Papua New Guinea Biodiversity Program – Lukautim Graun Program
Protecting Biodiversity and Improving Livelihoods through Community-Led Conservation
Challenge
With one of the most significant (and largely intact) tropical forests in the world and roughly 6% of the world’s animal and plant species, Papua New Guinea plays a pivotal role in the global effort to combat climate change and biodiversity loss. The country’s rich biodiversity and tropical forests are fundamentally important to the long-term well-being of its population, but they are threatened by weak regulation of natural resource use and development.
Approach
The Lukautim Graun Program supported the people and the Government of Papua New Guinea in conserving the country’s increasingly threatened biodiversity. The program curbed unsustainable natural resource use and damage to terrestrial and marine ecosystems by strengthening institutions, governance systems, and environmental regulations; engaging the private sector; and empowering traditional landowners and communities to sustainably manage PNG’s natural resources.
The program worked at national, provincial, district, and community levels in an integrated approach combining national policy reform in biodiversity conservation, sustainable land use planning, and reducing illegal practices in the forest sector. Empowerment of communities through increased opportunities for redress in cases of land grabbing and illegalities was a key part of community mobilization, alongside community-established conservation areas and development of conservation-related livelihoods opportunities that reduced pressures on biodiversity. The program presented a unique opportunity to align both conservation and development priorities—protecting natural resources while enabling PNG to advance sustainable development.
Goals and Results
Achievements included the establishment of a Conservation Deed—a legally binding agreement between clans—to protect over 4,000ha (10,000+ acres) of traditional and communally-owned forests in the Bismarck Mountain Range (a global biodiversity hotspot particularly vulnerable to climate change). The Deed was accompanied by clan (tribal) boundary mapping and helped resolve long-standing conflicts that previously hindered reaching inter-clan agreements to conserve land at a scale that results in real conservation outcomes.
The Lukautim Graun Program supported the progression of a new National Protected Areas Bill in collaboration with the Government of Papua New Guinea’s Conservation and Environment Protection Authority and the United Nations Development Programme, as well as the development of a national protected area ranger program with support from the U.S. Forest Service.
By conducting financial literacy training, LGP empowered entrepreneurs (including women) to boost savings and access working capital to grow their businesses, increase employment, and improve livelihoods for themselves, their families, and communities.