The project is supported by the European Union with generous funding of Euro 3 million. This is a direct response to the 2015/16 extended dry period experienced in Papua New Guinea. The project was launched on Kiriwina Island in Milne Bay province in May 2017 and will conclude in 2021. The project is being implemented in collaboration with partners in nine communities across eight coastal provinces.

Project Objective

The overall objective of the project is:

To contribute to achieving a greater resilience of smallholder farming and rural communities in Papua New Guinea to abiotic stresses arising from seasonal weather patterns, climate change or natural disasters and impacting on their livelihood.

Resilience in this context can be defined as:

The ability of a community to resist, absorb, and recover from the effects of hazards in a timely and efficient manner, preserving or restoring its essential basic structures, functions and identity.

A resilient community is well-placed to manage hazards to minimize their effects and/or to recover quickly from any negative impacts, resulting in a similar or improved state as compared to before the hazard occurred. There are strong linkages between resilience and adaptive capacity; consequently, resilience also varies greatly for different groups within a community.

The specific objective of the Action is:

The adaptive capacity of 16-24 LLGs is strengthened to respond with appropriate agricultural technologies and strategies to abiotic stresses arising from seasonal weather patterns and climate change an impacting on agricultural productivity

For the purpose of the Action, ‘adaptive capacity’ is defined as “The ability of a system to adjust to climate change (including climate variability and extremes), to moderate potential damages, to take advantage of opportunities, or to cope with the consequences” (IPCC 2001).

One of the most important factors shaping the adaptive capacity of individuals, households and communities is their access to and control over natural, human, social, physical, and financial resources. The specific objective of the project is aimed at strengthening this adaptive capacity of communities with a particular focus on agricultural adaptation options.

Project Focus

The project is focusing on agricultural adaptation options with the aim of strengthening the adaptive capacity of the target communities. This is based on our assumption and experiences from related projects that there is a lack of awareness, knowledge and appreciation for causes and effects of seasonal and climatic variability on agricultural production and productivity.

We are also of the view that the adaptive capacity in most target communities is low; though this cannot be quantified as such assessments have been isolated. Many of the target communities are relatively remote with mostly subsistence-based livelihoods. Interventions being introduced through the project are focusing on raising awareness on climate change and variability, and increasing knowledge and skills in using new and improved technologies and practices in agricultural production. The project team is working with local communities to do agriculture differently than business as usual. The project is also strengthening local partners to continue supporting climate change adaptation in the respective communities beyond the project life span.

Women and girls participation is important in this project

Particular emphasis is being placed on involving women and girls in the activities of the project.  We are convinced that women are more vulnerable to climate impacts than men for a variety of reasons. They have limited access to resources needed for adaptation and have less power in decision making in the households or communities. However, we also note women and girls are central to providing food and nutritional security in the household. Therefore, the project is ensuring women and girls are actively engaged in all project activities at all sites.

Expected outputs

The following are planned to be the major outputs of the project and various activities are being undertaken across the project sites with the view achieving them:

Community-driven innovation processes in climate change adaptation are established in pilot communities and are gender-sensitive

It is anticipated that by the end of the Action there will be a local climate change champion among local partners. It is also expected that gender sensitive processes have been established that are supported beyond the Action through provincial or district grants or other local initiatives.

Improved capacity of local partners in out-scaling of Climate smart agricultural production technologies and strategies in

Many of the sites would already have local institutions such as NGOs, CBOs or programs from the District Administration that support climate change adaptation in local communities. They either have active programs or have been focusing activities previously or during the recent 2015/16 El Niño drought. Based on the experiences and lessons learnt, local partners would have already identified gaps in adaptive capacity in the communities and appropriate adaptation options or can further develop the ideas with our assistance. The Action is primarily targeting the further building of capacities of the local partner organization to deliver agricultural climate change adaptation options. This increase of capacity will be achieved through building of additional awareness on, knowledge, skills and competencies in using climate smart technologies, strategies and practices and conducting relevant learning activities with local communities. There will be indirect benefits flowing to the target population in the out-reach sites from the increased capacity of the local partner.

Improved visibility, communication and advocacy on climate smart agricultural technologies and strategies

The Action aims to improve information and knowledge sharing between researchers, local partners and farming communities to give all stakeholders a role in the research for development process and to improve the potential for technology dissemination to the wider beneficiary communities. Such linkages and two-way flows of information and ideas are vital to ensure adoption of technologies and strategies and to make the research process relevant and applicable to the actual needs of the beneficiary communities. Exploration of new tools such as development of an e-platform using ICT to share information on best-practices/innovations to mitigate extreme climatic events using internet, social media but particularly mobile app will be part of the planned activities. The use of mobile app will be a useful communication tool for remote vulnerable communities in PNG to access relevant information. Another expected outcome is also a greater awareness and appreciation on the need for policy development in areas of agricultural climate change adaptation by policy makers at provincial and national level as well as the donor community for areas of investment.