PAPUA New Guinea is again part of a historic COP in Poland that will see the passing of the Paris Agreement Rulebook which is the rulebook that will encourage parties on implementation of the Paris Agreement which was passed in 2015.
According to Climate Change and Development Authority (CCDA) managing director Ruel Yamuna, the 24th Meeting of Conference of Parties (COP 24) was officially opened on Monday this week and is currently underway in Katowice, Poland.
“The nature of discussions in this COP meeting and the importance of it is that the adoption of the Paris Rulebook will set the guideline for all countries to take action to reduce their carbon emissions to meet the objective of the Paris Agreement to keep global temperature below two degrees.
“This is critical for all Small Islands Developing States like PNG and Pacific Island countries among others who are in the forefront of seeing the effects of climate change with sea level rise, ocean acidification and Inundation of arable land,” Mr Yamuna said.
The meeting will run for at two weeks with technical negotiations and high level discussions to conclude this year’s meeting.
CCDA’s manager of projects ranch and GCF focal point adaptation and projects division Jonah Auka who is currently attending this meeting said PNG will benefit from this COP.
“Once the Paris Rulebook is endorsed at this COP, we will have clear guidance on how we would achieve our goals and targets that we have set in Paris Agreement and PNG’s Paris Implementation Act.
“Implementation is a challenge because there are no set guidelines.”
He said once these Paris Rulebook is set, PNG and other country parties can have a clear indication on how our targets and goals can be achieved as per the Paris Agreement as well as our national legislations, policies and strategies such as Climate Change Management Act, Climate Change Policy and other enabling frameworks such MTDP 3, Vision 2050 and others.
PNG is represented through Prime Minister’s Department and NEC and Foreign Affairs, CCDA, Office of Higher Education, PNG Forest Authority (PNGFA) with support from PNG Overseas Missions in Brussels and New York.
The Katowice Climate Change Conference will include the COP 24 to the UNFCCC, the 14th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP) and the third part of the first session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA 1-3).
The conference will also include the 49th sessions of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI), and the seventh part of the first session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Paris Agreement (APA 1-7).
The conference is expected to finalise the rules for implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change under the Paris Agreement work programme (PAWP).
Fiji as the outgoing COP President has now handed over the Presidency to the Government of Poland and leaves a legacy of the Talanoa Dialogue, which enabled countries to take stock of collective efforts to reduce emissions in line with the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement.
For PNG, the technical negotiators will ensure support is given to fellow negotiators from the Pacific and Small Island Developing States to secure the best deal for the region following the PIF meeting in Nauru and the declaration done by the PIC leaders during the APEC Leaders meeting on Climate Action.