Hela

Milne Bay

Morobe

Manus

Madang

National Capital District (Port Moresby)

New Ireland

Northern

Chimbu

Bougainville

Central

Eastern Highlands

West Sepik

East New Britain

Enga

Southern Highlands

Western Highlands

East Sepik

West New Britain

Western

Gulf

Jiwaka

Papua New Guinea

<p>The project aims to strengthen climate resilience in Pacific Small Island Developing States by supporting locally led adaptation innovations through the Climate Innovation Co:Lab. It helps communities, youth, and local enterprises design, test, and scale solutions addressing climate risks like sea-level rise, droughts, and cyclones. Through stages of incubation, acceleration, and amplification, it promotes knowledge sharing, gender equality, and traditional knowledge, fostering inclusive, sustainable, and regionally coordinated adaptation across the Pacific.</p>

This project advances REDD+ in Papua New Guinea by reinvesting results-based payments into forest governance and sustainable land use. This aligns with GCF’s broader efforts to scale forest and ecosystem investments as part of nature-based climate solutions. 

Papua New Guinea has long played a leadership role in REDD+, contributing to the global framework while advancing a national forest monitoring system tailored to its diverse forest ecosystems, despite increasing deforestation and degradation pressures. To sustain past emissions reductions and safeguard ecosystems, continued investment is needed to strengthen forest governance, enhance coordination, and support community-based conservation. 

This project delivers results-based payments for verified emission reductions achieved between 2014 and 2016, with proceeds reinvested to support the National REDD+ Strategy (2017–2027). The project focuses on two main components. First, it will strengthen institutional coordination and forest governance at national and provincial levels through improved land-use planning, law enforcement, and REDD+ policy implementation. Second, it will promote sustainable livelihoods for customary landowners and vulnerable communities in targeted provinces by supporting climate-resilient agriculture, restoring degraded forests, and enhancing ecosystem services. 

 GCF will provide USD 63.4 million in grant-based payments under its REDD+ pilot programme. The project contributes to long-term forest protection and global mitigation goals by investing in the systems, institutions, and communities needed to sustain low-emission land-use practices.

GCF support through the Readiness programme was provided to develop the project.

This project will finance the development, installation, and operation of up to 15,000 hydro panels across 1,000 sites in the Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, and Vanuatu.

All four target countries face high climate vulnerability due to changing weather patterns, floods, droughts, and seawater intrusion, which worsen annually. This results in deteriorating water access and security in Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Water utility services are severely limited: 10 per cent coverage in Papua New Guinea, 20 per cent in Vanuatu, 30 per cent in the Marshall Islands, and 57 per cent in Tonga. Despite prioritising water security in National Adaptation Plans, fiscal constraints and underdeveloped capital markets hinder large-scale infrastructure projects.

The project targets approximately 100,000 direct beneficiaries in rural and outer island communities, especially schools and public institutions without access to safe drinking water. The proposed technology in each hydro panel is atmospheric water generation (air-to-water), offering a decentralised water supply solution. It extracts potable water directly from the atmosphere using solar energy, replacing reliance on rainwater, groundwater, or bottled water.

Some key activities include signing sustainable financial and operational agreements, installing decentralised solar-powered hydro panel systems, and ensuring long-term system sustainability through operations and maintenance.

The Pacific Island Countries (PICs) are vulnerable to climate change impacts due to threats from coral reef degradation and ocean warming. Higher sea temperatures are degrading coral reefs and reducing the amount of reef fish available for coastal populations’ food security. Ocean warming is also driving the redistribution of tuna stocks. Many PICs rely on tuna fishing access fees for government revenue, which is essential for funding national health, education, disaster preparedness, and post-disaster recovery programmes. The redistribution of tuna towards the high seas threatens to significantly undermine government revenue, with projections of severe economic losses by 2050.

This project will build resilience in tuna-dependent economies and communities by addressing food insecurity and economic risks caused by climate change. It will achieve this by enhancing access to tuna for coastal and urban communities, strengthening national fisheries systems, and improving forecasting to manage tuna redistribution effectively. Key activities will include technical support for Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) deployment, fisher training, post-harvest improvement; policy development, improved handling, and market opportunities; and using science-based forecasts and projections to reduce uncertainty in climate change-driven tuna redistribution.

This project covers 14 PICs and uses a comprehensive programmatic approach to address food security and the economic stability of tuna fisheries. It prioritises community-driven adaptation by deploying FADs, training fishers, and involving local stakeholders in decision-making. With women’s participation actively promoted, this inclusive approach ensures adaptation measures will align with local needs and traditional practices.

GCF's Project Preparation Facility (PPF) support was deployed to help develop the project.

Geography

Papua New Guinea

Recent documents

Adaptation Fund

Climate Investment Funds

Green Climate Fund

Global Environment Facility