National Sustainable Land Use Policy for Papua New Guinea 2022-2032.

The National Sustainable Land Use Policy for Papua New Guinea lays down strategies to promote the best sustainable use of land in Papua New Guinea for the interest of all people with effective partnership with stakeholders to achieve responsible sustainable social, economic, infrastructural, environmental and physical advancement in accordance with all relevant national policies and legislation. The timeframe of the policy is 10 years covering the period from 2022 to 2032. This entire policy will be reviewed every ten years following its approval. The objectives of the National Sustainable Land Use Policy are: (i) to promote sustainable land use management and protect cultural heritage areas, the environment, and natural resources for the benefit of all Papua New Guineans; (ii) to promote people-centered development, participatory decision making, responsible investments and accountable land use administration to support the equitable economic and inclusive development of the country; (iii) to recognize and protect customary land tenure rights and procedures of the customary landowners; (iv) to establish transparent, fair, affordable and independent dispute resolution mechanisms per with the rule of law; (v) to develop bottom-up land-use plans at all administrative levels, while integrating relevant sectorial plans in contributing to the social and economic development; (vi) to strengthen, improve and effectively monitor the Physical Planning system; (vii) to develop, integrate and establish a centralized National Land-use Information Management System; (viii) to promote capacity building for public servants at all levels in the maintenance of professional and ethical standards; (ix) strengthen and establish institutional structure at all levels of the Government to facilitate land-use planning; (x) to guide and promote responsible sustainability and integrated social and economic development in accordance with all approved land-use plans and with national development plans; (xi) to develop a national system of bottom-up participatory sustainable land use planning by customary landowners, forming the basis of decentralization; and (xii) to coordinate with all relevant Government Authorities to produce National Sustainable Land Use Advice and Guidance and disseminate this down to the lower Government levels to inform the bottom-up sustainable land-use planning process.
This policy promotes gender equality, and equal opportunities for men and women over land management and resources, including vulnerable groups. It aims to encourage and support landowners to pursue better livelihoods and to make informed decisions regarding land and resource usage and management. The benefits resulting from sustainable uses and development of customary and alienated lands will be shared equally with the alienated landowners and customary land-owning communities. Effective Free Prior Informed Consent processes will be applied in all land use planning on alienated and customary land. Six thematic areas of the policy are: (a) sustainable economic growth; (b) food security; (c) environmental conservation; (d) climate change, natural disasters and geo-hazards; (e) land use information management system; and (f) institutional and capacity building. Land in PNG are categorized as follows: development promotion, sustainable rural areas and conservation areas. The economic development sectors, such as forestry and agriculture, will be intensified in sustainable rural areas. Key stakeholders will be engaged in climate change mitigation and adaptation and conservation activities, and extension and other support services needed at LLG and District levels will be identified, based on all identified relevant land uses in the LLG and District spatial plans. Food production technology focused on vulnerable environments, particularly where people depend mainly on staple food, will be improved. The policies and regulations that promote equitable access to land and improving tenure security will be integrated to improve food production and improve fertility in the long term. The land suitable for long-term sustainable agricultural production will be identified, zoned, and protected from being converted into urban development land through effective land use planning. The access to markets will be improved through better transport infrastructure and marketing arrangements. Risks to food security will be addressed through land use planning to support conservation, improvement, and sustainable use of natural resources for food and agriculture.