Papua New Guinea
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Prepared for UNITED NATIONS DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS COMMISSION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT New York June 2006 Dr. Albert Nita University of Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea National Assessment Report Prepared for United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Commission for Sustainable Development New York June 2006 Dr. Albert Nita National Consultant - NSDS Environmental Science & Geography University of Papua New Guinea NO PART OF THIS REPORT IS TO BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT THE WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE SPONSOR’ AND/OR AUTHOR ii PREAMBLE WE declare our First Goal to be for every person to be dynamically involved in the process of freeing himself or herself from every form of domination or oppression so that each man or woman will have the opportunity to develop as a whole person in relationship with others. WE declare our Second Goal to be for all citizens to have an equal opportunity to participate in, and benefit from, the development of our country. WE declare our Third Goal to be for Papua New Guinea to be politically and economically independent, and our economy basically self reliant. WE declare our Fourth Goal to be for Papua New Guinea’s natural resources and environment to be conserved and used for the collective benefit of us all and are replenished for the benefit of future generations. WE declare our Fifth Goal to be to achieve development primarily through the use of Papua New Guinean forms of social, political and economic organization. Preamble, Constitution of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, 16 September 1975 iii Foreword The Papua New Guinea (PNG) National Assessment Report 2006 (NAR) is produced for the United Nations Department of Social and Economic Affairs (UNDESA), Division of Sustainable Development (DSD). Each Pacific country is requested to produce its won NAR. The NAR is designed to support the formulation of National Sustainable Development Strategies (NSDS) in Pacific Small Island Developing States (Pacific SIDS) including Papua New Guinea (PNG). The development of a NSDS is in line with Agenda 21, the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPOI) and the Mauritius Strategy for the Further Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (Mauritius Strategy). Strategy development is not a simple, one-off activity. It is a cyclical process that ranges from national vision through formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation; it is a process that engages a broad range of stakeholders; and it is a process that relies on an institutional capacity that is both adaptive and integrative. All of these demand, then, over time, a number of activities to guide the process and to strengthen the enabling environment. The production of the NAR is the first of a series of activities to set the foundations for sustainable development NSDS in PNG. UNDESA correctly acknowledges that these activities are first and foremost the right and responsibility of each individual State. It is understood, however, that the Pacific SIDS, will require assistance. For this purpose, a Partnership has been formed initially among a number of organizations, including the UNDESA, the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS). The Italian Government provided funding for Pacific SIDS delegates to attend the NSDS Workshop in New York from 1-13 May 2006. The NAR provides the background information on PNG on development in general and sustainable development in particular. It assesses the national development context and the national development priorities of successive governments. PNG’s position in terms of promoting sustainable development is analyzed considering the extent to which participation is promoted in sustainable development decision-making. Finally, the enabling environment for decision-making and the means of implementing a NSDS are discussed. The Report suggests a Way Forward to support a national framework for sustainable development. iv Executive Summary Background Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a unique country. It is located on the eastern half of the island of New Guinea including the large islands of the Bismarck Archipelago including New Britain, New Ireland, and Bougainville further to the east. Its population of 5.7 million people is scattered throughout the 464 000 km2 of landmass including more than 600 small islands. PNG is a very rich country in terms of its natural resources which includes mineral, petroleum, gas, forestry, fisheries, land and agricultural resources. It is often described as an ‘island of gold floating on a sea of oil’. Its’ varied marine, volcanic, mountainous, swampy, freshwater, and forest environment is home to 6 percent of the world’s total biodiversity. Nowhere else on this planet is its biological diversity equally matched by its cultural diversity than it is in PNG. The people speak over 800 different languages and belong to a thousand different tribes with their unique social, cultural and political features. This has presented both opportunities for and the constraints against Western-style modernization in PNG. National development and targets PNG pursued its social and economic development through a series of ambitious development programmes since independence in 1975. The government adapted the 5 National Goals and Directive Principles as its vision to guide development. The 5 Goals are: 1. Integral Human Development, 2. Equality and Participation’ 3. National Sovereignty and Self Reliance, 4. Natural Resources and the Environment, and 5. Papua New Guinean Ways.1 The development strategies that followed after 1975 reflected the governments’ aim to achieve the 5 Goals and catch up with the rest of the world in social and economic development. The national public expenditure planning (NPEP) strategy beginning in 1976 was aimed at opening up the country through transport networks and creating an infrastructure base for social and economic development. The World Bank-funded integrated rural development programmes (IRDPs) that ran concurrently with the NPEP beginning in 1976 targeted least developed provinces. The IRDP complimented the NPEP with the former targeting least developed provinces only. By the 1990s there was an urgent need for the government to promote private sector growth at the same time improving accessibility to, and actually providing social services. Priority for health care, education, transport maintenance, and economic growth engineered the movement towards medium term planning in 1991. The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro the following 1 See the Preamble of the Constitution for the detailed wordings of the 5 National Goals (page v) of this document. v year further encouraged medium term development planning with the sustainable development agenda becoming an attractive proposition. The government encouraged a Post Rio Seminar in late 1992 to design a strategy to implement the sustainable development action programme or Agenda 21. Strategies for sustainable development The 20th Waigani Seminar2 at the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) followed this in 1993 on Environment and Development that led to: a) The recommendations for developing a national sustainable development strategy (NSDS) in 1993; b) Drafting of PNG’s NSDS in 1994; c) Endorsement of the NSDS in 1994; d) Establishment of the National Task Force on Sustainable Development in 1994; and e) Creation of the National Commission for Sustainable Development and housed in the Prime Ministers’ Office in 1994. All sectors of society were invited to participate in the 20th Waigani Seminar including representatives from districts, provinces, private sector, non government organizations (NGOs), churches, industry, academics, bureaucrats and politicians. This provided a great sense of ownership and the stage to convince the government to redefine development in a sustainable format was set with full stakeholder participation. Consequently, the Commission for Sustainable Development and the National Task Force on Sustainable Development were created and housed within the Prime Ministers Office. Between 1995 and 2002 constant changes to the political and bureaucratic leadership impacted the sustainable development strategy and its’ subsequent implementation. There were 3 different governments’ between this period and the country witnessed bureaucratic chaos as the respective governments sought to place their own men in key bureaucratic positions. Despite these constraints, the government of the day adapted the first Medium Term Development Strategy (MTDS) 1997-2002 describing it as the ‘Bridge into the 21st Century’. The MTDS reflected key elements of previous plans including further infrastructure development, in particular transport infrastructure as a precondition to accelerate economic growth. It recognized private sector-led economic growth as the engine for broad-based social and economic development. Environmental sustainability and sustainable development did not feature prominently in the MTDS, nor was any programme designed to promote sustainable development apart from the stalled NSDS of 1994. Despite these shortcomings, the MTDS 1997-2002, the Charter for Reconstruction and Development in 1999, the PNG Human Development Report of 1999 and the National Poverty Reduction Strategy of 2002 were positive developments in favor of