In Papua New Guinea climate change will primarily cause a rise in temperatures, an increase in rainfall, less but more intense droughts, a rise in sea levels, an increase in ocean acidification, and fewer but more severe cyclones. These phenomena can bring a decrease in yield and quality of crops, an increase in vector-borne and respiratory diseases, an increase in flooding, damage to infrastructure, reduced access to drinking water and reduced food security.

In Enga province, most people practice traditional farming, and are more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. At present most households cope with the effects of climate change in a reactive manner. This report seeks to identify the main challenges to creating more lucrative, sustainable, and climate resilient livelihoods for rural communities in Papua New Guinea’s Enga province. It also assesses the challenges to local and provincial authorities regarding climate change adaptation and mitigation.

The report identified some positive existing practices among Engan households for mitigating the impacts of climate change. Most households in Enga province practice mixed-cropping and have multiple gardens, which serve as a backup when disasters occur. Communities also rely on food storage and borrowing supplies from family to deal with sudden disasters, yet sometimes they are forced to migrate to lower areas to deal with disasters, especially frosts. Two-thirds of internally displaced persons (IDP) have been displaced by natural hazards.

Household survey show the most common natural disasters reported in Enga Province are floods, landslides, droughts and frost events. Respondents from all districts stated that these natural disasters have become more frequent in the last decade.

The main obstacles to better livelihoods reported by communities in Enga are the lack of proper markets for their crops; low crop and coffee prices; a lack of incentives and government farming extension; high fertilizer and pesticide prices; increases in pests and insects affecting crops; lack of training on sustainable farming; book-keeping and financial literacy; expensive fertilizers and pest control.

The main struggles faced by the provincial authority regarding climate change adaptation and mitigation are lack of funding, lack of manpower and lack of capacity building and training on climate change and biodiversity issues.

In Enga province, recommended adaptation measures include the infrastructure rehabilitation or upgrades including the construction of flood defences and landslide interventions; soil moisture preservation, selecting drought-tolerant crop varieties, adopting water-conserving technologies and water harvesting initiatives.

Potential mitigation options in the forest sector include the conservation and protection of forests, implementing sustainable forest management (SFM), and reducing impact logging (RIL).