The truth about Papua New Guinea’s carbon trade
The Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea stated in The National (11th October 2010) that the REDD+ approach that is being championed by his government is being undermined by the trading of forest carbon through the voluntary carbon schemes (VCS) in PNG.
He describes VCS as being risky and premature.
But how much truth is in what the PM said is anybody’s guess. The PM does not elaborate on the risks involved in the VCS, but the only cheap excuse given is that the VCS are thinly capitalised. The advantages of the VCS over a compliance forest carbon market are not discussed by the PM.
Moreover, the PM failed to admit that REDD markets for forest carbon exists under some VCS, but a compliance market for forest carbon does not exist at the moment and the likelihood of a world market for forest carbon through the REDD+ scheme is far from reality.
The sad fact is that countries in South America, Asia and Africa have gone into VCS, while we are the only ones that are still fighting to engage in a compliance market for forest carbon, which does not exist or is yet to materialise.
Therefore, one wonders why the PM, PNG’s climate change ambassador and the acting director of Office of Climate Change and Development (OCCD) are all hell-bent on a REDD+ carbon scheme under the compliance market.
The reason why the OCCD, the PM and our climate change ambassador are globe trotting on climate change and carbon trade issues is that they want some of that $4.5 billion (US) that has been earmarked for REDD+ projects in developing countries.
So far our negotiations have failed two times to access any international funding because PNG does not want any strings attached to these REDD+ funds.
However, the international community is aware of what is going on in developing countries and will not release any funds until stringent measures are put place by respective governments to protect the rights of indigenous peoples and their forest resources from carbon cowboys.
Earlier this year, the PNGexposed Blog published an article that accused the PNG government of trying to be the “ultimate carbon cowboy”.
Nupan Trading was in the spotlight and was seen as being the culprit in carbon trade deals in PNG, but the PNGexposed Blog article also put the PNG government in the spotlight.
This article has been widely read and circulated over the internet and there are now more suspicions about the PNG government’s moves to have customary landowners snub the VCS.
It makes one wonder whether the moves taken by the PNG government are genuine in reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation of forests and ultimately combating climate change, or, is the PNG government trying to blackmail the international community into giving us funds so that we can put them in our pockets; let alone pay for political stability to protect the so-called “national interest”.
At the moment VCS are legal in a sense that it is a business deal that can be struck between a customary land owing group and a carbon broker.
The government has no control over customary lands therefore it cannot decide which carbon market the customary landowners chose to trade their forest carbon.
However, the OCCD, as the mandated authority on climate change and carbon trade issues in PNG, can facilitate carbon trade business deals between customary landowners and carbon dealers under the VCS.
The only problem with carbon dealers in the VCS is the issue of “carbon cowboys”, but this problem should be addressed by the OCCD.
The OCCD should check on any carbon dealer’s records and give appropriate advice to customary landowners on the authenticity of the carbon dealer and whether his business interest is genuine and has integrity.
However, to date the OCCD has refused to have anything to do with VCS or issue carbon certificates.
The reasons given by OCCD for not recognising VCS in PNG and not issuing carbon certificates to Nupan Trading and other carbon dealers is the same as that given above by the PM.
Regardless of the reasons given by the PM and OCCD about VCS in PNG, these are business deals like any forestry and mining business deals and OCCD will have to cater for that.
But the position taken so far by OCCD and the PNG Government to snub VCS indicates that there is something fishy going on in terms of carbon trade in PNG, and it goes to cement the suspicion that the PNG Government wants to be the “ultimate carbon cowboy”.
One reason why the government wants customary landowners to snub the VCS is that it wants to keep all carbon credits from REDD+ for its own interest so that it becomes the one and only carbon broker in PNG.
Therefore, if the OCCD facilitates business deals between customary landowners and the VCS and much of the forest areas in PNG are registered under the VCS, there will be few or no forest areas left for the PNG government when an international agreement is reached after 2012.
The PNG Government wants to be the “ultimate carbon cowboy” in PNG so it is playing delay tactics to stall VCS in PNG and to maintain all forest areas for itself to have access to when a compliance market comes on after 2012.
The PM also stated that a climate framework was not yet finalised to protect and safeguard the interests of customary landowners dealing with carbon dealers under the VCS.
However, this is the cheapest excuse that can be given, and it insults the intelligence of people who are familiar with development of policies and legislations.
The issue of climate change has been around since the 1980s, and literature has built up immensely within science and policy domains in the last few years which are available and can be used to develop a climate change framework for PNG.
Thus there is no excuse for the OCCD to say that it has not produced a climate change framework for PNG as yet.
Two offices have preceded the OCCD, in which time a climate change framework should have been produced by now, and the civil societies in PNG have been constantly calling on the government to put in place legislation and policy for climate change.
Moreover, there is sufficient human resource within country that can be utilise by OCCD to draft a climate change framework, but it seems a few handpicked people are being used by the government to run the show so that some peoples’ vested interests are protected.
But since no policy or legislation has been developed for climate change in PNG as yet, it goes to show that the PNG government is deliberately avoiding the issue so that it does not put itself under any obligation to protect its indigenous people and their forest resources from carbon cowboys, of which the PNG government is one of them and the “ultimate carbon cowboy”.
Finally, a few years ago the PM was questioned on his family’s vested interest in carbon trade in PNG and the establishment of a pyramid structure that was establish within the Office of Climate Change and Carbon Trade (OCCCT) to deliberate on carbon financing.
