The Government of Papua New Guinea (GOPNG) ratified the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) on the 6th December, 2000, and it became effective on the 6th March, 2001. With it was the commitment to implement this agreement in the country and report on its programmes and activities to the Secretariat regularly. The call for the development and implementation of National Action Plan (NAP) is considered a priority for the GOPNG to meet its international obligations under the UNCCD.
As noted in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, climate change is one of the most important drivers of biodiversity loss" and is projected to further adversely affect the role of
biodiversity as a source of goods and services. The impacts of climate change on biodiversity have been of major concern to the Convention on Biological Diversity since 2002 when, following a request from the Conference of the Parties and the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA), an Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group was established to carry
Papua New Guinea Final National Action Plan to the ten year (2008-2018) UNCCD Strategy.