitation in Port
Moresby is typically lower than other areas and regularly fluctuates between 700 mm and 1,400 mm.
Located in the ‘Pacific ring of fire’ , PNG is one of the countries most at risk to natural disasters,
ranked 28th out of 191 countries in the 2019 INFORM Risk Index. PNG’s ranking is particularly
driven by the country’s lack of coping capacity, for which it ranked as having the 11th lowest coping
capacity in the world (world bank 2021).

❑ Intensified rainfall;Landslips;
Simbu Province, Papua New
Guinea , April 2024

In May 2024; A fatal landslide inthe Enga Province of PNG covered
more than 2,000 people alive anddestroy homes, livestocks, gardens
and infrastructure costing
millions of dollars.

❑ Loss to livelihood and Infrastructure
According to the country’s Second NationalCommunication to the UNFCCC, inland flooding affects
over 22,000 people annually, displacing over 6,000
people and typically resulting in a few deaths.
Additionally, it is estimated that annual damage
amounts to over USD 8 million. Changes in climaticconditions – both through increased average
precipitation and increased extreme rainfall events – willstrongly affect the impact of inland floods.

•Most parts of PNG are highly vulnerable to sea levelrise, with the majority of socio-economic activities
and infrastructure development located in coastal
areas or vulnerable areas along rivers or inhighlands.

•Climate related disasters are damaging criticalinfrastructure, disrupting transportation andcommunication networks

Flooding;Flood affects thousands inAngoram District in East
Sepik Province of PNG,
March 2024❑ Sea-level rise
• Carteret islands were among

the first Pacific islands fromwhich environmental refugees
were documented, as a resultof sea-level rise.
December 2021; World Bank preliminary reports
indicate that in Bougainville, at least 3,400 people
in four communities in the Carterets Islands havebeen affected.

• Sea-level rise also threatens theintegrity of PNG’s coastal
resources and biodiversity.
Notably, the mangrove forests
found along New Guinea’s northcoast have been identified asvulnerable to submergence andloss.

Sea level rise causing
shoreline degradation

Gulf Province, PNG,

Madang Province, PNG, 2023

Manus Province, PNG, 2018

Gulf Province, PNG

❑ Loss to Agriculture
About 80% of households in PNG remain
dependent on subsistence agriculture andtherefore, are highly vulnerable toclimate-related hazards.
Between 2015 and 2016, El Niño caused
drought that affected about 700,000
people with destruction of gardens andfood and cash crops (World Bank 2021).
Sweet potato, coffee and cocoa are
examples of climate-sensitive crops thatPapua New Guineans are dependent on
for food and livelihood. Multiple studies
have suggested that sweet potato yields in
PNG may decline by as much as 10% by
2050, as a result of changing climateconditions.

❑ Human Health••

Climate change pressures, such asincreased incidence of extreme rainfall,drought, and flood, as well as higher
temperatures, represent environmental
drivers of vector and water-bornedisease. Diarrheal disease is a significant
health risk in PNG.
Around three in every 1,000 children die
before the age of five as a result of
diarrheal disease, and it is the cause ofaround 5% of hospital admissions(UNICEF 2019).

Activities contributing to enhanced GHG Emissions
Anthropogenic emissions are the primary factors influencing
global warming and climate change. Between 2000 and 2007,
PNGs emissions were zero. This is because the Land Use,
Land Use Change and Forest sector was not contributing toemissions, rather, it was sequestering emissions from theother sectors.
PNG then transitioned from being a sink to an emitter of
GHG during the periods of 2007 to 2017, largely as a result ofdeforestation and forest degradation (CCDA, 2022).
•

Additionally, GHG emissions from PNG increases
rapidly from 2014 to 2015 due to LNG Expansion fromits first ever Oil and Gas Project the PNG LNG.
Increase in greenhouse gas emissions from burning offossil fuels and deforestation are key drivers ofclimate change.

•Yet, the PNG Government is developing a series of Oiland Gas projects with the Current Papua LNG Project
possessing Climate, environment and Human Rightsrisks.

Climate Risks Associated with the Papua LNG ProjectOver its lifetime, fossil gas extracted fromthis one project is anticipated to release thesame amount of emissions – estimated at 220
million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent(MTCO2e) – that it takes the entire
population of Bangladesh (169 millionpeople) one year to emit. The project also
contravenes PNG's commitments to climate
action on 1.5C under the Paris Agreement.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change and the International Energy Agency
clearly state that to keep global temperaturerise to within 1.5°C requires no new oil andgas field expansion.

Climate ChangeConcerns
In Papua
New Guinea•
CELCOR and five other Organizations are calling on
all actors to respect the Paris Agreement and stop
supporting fossil fuel expansion that is
incompatible with the global objective of limiting
global warming to 1.5ºC• Across the globe
50 civil society organizations sent an open letter tomajor banks and public lenders in the U.S, Europe,
Asia and Australia who had financed an earlier LNG
in the country or TotalEnergies projects in the Asia
Pacific region.
•The IEA Net Zero Emissions by 2050 scenario
concluded that no new upstream oil and gas
project and no new LNG terminal are required tomeet global energy needs.

Conclusion
Papua New Guinea is already bearing the brunt of climate change. The
Loss and Damages caused by Climate Change in Papua New Guinea arestaggering. Its time for action to reduce green house gas emissions and‘transition from fossil fuels’ to clean renewable energy.
❖ Call to Action

Stop supporting fossil fuel expansion that isincompatible with the global objective of limiting
global warming to 1.5ºCReduce carbon footprint through sustainable
practices (Transition from Fossil Fuels)
Support Climate-Resilient Infrastructuredevelopment
Promote climate-smart agriculture and water
management practices
Promote Community-led conservation efforts

Thank you Everyone

Centre for Environmental Law andCommunity Rights (CELCOR) Inc.
P O Box 4373
BOROKO, NCD
Phone: 323 4509/3273342
Email: info@celcor.org
Website: www.celcor.org