The Milne Bay Province has successfully validated its Climate Resilient Green Growth Strategy (CRGG) for the province in a two-days’ workshop which concluded today.
The CRGG Strategy captures how different sectors under the Milne Bay Provincial Administration (MBPA) have mainstreamed climate resilient green growth into their provincial plans and budget.
After significant consultations with provincial stakeholders in 2021, the CRGG project implemented by the Global Green Growth Institute in Partnership with the Climate Change and Development Authority (CCDA), have drafted the CRGG Strategy for the province. The Strategy reflects the province’s climate change priorities to be implemented under Milne Bay’s new integrated provincial development plan from 2022-2026.
Milne Bay Provincial Administrator Ashan Numa, expressed that the CRGG Strategy is a significant roadmap for the province to identify, commence and upscale its climate adaptation and mitigation efforts.
“Though Milne Bay Province does not have funds at its disposal for implementing climate resilient projects, the impacts of climate change will be continually felt in different sectors of the province.
“The CRGG strategy is a way forward for the province to ensure realistic climate adaptation and mitigation measures are implemented and also a document which can be used to source funding to implement the strategy,” Mr. Numa said.
In the strategy, key sectors under the Milne Bay Provincial Administration under which climate resilience green growth have been mainstreamed includes agriculture, health, transport and infrastructure sectors.
The scope of work under the CRGG Project which led to the development of the strategy was funded by Papua New Guinea-Australia Partnership, implemented by GGGI with guidance from CCDA, Department of National Planning and Monitoring (DNPM), Department of Provincial and Local Government Affairs (DPLGA).
Jonah Auka, Projects Manager at CCDA on behalf of CCDA’s Acting Managing Director Mr. William Lakain, thanked the Milne Bay Provincial Administration, GGGI, government counterparts, development partners, sector leads under the Milne Bay Provincial Administration for their invaluable support to formulate the strategy.
“I believe that the priorities you have set in the documents are a reflection of your commitment and zeal to move this province to a level where the province can be able to leverage support from development partners.
“With that, let me congratulate you all the effort you all have put in in the formulation of this strategy. It is a significant document which each of the sectors can use to align and mainstream climate change mitigation and adaptation priorities,” said Mr. Auka.
GGGI’s Deputy Country Representative Mr. Peniamina Leavai highlighted GGGI’s roles and highlighted the CRGG Strategy as an important step for the province. Mr. Leavai added that it is important to capture achievable CRGG targets in the strategy which this validation workshop aims to achieve.
The validation workshop was well attended by stakeholder participants from Milne Bay Provincial Administration, Government partners, NGOs and development partners.