People across the Asia-Pacific region live with diverse and interlinked risks. These risks are related to increasingly
severe and complex shocks to the political, social, economic and ecological systems that underpin human development.
Beyond their inclusivity and universality, one of the more notable features of the Sustainable Development Goals
This report presents the results of a stocktake of national responses to selected environment-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and targets in 15 Asian Development Bank (ADB) developing member countries (DMCs) from across Asia and the Pacific. The stocktake was completed under the first phase of an ADB technical assistance (TA) project on Supporting Implementation of Environment- Related Sustainable Development Goals in Asia and the Pacific.
The exceptional economic growth in Asia and the Pacific has come with significant environmental costs that
Beyond their inclusivity and universality, one of the more notable features of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their 169 targets is that they place an equal emphasis on the economic, social, and environmental
dimensions of sustainable development. Recent SDG status reports indicate that implementation of SDGs with a stronger environmental focus show limited progress. Asia and the Pacific is arguably the region with the greatest
Papua New Guinea probably harbours more than five percent of the world's biodiversity within some of the world's most biologically diverse ecosystems. Many of these organisms are endemic; that is, they are found only in Papua New Guinea or on the island of New Guinea. This chapter reviews the status of knowledge of Papua New Guinea's biodiversity from a taxonomic perspective, for example, by group of organism. Chapter 7 reviews the extraordinary range of environments which exist in Papua New Guinea.
At least six species of marine turtle,are found in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The only survey of their distr~butiQn known to me was done by Sylvia Spring, ten years ago. This report records the' reslilts of a survey on turtles which I conducted 'between Februaryartd June 1989.
Tourism to the Pacific is increasing and will be a key driver of economic growth in the coming decade. Yet despite more visitors to the Pacific, tourism growth is not inevitable for all countries in the region.
People have adequate food security when households have the capacity to access sufficient food at all times, either through self-production or through market purchases. Overall, food security is high in PNG as most rural people have access to land and can grow most of their food requirements. The food security situation is considerably better in PNG now than it was before the Pacific war. This is because high-yielding staple crops have been adopted and people have access to cash income that can be used to purchase food.
The Hindenburg Wall, along with the Muller Range and Nakanai Mountains, is a part of a proposed UNESCO World Heritage Site called The Sublime Karst of Papua New Guinea (Hamilton-Smith 2006). This survey document reports on a biodiversity assessment undertaken by the Wildlife Conservation Society Papua New Guinea (WCS), financed by the Papua New Guinea Sustainable Development Program Ltd (PNGSDP), and undertaken in partnership with the Papua New Guinea Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC).
The first European to succeed in entering the highlands of central New Guinea was Richard Thurnwald, a member of the Kaiserin-Augusta-Fluss Expedition of 1912-13. He arrived at the source basin of the Sepik River (in the Telefomin vicinity) on 19 September 1914. It was either Richard Thurnwald or Walter Behrmann, the expedition geographer, who named the high mountains south of the source basin of the Sepik, the Hindenburg Range.
Much of the world’s tropical forests have been affected by anthropogenic disturbance. These forests are important biodiversity reservoirs whose diversity, structure and function must be characterized across the successional equence. We examined changes in structure and diversity along a successional gradient in the lowlands of New Guinea. To do this, we measured and identified all stems ≥5 cm diameter in 19 0.25 ha plots ranging in age from 3 to >50 yr since disturbance. We also measured plant functional traits related to establishment, performance, and competitive ability.
Biosafety issues are becoming very contentious today given the uncertainty of the impact of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on the environment, biodiversity and the people. There are those that view GMOs as an answer to alleviating world hunger and mitigating global health problems through the introduction of new and technologically advanced GMO for food, feed, food processing and pharmaceuticals. Then there is the other group that argue that GMOs pose a risk to the environment, biological diversity and the safety and health of the people.
The relatively remote islands of Manus and Mussau, located in the northern portion of the Bismark sea have been long identified as key biodiversity areas in Papua New Guinea and within greater Melanesia. Manus Island has long been known for its endemism and relatively intact forest, while Mussau Island, although relatively unstudied, has been ecognised as an Endemic Bird Area.
Coral bleaching events around the world appear to be increasing in frequency and severity, with the 2002 bleaching events reportedly causing greater coral mortality than those in 1998. The primary driver is global (i.e. excessive CO2 production in industrial countries), while the impact is local, and highly variable. Ecological, and consequent socio-economic impacts of coral bleaching may not be measurable in relatively lightly bleached areas, such as Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea, for perhaps 10 or more years, though medium to long term (10-50 years) impacts might well be dramatic.