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The Government is concerned with the sustainability of the timber industry, and has set a target in the MTDS to reduce the rate of harvest of primary forests from 9 to 5% per year by 2022, and levies export duties of up to 42% on logs. (...) The country is endowed with a vast forest resource and Government recognizes this and has used it to improve the socio-economic conditions of its rural majority, with due environmental safeguards.

The PNGFA has collaborated with the EU, United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and UN Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (UN-REDD) to develop a multi-purpose inventory of forest resources. (...).

PNG is deeply committed to the sustainable management of its fisheries resources, both to maximize their commercial value and to preserve their biodiversity for generations to come. (...). The Government is fully committed to the eradication of illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing, though traditional ('kastom') community systems of stock management and protection are every bit as valid and effective as those within the formal legal system. The Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA, eight Pacific islands including PNG that cooperate to manage tuna stocks) now require all purse-seiners to carry observers, as part of renewed efforts to tackle IUU fishing. (...)The Government sees the achievement of SDG 14.6 as critical for the health of the world's fisheries, and consequently the successful achievement of a fisheries subsidies agreement is currently its highest priority at the WTO.

The Government supports a range of additional sustainability measures, such as the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation's (ISSF) partnership with industry to reduce the negative effects of lost fish aggregating devices (FADs) by improving their biodegradability. In 2014, the Conservation and Environmental Protection Authority (CEPA) introduced a new policy on protected areas, including the creation of marine sanctuaries and locally managed marine areas. Enabling legislation is currently in draft form.

The Medium-term Development Plan 2016-17 indicated that, in the preceding years, forests had been degraded and depleted due to excessive logging, and called for this practice to be stopped. The Government decided to ban all round-log exports by 2020. In addition, a moratorium on the issuance of new logging permits is in place.

PNG aims to achieve a forestry sector that is both sustainable and profitable for current and future generations through the following measures: establish a forest resource inventory to ensure policy decisions are well-informed; promote sustainable forest management through reforestation and afforestation programmes; prevent the felling of virgin forests unless the land is developed to provide sustainable jobs and income, whether through agriculture, plantation or other profitable land uses; (...)and enhance the research and extension services of the forest industry to make it profitable and sustainable.

Table 4.3 Key forestry targets for 2030
Key indicators Baseline information Issues 2030 targets/objectives
(…)
Share of log harvest coming from virgin forest .. A sustainable approach to forestry will ensure that the benefits of investment in the forestry sector continue into the future, and will help realize environmental benefits. Logs will be provided by plantations and managed forests

Suriname shares its border in the east with French Guiana, Brazil in the south and Guyana in the west. Suriname has committed to protect 93% of its tropical rainforest.

In order to build together in consensus a diversified Surinamese economy that is competitive in the world market and significantly more sustainable in generating employment and equality and in keeping the environment liveable, other non-traditional sectors need to be further developed.

With the ban on Styrofoam, we are also moving forwards towards banning select single use plastic items. This will direct us towards more environmental friendly packaging materials. Also, we are in the process of developing industries directed towards producing environmental friendly packaging materials that will contribute to a sustainable and liveable environment.