Developing Effective Land-Use Planning with Indigenous People of Papua New Guinea

by Cosmas Apelis, PNG Forest Program

Biodiversity of Project Area

Papua New Guinea’s tropical rainforest is one of the top ten world’s most biodiversity hotspot.

In the Adelberts Range, the biodiversity incl. 57 mammals, 150-200 bird species (endemic Fire-maned Bowerbird and Wahnes Parotia), 29 native frogs and 74 reptiles and 423 butterflies.

Many of these spp. are sensitive to disturbances.

Different Forest/ Vegetation Types.

95% of the land is under customary ownership.

Location Map

PNG Forest Program Goals1. Improved forestland management practices

2. New approaches to land-use planning

3. Supportive policy and regulatory frameworks.

4. Model forest carbon incentive scheme.

5. Contributing to learning, communication, application and replication.

The people of Papua New Guinea are managing forested landscapes to secure, improve and sustain benefits for people and nature, locally and globally .

Vision Statement

Use of GIS in the Program

Vegetation Mapping

-For each of the Landsat tiles, unsupervised classification was done to form 30 classes.

-Visual inspection in the field further assigned the 30 classes into 1) closed forest, 2) degraded forests and liana tangle, 3)scrubby regrowth/gardens, 4) grassland and 5) cloud.

-Using DEM some closed forests were re-classed as lowlands (‹400m), hill forests (btwn 100-800m), upland (800-1400m) and submontane ( above 1400m).

- Using FIMS layer to get crown size information (interpreted into alluvial forest) and the output grid layer was converted to shapefile.

http://www.phylodiversity.net/cwebb/pubs/webb2005_adelbert_veg.pdf

Conservation

Action

Planning

Defining

Your Project

· Project people

· Project scope & focal

targets

Developing

Strategies & Measures· Target viability

· Critical threats

· Situation analysis

· Objectives & actions

· Measures

Implementing

Strategies & Measures

· Develop workplans

· Implement actions

· Implement measures

Using Results to

Adapt & Improve

· Analyze actions & data

· Learn from results

· Adapt project

· Share findings

Conserveonline.org

1. Lowland & Alluvial Forests2. Hill Forests (100 – 800m)3. Upland & Submontane Forests (800-

1700m)4. Freshwater Rivers, Streams & Lakes5. Key Landscape, Habitat, or Cultural

Features6. Hunted Rare or Endemic Animals7. Common Harvested Animals8. Plants of Concern

Adelberts Focal Conservation Targets

Biodiversity Threats

• Unsustainable clearing for gardens

• Over Hunting

• Commercial logging

• Development of infrastructure (roads)

• Cash cropping

• Overfishing

• Establishment of new villages or hamlets

Defining Strategies (Management Regimes)

Objective: By 2012 all cash cropping is done according to land-use/management plans and yields are increasing.

Strategies:

•Community education on the LUMP (to make sure everyone is aware of the traditions and rules, regulations etc)

•Ensure that monitoring program records areas where cash-cropping is occurring (must have base maps for each area) – and stop expansion in areas outside the zone.

•Involve Dept. of Agriculture or other partners and best modern and traditional practices to provide advice on best areas (e.g. land classification) and best practice for crops during formulation of LUMPs

•Facilitate transfer of agricultural information from LUMP to LLG and District Plans

Community Boundary Demarcation and Land Use Planning

Tools Used

Participatory sketch mapping.GPS data collection.Basic Spatial Analysis and GeoProcessing

Land-Use Management Plans

Monitoring and Adaptive Management

• Forest Condition Monitoring

-Forest Walk

-Information from local monitors

• Resource Use Monitoring

• Socio-Economic Information

• Progress on Land-use Management Plans

Community Land-Use Planning Leading to Conservation Compatible Activities

Conservation SustainabilityThru FAIRTRADE Certification

FAIRTRADE AUDITOR AND ADELBERTS CONSERVATION COOPERATIVE SOCIETY-2009

http://www.fairtradenap.net/adelberst-cooperative-society/

Leveraging to other Sites

Upcoming use of GIS – Participatory 3D Modeling

3D Modeling of BoeBoe

Island –Solomon Islands

Participatory 3D Modelling

The community used the model to discuss the extent of previous tsunami (2007) and other climate- and risk-related issues, and to discuss early strategies and ‘adaptation’ efforts for their community

Importantly, the 3D model has contributed greatly to simple economic perspectives on the costs and benefits of different adaptation scenarios, as people gain a better understanding of the spatial implications of climate change.

The digital model showing projected 1m and 2m sea-level inundation in Boe Boe.

The Adelberts Conservation Project

Local Level Govt (LLG) legislation/ Provincial Forest Bill.

Effective community conservation tools & processes.

Community-based integrated land use management planning

(over 15,000 ha under management)

Developed sustainable financing mechanism thru establishment of Conservation Cooperatives.

Informing in the development of National Framework on REDD+ (Climate Change Adaption)

THANK YOU

National

Forest

Service