COP29 media statement from Papua New Guinea Environmental Alliance

Proposed “field testing” of non-validated carbon market regulation turns customary landholding communities into “guinea pigs”.

The Papua New Guinea Environmental Alliance is once again raising its concern about process of the government’s development of climate change legislation. In a statement published in the Post Courier on 20 November 2024, the Alliance states that the government has not seriously considered or properly processed the comments and suggestions it has received from stakeholders.

The PNG Environmental Alliance is particularly concerned at the removal of the requirement for free, prior and informed consent:

PNGEA also assessed that the requirement for the Minister to obtain Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) from customary landholders for national level REDD+ transactions has been removed in the 2023 CCMA revision, without any wider stakeholder consultation on this, as required per our National REDD+ FPIC Guidelines.

The PNG Environmental Alliance has written a series of letters and public statements in recent years, regarding the development of climate legislation in the country.

The most recent statement by the PNG Environmental Alliance is posted here in full:

Proposed “field testing” of non-validated carbon market regulation turns customary landholding communities into “guinea pigs”

The PNG Environmental Alliance (PNGEA) has replied to a letter from Hon. Simo Kilepa, Minister for Environment, Conservation and Climate Change (dated 28-06-2024), to again voice their strong concern on the Climate Change (Management) (Carbon Markets) Regulation development process, and the Climate Change (Management) (Amendment) Act 2023 revision process.

The Minister in his letter emphasises the importance of stakeholder engagement and consultation in the development of the regulatory process, but while it is correct that for the Regulation development process stakeholders were consulted on the Regulation through workshops, the submitted constructive comments and suggestions of stakeholder from all sectors, including various government departments and the private sector, have not been seriously considered or properly processed, and no feedback has been provided on them.

PNGEA also assessed that the requirement for the Minister to obtain Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) from customary landholders for national level REDD+ transactions has been removed in the 2023 CCMA revision, without any wider stakeholder consultation on this, as required per our National REDD+ FPIC Guidelines. We have provided clear motivation and reference for this assessment, already in our Open Letter of 15 May 2024, and again in our reply of 15-11-2024 to the Minister.

We are keen to continue to work in partnership with the PNG government on the development of a regulatory framework for carbon projects in our country, but can only do so, if government seriously considers stakeholder input, otherwise consultations become meaningless tick-the-box paper exercises. The Minister in his letter now proposes to “field trial” the non-validated Carbon Market Regulation, which will turn our customary landholding communities into “guinea pigs”, instead of first dealing with the many outstanding stakeholder concerns, and ensuring all necessary safeguards and the required monitoring and enforcement capacity with the Climate Change and Development Authority (CCDA) are in place.

Carbon Market Regulation not validated

The PNGEA has provided details to the Minister on the incorrect validation process for the Regulation, with the majority of stakeholders present at the Carbon Market Regulation validation workshop of 18-08-2023, including representatives from other key government departments, not agreeing with the content of the final draft version of the Regulation as presented at the workshop and not validating it. This disagreement by PNGEA and many other stakeholders came about because the CCDA had not sent their responses in writing to the comments submitted by all stakeholders before the start of the workshop, and stakeholders realised during the workshop that many of their comments have been left unanswered, while others were not dealt with in a comprehensive manner.

Stakeholders were told at the validation workshop that they could still submit further comments in writing, which the PNGEA did. To date, now more than one year ago we have not received any feedback from CCDA if and how our comments, or the many outstanding inputs from other stakeholders, including other Government Departments and private sector players, have been considered. To date there has not been any circulation of an updated final draft version of the Regulation to allow stakeholders to verify if and how their comments have been considered.

Meanwhile, NEC has endorsed the Regulation, which means this key element of the overall carbon market regulatory framework for our country has been approved without stakeholder validation, leaving stakeholders from all sectors with serious concerns as they do not know whether their many outstanding issues and concerns on the Regulation have been adequately addressed.

Breach of REDD+ FPIC Guidelines in relation to the CCMA Revision

In his response letter, the Minister indicates that the revision was done to merely capture administrative provisions. However, as the PNGEA has pointed out already in its Open Letter of 15 May 2024, the revision also repealed Paragraph (a) of Section 78B REDD+ transactions by the Government of the Principal Act, removing the requirement for the Minister to obtain the Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) of the customary landholders and be guided by Section 89 (where relevant), for any national level REDD+ transactions. As explained in our open letter, from our reading of the amendments, the removal of the requirement for Government to obtain FPIC from customary landholders for national level REDD+ carbon trading, has very harsh implications, and may well also entail an unconstitutional deprivation of landowner rights and authority. It appears to undermine the fundamental rights of our customary landholding communities that are the custodians of the very forests producing the carbon credits that the Government intends to sell.

