Papua New Guinea has lifted its moratorium on REDD voluntary carbon market projects
How long before the return of the carbon cowboys?
In March 2022, Papua New Guinea’s then-Minister of Environment, Conservation and Climate Change, Wera Mori, issued a “Moratorium on PNG REDD+ Voluntary Carbon Market Projects”. The Moratorium followed a series of scandals involving REDD projects in the country.
Shortly after the moratorium was announced, the Australian Institute published a report about one of the worst REDD project proposals in PNG: the REDD+ Project in Oro Province. The project document, written by an Indian consulting firm called Kanaka Management Services Private Limited (KMS) was posted on Verra’s website on 15 February 2022. (Verra rejected the project on 29 September 2022 and again on 4 November 2024.)
The project document states that cattle ranching and railways are deforestation threats, despite the fact that PNG has no cattle ranching in mountainous areas and no railways.
The Australia Institute points out that,
REDD+ projects have a long and vexed history in Papua New Guinea, with the significant issues around integrity, governance, and exploitation by ‘carbon cowboys’ in the past still present today.
Back in November 2008, PNG banned NGOs and carbon brokers from carrying out any REDD activities without the permission of the Office of Climate Change and Carbon Trading. Needless to say, that did little to keep the carbon cowboys out of the country.
A US-based company called NIHT Inc. ran a REDD project in New Ireland. The project no doubt helped trigger PNG’s 2022 moratorium on voluntary REDD projects. Local communities and NGOs in PNG accused the company of operating illegally.
In 2023, ABC’s Four Corners broadcast an investigation about the project that revealed that industrial logging operations were taking place inside the REDD project area.
Moratorium lifted: “Regulations in place”
A week ago, Simo Kilepa, PNG’s Minister for Environment, Conservation and Climate Change, told AFP that “Papua New Guinea is uplifting the moratorium on voluntary carbon markets.”
Kilepa told The National that, “I am lifting the moratorium to enable VCM [voluntary carbon market] projects to operate within a structured, well-regulated, and government-approved framework.”
But in a series of letters and public statements since the moratorium was announced, the PNG Environmental Alliance has repeatedly exposed the flawed process behind these regulations and guidelines:
On 5 May 2022, PNG Environmental Alliance wrote to Pogio Gate then-Minister for Environment, Conservation and Climate Change. The Alliance pointed out that the REDD Safeguards had been submitted to the National Executive Council without any stakeholder consultation on the final draft. In addition, the moratorium on new voluntary carbon market projects was not being enforced.
The letter highlights the problems with REDD projects in PNG:
[L]ack of proper awareness at the community level, lack of proper FPIC process before signing of carbon credit contracts, unclear and non-transparent benefit sharing mechanism, unsupported excessive claims made on future benefits, no clear link of benefits (to be) received to actual efforts and long-term commitments by participating clans, no sustainable land use planning done, and cash hand-outs to get clans to sign up.
On 20 May 2022, the PNG Environmental Alliance took out a full page advert in the Post Courier repeating the concerns raised in their letter to Environment Minister Pogio Gate.
On 9 June 2022, Pamela Avusi, Interim Coordinator of the PNG Environmental Alliance wrote to William Lakain, Managing Director of the Climate Change and Development Authority (CCDA) on behalf of the PNG Environmental Alliance.
The PNG Environmental Alliance raised concerns about the REDD+ Safeguards stakeholder consultation process, asking for two weeks to submit comments on the draft safeguard documents and another two weeks for stakeholders to read all comments submitted and how CCDA proposed to address the comments before a Validation Workshop takes place.
On 11 April 2023, the PNG Environmental Alliance took out a full-page advert in the Post Courier to publish their open letter dated 31 March 2023 addressed the William Lakain at the Climate Change and Development Authority.
The PNG Environmental Alliance urges that the development of the regulatory framework on carbon markets in PNG “should not bypass thorough consultations with stakeholders and logical, deliberate, and transparent planning and execution of the process.”
On 14 July 2023, the PNG Environmental Alliance put out a statement accusing the PNG government of breaching its own guidelines on REDD and free, prior and informed consent. The Climate Change and Development Authority announced that it had completed a revision of the Climate Change Management Act (CCMA) and submitted it to the National Executive Council.
The revision was “completed without proper public stakeholder consultation”, it was “unclear what changes have been made”, and it was “unclear which key stakeholders were consulted and on which Sections”.
The PNG Environmental Alliance urged the government to bring the amended CCMA “back for proper public stakeholder consultation”.
On 26 September 2023, the PNG Environmental Alliance published a Media Release about a letter it written on 22 September 2023 to the Minister for Environment, Conservation & Climate Change and the Chairperson of the Central Agency Coordination Committee. The letter raised “grave concerns” about the way the drafting and validation of carbon market regulation was carried out, as well as the related process of the Climate Change Management Act. The carbon market regulation “was not validated by stakeholders” the letter states.
On 23 November 2023, the PNG Environmental Alliance put out a Position Statement on PNG’s progress on developing carbon market regulations. The statement reasserts the Alliance’s “grave concerns regarding the development process of PNG’s regulatory framework for carbon markets”. And it points out “significant gaps that need to be resolved”, including double counting, FPIC, benefit sharing, grievance mechanisms, and carbon rights.
On 15 May 2024, the PNG Environmental Alliance wrote a letter to Simo Kilepa, Minister for Environment, Conservation and Climate Change. The letter was published as a full-page advert two days later in the Post Courier. The letter once again points out that the carbon market regulation “was not validated and cannot be completed without further public stakeholder consultation”.
On 20 November 2024, during COP29 in Baku, the PNG Environmental Alliance published a Media Statement, yet again raising concerns about the government’s process for developing carbon market legislation. In particular, the statement focusses on the government’s proposal to “field-test” the legislation before the Climate Change and Development Authority had addressed “the many serious concerns voiced by a wide range of stakeholders, including various government departments”.
It's really simple, really! If public stakeholders were ever given full information and a proper timeline for discussions, no project would ever be approved. Ergo, the Little People of the public are in the way of Progress, so just lie to them and push the projects through. But nobody needs these projects.