Case Study on Sea Level Rise: Papua New Guinea

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Sea Level Rise Case Studies

Papua New Guinea (PNG), with a population of more than 10 million people and approximately 800 languages, faces significant and growing threats from sea level rise. The country’s long coastline (approximately 17,110 km) extends along 15 maritime provinces, with 59 per cent of the national population situated in these maritime provinces. Many rural coastal villages are vulnerable to sea level rise, coastal flooding and related weather events. In the last 15 years, four catastrophic flood events along with coastal floods have affected some 8,000 people each year, causing US$10–20 million in damage annually, displacing 500 people and killing five.

An assessment of adaptation effectiveness, drawing on the five criteria used by the UN Environment Programme in its Adaptation Gap Report - comprehensiveness, inclusiveness, implementability, integration, and monitoring and evaluation - reveals that PNG faces substantial challenges across all dimensions.

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Case studies of adaptation projects implemented by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), in partnership with the PNG Government’s Office of Climate Change and Development Authority, highlight both the difficulties and lessons learned. A UNDP flood adaptation project across five provinces was rated overall unsatisfactory, while an IOM study of the Carteret Islands displaced community underscored the urgent need for policy on climate-displaced people and integrated land-use planning. Recommendations focus on amending the Organic Law to allocate climate adaptation responsibilities to provinces, strengthening data sharing between agencies, securing long-term climate financing and mainstreaming climate adaptation into development planning at all levels of government.