Our letter clearly details the breach of the REDD+ FPIC Guidelines by the government during the revision process of the Climate Change (Management) (Amendment) Act 2023 (CCMA). It refers to three relevant sections in the National REDD+ FPIC Guidelines (July 2023) and explains why the revision of the CCMA is in breach with these sections. Clause 1.4, 1.6 and 7.2 of the National REDD+ FPIC Guidelines clearly stipulate the need for wider stakeholder consultation, for any changes in policies, laws or regulations that may impact the lives of many customary landholders; in this case the change even impacts the lives of all customary landholders in PNG.

The PNGEA and all other stakeholders (with the exception of some government agencies) were completely excluded from the revision process, as there has been no public stakeholder consultation at all on this CCMA revision process.

Non-validated Regulation “field-testing” not conducive for rebuilding PNG’s international reputation

The PNGEA strongly opposes the idea of “field-testing” the legislation and in particular the Carbon Market Regulation, without the CCDA having addressed the many serious concerns voiced by a wide range of stakeholders, including various government departments, that have been voiced and submitted in writing during and after its failed validation workshop in August 2024. This implies that the “guinea pigs” for this field-testing will be our customary landowning communities, when project developers will be allowed to develop and operate a wide range of carbon projects, also without any safeguard documents and very limited monitoring and enforcement capacity with CCDA. Making corrections to carbon market projects after they have been designed and approved through the various international standards and schemes in operation globally, will prove to be very challenging, if not impossible. Based on the experience of limited regulatory framework guidance and the difficulties for government regulatory oversight for our first two REDD+ projects in PNG, “field-testing” the carbon market regulation may lead to considerable socio-economic inequalities and damage for the customary landholding communities involved, which may be very hard or even impossible to remedy.

Currently, carbon project safeguard documents only exist for REDD+ projects, and although it may be possible to wider their scope, this first needs to be carefully assessed, and they cannot be considered as proxy safeguards for all types of carbon projects.

Field-testing crucial elements of a legislative framework, disregarding outstanding major stakeholder concerns, and with the knowledge that major changes may need to be made to it in the near future, does not give a good signal to project developers and investors, and will not aid in rebuilding PNG’s international reputation in relation to carbon market projects.

Conclusion

The PNGEA has provided the Minister with the requested necessary details and justifications for the claims made in our open letter and position statements, and where necessary have further detailed and explained these in our reply letter of 15 November 2024.

We are pleased with the Minster’s commitment to transparency, accountability and meaningful stakeholder engagement, as expressed in his response letter of 28 June 2024, and therefore look forward to receiving;

1. a response to our substantiated claims that the Carbon Market Regulation was not validated by the stakeholders, and that the CCDA has not seriously considered stakeholder comments and input on the final draft Regulation

2. CCDA’s response (in a general stakeholders’ comments matrix) to the PNGEA and all other stakeholders input submitted on the final draft Carbon Market Regulation

3. a response to our substantiated claim that our National REDD+ FPIC Guidelines were breach in the CCMA revision process

4. an assurance from the Minister’s Office that the Regulation will not come into force, until all stakeholder input has been processed and incorporated in an amended version of the Regulation and

   its associated Guidelines

We would like to reiterate the urgent need, already expressed in our open letter of 15 May 2024, for a stakeholder consultation process, informed by a range of experienced international experts, on the most suitable and beneficial REDD+ and other carbon project implementation system for the country. There are very interesting experiences and initiatives in other tropical forest countries, based on both market and non-market approaches, with the latter in a locally adjusted form possibly proving to be more suited for the PNG situation. The current in country arrangement of voluntary carbon market project development by overseas developers with little or no local knowledge, requires CCDA to have in place stringent monitoring and enforcement capacity, including the capacity to undertake adequate due diligence assessments on these project developers.

While we understand the desire and urgency for government to explore the options of obtaining financial benefits for the country from the potential of carbon market projects, it is essential that the legislative framework and implementation capacity needed to guide, monitor and regulate these projects is fully developed first, utilising the constructive contributions of not only the PNGEA, but all relevant stakeholders in the country.

The PNGEA continues to suggest that until this is achieved, a moratorium is applied for all carbon market projects, additional to the current Moratorium on new REDD+ Voluntary Carbon Market projects.

Endorsed by the following PNGEA members:

1. Forest for Certain! Forests for Life
2. Research and Conservation Foundation
3. Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program
4. Tenkile Conservation Alliance
5. PNG Council of Churches
6. Partners with Melanesia
7. Center for Environmental Law and Community Rights
8. Consultative Implementation Monitoring Council