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Papua New Guinea is a Member of the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI-CFF), and in order to support the marine biodiversity goals of the CTI Regional and National Plans of Action, one action they have prioritised, is the need to strengthen marine governance. As a result, technical assistance and support for the development of a national Marine Protected Area (MPA) policy has been offered to the Department of Environment and Conservation by the Australian Government as part of their CTI support activities.

In the early 1980s Spring’s report on marine turtle species distribution indicated there were 6 species of turtles that could be found in PNG water including the green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhead, olive ridley and the flatback turtles. Over 30 years later, there is growing doubt if the other two species, the olive ridley and the flatback turtles do actually occur in PNG waters as well. This need to be confirmed.

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There are 102 species of reptiles and 25 species of frogs known from the Trans-fly region. 29 of the reptiles and one of the frogs are of special conservation concern. Seven of these species are of high conservation concern: 2 turtles, a monitor lizard, three snakes, and one frog. More field survey work is needed to determine the status of these and other species in order to guide and inform natural resource management action in the Trans-Fly region.

Papua New Guinea (PNG) hosts some of the world's largest and last remaining intact forest landscapes. While these forests have always been a haven for biodiversity and provided a livelihood for the millions of people who live in them, it is only in recent years that their importance for carbon storage has come to be fully appreciated.

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This Policy on Protected Areas (the Policy) has been developed by the Government of Papua New Guinea to support the development and management of a National Protected Area Network in Papua New Guinea (PNG). It will guide communities, organizations and agencies to harmonise their efforts in a structured and logical approach to the sustainability of existing and the development of new protected areas. The Policy offers a blueprint based on international and national obligations and international best practice – but tailored to the unique.

The Sepik River is the longest river on the island of New Guinea. The majority of the river flows through the Papua New Guinea provinces of Sandaun and East Sepik, with a small section flowing through the Indonesian province of Papua. Sepik was identified in Papua New Guinea's 1993 Conservation Needs Assessment as "Very High Priority", the category of highest priority, due to its range of distinctive landforms, associated biota - in particular its extensive herbaceous wetlands - cultural diversity, and economic value.

In 2015, 2016, the Government of Papua New Guinea (PNG), through its Conservation and Environmental Protection Authority (CEPA) and with the support of United Nations Development Program (UNDP), organised an evaluation of its protected areas, as part of the process to improve management effectiveness. PNG’s Policy on Protected Areas commits to regular evaluation of management effectiveness and to taking remedial action to improve effectiveness over time.

Papua New Guinea contains more than 7% of the world's biodiversity in less than 1% of the land area. PNG has more than 18,894 described plant species, 719 birds, 271 mammals, 227 reptiles, 266 amphibians and 341 freshwater fish species. But this extremely rich biodiversity on which the PNG people depend is under threat. The current status of species in PNG includes: 1 extinct, 36 critically endangered, 49 endangered, 365 vulnerable and 288 near threatened. Morever, 1 in 5 assessed species in PNG is endemic, that is they only occur in PNG.

Papua New Guinea is committed to the establishment of a network of marine protected areas to fulfill national and international commitments. In order to assist this, the conservation priority areas analysis identified a range of areas of high conservation interest in the PNG marine environment, based on the principles of comprehensiveness, adequacy, representation and resilience (CARR). The analysis collated available national-scale data on biodiversity features and biodiversity surrogates.

The Conservation Needs Assessment (CNA) for Papua New Guinea was requested by the government of Papua New Guinea and funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The CNA was implemented by the Biodiversity Support Program, a USAID-funded consortium of World Wildlife Fund, World Resources Institute, and The Nature Conservancy, in collaboration with
local and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), museums, and academic institutions.