Indigenous landowners can benefit from carbon project in Papua New Guinea

By BEATRICE BONAKOYA | THE NATIONAL (edited)

Customary Landowners (CLOs) in Papua New Guinea (PNG) have to be considered in efforts by the Government and the United Nations to reduce gas emissions in the country, an official said.

Dr Justin Ondopa, a senior researcher with the National Research Institute (NRI) urged the Climate Change and Development Authority (CCDA) and the UN-REDD+ programme to include landowners as much as possible for the sustainability of the project.

“Resources are on the land and land is owned by the indigenous people. When we define carbon right, where does the carbon stay?” he asked.

He was speaking during the question-and-answer session at a one-day workshop that concentrated on information-sharing between stakeholders.

He challenged the participants to create more awareness in the communities. He said carbon right was an issue that very few people had knowledge of and more awareness was needed at the village level.

“When we talk about carbon emission, carbon is found in trees and trees are on the land owned by the people. We need to involve landowners as much as possible,” he said.

Trees help regulate carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as they help store carbon. When trees are cleared, the carbon stored is then released thereby increasing the level of greenhouse gases.

Policy analyst with the CCDA Danny Nekitel said: “It is important that landowner communities should not only be made aware of the benefits of the project, but also of any social, economic, political and environmental consequences that may result due to the establishment of the project … in their river, on their land and the community which they live in.” – via Garamut News.