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Here at the top of this post, the image showing the presentation at the meeting, then, naturally, an immediate announcement that the measure has been resoundingly approved. This is how very low-level municipal planning schemes work in shoving their agendas through with a for-show-only presentation which to them indicates unconditional acceptance. All other concerns are now ancient history, swept under the carpet. NATIONAL GOVERNMENTS should not proceed in this manner, it is shameful and deceitful in the extreme. But, actual consultation is time-consuming, and governments, who along with business are the entities which endure, unlike the masses who are mere mortals and will soon pass from this scene, always know best and through processes like this, can just sweep dissent out of their way.

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Thanks Kathleen - this is purely and simply a box ticking exercise. The Papua New Guinea REDD plus website reveals the government's strategy all too clearly. A page (https://archive.ph/vdZ2l) about the National Stakeholders Validation Workshop consists of three items.

The first is "Background", which gives a confusing and confused description of Article 6 in the Paris Agreement. It's not written in a way that can be easily understood - even by someone who has been following these negotiations fairly closely. It gives no details of the proposed regulation.

Item 2 covers "Objectives":

"The objective of the National Stakeholders Validation Workshop is to:

"• Present the final draft of the Climate Change (Management) (Carbon Markets) Regulation 2023

"• Validate the Climate Change (Management) (Carbon Markets) Regulation 2023"

And item 3 covers "Expected Outcomes":

"The expected outcome of the National Stakeholders Validation Workshop is to;

"• Have the Climate Change (Management) (Carbon Markets) Regulation 2023 validated by the esteemed stakeholders;"

And that's it. Nowhere is there the slightest hint of what might happen if any of the "stakeholders" at the Workshop raised serious problems with the proposed regulation. Neither is there any description of how the consultation process might be handled during the Workshop.

And, here's a clip of William Lakain, CCDA's Acting Managing Director, reading a statement at the workshop. He reads it as if it's the first time he's seen it and with the enthusiasm of someone who would rather be somewhere else: https://youtu.be/a1XGjvKAeuw.

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