Although time has passed and memories have faded, I am of the opinion that the pyramid structure that existed within OCCCT is still alive and exists within the OCCD and is just waiting to deliberate on any international funding on REDD+ that may come out from the $4.5 billion (US) earmarked for developing countries.
WHAT CHANCE PNG SOVEREIGNTY IN THE FACE OF THIS CREEPING SCOURGE?
Saturday, Nov 13 2010
Nation states are dead: EU chief says the belief that countries can stand alone is a ‘lie and an illusion’
By Daniel Martin
Last updated at 8:46 AM on 11th November 2010
The age of the nation state is over and the idea that countries can stand alone is an ‘illusion’ and a ‘lie’, the EU president believes.
In one of the most open proclamations of the goal of a European superstate since the heyday of Jacques Delors, Herman Van Rompuy went on to denounce Eurosceptism as the greatest threat to peace.
Tory backbenchers condemned the inflammatory comments in the speech made by Mr Van Rompuy to mark the 21st anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
They said it proved that David Cameron would have a battle on his hands if he is to prevent extra powers being handed to Brussels.
Nation state is dead: Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, at the G20 Summit in Seoul, South Korea, today
Last night 23 Conservative MPs, including former leadership contender David Davis, rebelled in the Commons by demanding a referendum if the Lisbon Treaty is amended – even if ministers argue the changes do not affect the UK. Their call was defeated.
Mr Van Rompuy’s speech in the German capital told his audience that ‘the time of the homogenous nation state is over’.
He added that the ‘danger’ of Euroscepticism was spreading beyond the confines of countries such as Britain and was becoming a stronger force across the whole continent.
‘We have together to fight the danger of a new Euroscepticism,’ he declared. ‘This is no longer the monopoly of a few countries.
More…
• Eurocrats waste millions from YOUR taxes on dog fitness centre, hip-hop research and dance troupe
• DANIEL JOHNSON: The end of Britain as a nation state? Not on your life, Mr Van Rompuy
• MARY ELLEN SYNON: Van Rompuy is more dangerous than he looks
‘In every member state, there are people who believe their country can survive alone in the globalised world.
It is more than an illusion – it is a lie.’
The Belgian equated Euroscepticism with fear, which eventually leads to war – echoing former French president Francois Mitterrand’s famous phrase that ‘nationalism is war’.
‘The biggest enemy of Europe today is fear,’ he said. ‘Fear leads to egoism, egoism leads to nationalism, and nationalism leads to war.
‘Today’s nationalism is often not a positive feeling of pride in one’s own identity, but a negative feeling of apprehension of the others.’
In a strong defence of the euro, he said the recession would have been far worse if France still had its franc and Germany still had its mark.
Outraged: Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage was infuriated by Van Rompuy’s comments
Again employing the imagery of war, he said: ‘Just imagine the big recession of 2008/09 with the old currencies.
It would have resulted in currency turmoil and the end of the single market. A currency war always ends in protectionism.’
And in a section about the fall of the Berlin Wall, he praised the ‘statesmen of 1989 – Helmut Kohl, Francois Mitterrand, Jacques Delors’.
There was no mention of Margaret Thatcher, who as British prime minister at the time argued against closer integration.
Last night UKIP leader Nigel Farage said: ‘Rumpy Pumpy is unfit to govern. This man is an overpaid catastrophe who wants to abolish our nation.
The only non-nation is Belgium, his own country.
Backbench Tories warned such views were now on the rise in Brussels.
Conservative MP Douglas Carswell said: ‘At last we see the real intentions of the Eurocrats. If that’s what Mr Van Rompuy believes, he should at least get elected by someone before he says it.’
…as Eurocrats waste millions from your taxes!
Millions of pounds of EU funds have been squandered on projects including a hydrotherapy centre for dogs and sending a troupe round Britain to perform the Smelly Foot Dance.
Taxpayers’ cash has also gone to a ‘hip-hop laboratory’ in Lyon, France, to address the ‘lack of co-operation in European hip-hop’.
The details were revealed yesterday by the think-tank Open Europe, a day after auditors refused to give the EU’s accounts a clean bill of health for the 16th year in a row.
They emerged a fortnight after David Cameron faced a battle with the EU Parliament over the size of its budget for 2011.
The Parliament wanted an increase of 6 per cent on this year’s £88billion – but Mr Cameron seems to have persuaded other countries to join him in restricting it to 2.9 per cent.
Open Europe produced a list of 50 examples of EU waste.
Top of the list was £350,000 for a dog fitness and rehabilitation centre in Hungary.
The EU’s Rural Development Fund paid out the huge sum for a project to ‘improve the lifestyle and living standards of dogs’ – which included the development of a hydrotherapy system for dogs. More than a year on, building has yet to start.
Some £4.5million went on a fleet of limousines for European MPs in Strasbourg in 2009 alone. All chauffeurs at the company used must sign a confidentiality clause ‘guaranteeing absolute discretion’.
In Britain, golf courses, motorsport centres and hunting clubs have all benefited from thousands of pounds meant for farming subsidies.
Open Europe director Mats Persson said: ‘The EU’s budget is irrational, overly complex and hopelessly out of date. Huge amounts of money are wasted on projects which do nothing to help the EU economy to get back on track.
There should be no talk whatsoever of budget increases until the problems with waste and mismanagement are stamped out.
‘MEPs and the Commission need to wake up to the economic reality around them.’