Climate change and disaster impacts

Australia is committed to working in partnership with the Government of Papua New Guinea to meet the needs and aspirations of its people to build resilience to climate change and disaster events. 

PNG is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world, and is regularly exposed to both geohazards (earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and landslides) and meteorological hazards (flood, drought, tropical cyclones and heatwaves). The 2022 World Risk Index ranked PNG as the world’s 16^th most at-risk country to climate change and natural hazards.

Located in one of the world’s most complicated tectonic settings, the country experiences a severely damaging earthquake every few years. In 2018 an earthquake in Hela Province caused 160 deaths and US$140 million in damages to roads, buildings and electricity lines. Australia helped affected communities repair and rebuild infrastructure and restore water and sanitation services.

Over 85 per cent of PNG’s population live in rural communities and rely on rain-fed subsistence agriculture, and fishing, making the country highly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change. Daily temperatures are projected to rise and the risk and severity of natural hazards will continue to increase. These events will damage livelihoods, wellbeing, and cause significant damage to infrastructure.  

In 2015 a severe El Niño event triggered a prolonged drought and damaging frosts in the Highlands region, affecting an estimated 2 million people. Australia provided around $8 million to support agricultural recovery and resilience and PNG’s disaster response.

The PNG-Australia Climate Change Action Plan

The PNG-Australia Climate Change Action Plan (PACCAP) was signed in 2018, the first agreement of its kind signed by Australia. The plan provides a high-level framework for our countries to share information and cooperate on climate change action. It affirms our commitment to work together to address climate change by sharing our knowledge and focussing on the priorities of the PNG Government.

Bilateral programs

Australia is committed to working closely with PNG to advance effective actions on climate change. Our climate change support to PNG is integrated across all areas of programming including infrastructure, education, private sector development, food security, energy, governance and health. 

• Climate FIRST ($20 million, 2024-28) will assist PNG to tackle climate change by addressing structural and institutional barriers to accessing global climate financing. Climate FIRST will help to boost PNG's ability to build resilience to climate change at the community level, and support PNG's transition to a low-carbon economy. Australia has engaged the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), to work with the PNG Government to develop investment proposals, improve coordination across key agencies and departments and broker implementation partnerships.
• Pawarim Komuniti, part of the Economic and Social Infrastructure Program (ESIP), is a competitive grants program for off-grid renewable energy in regional and rural areas. More than 25,000 household solar systems have been installed in remote communities across PNG with thousands more planned. ESIP is also delivering electrification investments, such as upgrading eight provincial power grids to hybrid solar-diesel systems.
• The Transport Sector Support Program Phase 2 is supporting PNG to build more climate resilient transport infrastructure. The initiative has provided $4 million in co-funding for climate resilience upgrades to Alotau Wharf with the Asian Development Bank.   
• In February 2023 forestry ministers from Australia and PNG signed a Memorandum of Understanding to deepen our cooperation on forestry preservation and help PNG realise their forests' potential as a global carbon sink. Australia is also partnering with France, the European Union and PNG on an initiative to promote the sustainable management of PNG’s forests.
• Since 2010, Geoscience Australia has been working with Government of PNG technical agencies to strengthen the capacity to monitor and build resilience to natural hazards through the DFAT-funded PNG Technical Disaster Risk Reduction Program.

Regional and global programs

A range of regional and globally funded climate change investments are working directly to build climate change and disaster resilience in PNG and across the region, including: 

• The Climate and Oceans Support Program in the Pacific Phase 3 (COSPPac3) (Australian contribution $30 million, 2023-29) supports 15 Pacific Island countries, through their Meteorological Services to monitor, analyse and communicate information about climate and oceans, including seasonal forecasts and sea level rise. This includes tide and wave data for shipping and fishing, as well as rainfall monitoring and forecasts to support planning in agriculture/food security, water and sanitation, and health. 
• The Australian Humanitarian Partnership (AHP) Disaster READY Program($100 million, 2017-2027) is supporting communities, local civil society actors and national and sub-national government to be better prepared for and more resilient to disasters and climate change. 
• As a Pacific-led, owned and managed financing facility, the Pacific Resilience Facility ($100 million foundational contribution) will provide grants for climate adaptation, disaster preparedness, nature-based solutions and projects which respond to loss and damage. It will meet identified climate finance gaps in the Pacific, particularly by providing a more sustainable funding source for smaller scale projects.
• The Climate Finance Access Network has embedded climate finance experts in Fiji, Kiribati, PNG, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu providing localised support and capacity building to help Pacific ministries plan and prepare for climate investment opportunities, structure finance, develop a pipeline of high-impact projects and support country-identified needs.
• Mangroves are often described as the lungs of ocean. Protecting and restoring coastal blue carbon ecosystems (mangroves, saltmarshes and seagrasses) limits additional emissions, protects existing stored carbon, and increases carbon sequestration. Through the Pacific Blue Carbon Program, Australia is supporting national climate action and livelihoods in PNG and Fiji by enhancing measurement and investment in blue carbon ecosystems and supporting Indigenous engagement to draw on the knowledge and experience of First Nations peoples in managing these important environmental assets. The program also aims to demonstrate blue carbon financing and investment approaches through pilot projects, to explore nature financing approaches including carbon offsets and to protect and restore marine ecosystems.
• Through Pacific Women Lead, Australia supports the Women’s Environment and Development Organisation(WEDO) to advance women’s leadership in climate change decision-making and negotiations ($699,900, 2022-2024) and the Shifting the Power Coalition ($1.9 million, 2021- 2026) to strengthen diverse women’s leadership in humanitarian action. 

Australia- France Roadmap

The Australia-France Roadmap establishes enhanced cooperation around three pillars – Defence and Security; Resilience and Climate Action; Education and Culture.  In the Pacific, Australia and France will look at ways to address climate change and support the sustainable use and management of land, forest and ocean resources.

• Australia-France Roadmap