Sustaining indigenous forests with Blockchain Technology in Papua New Guinea

REDD+ & helping reduce emissions with blockchain technology

Virgin rain forest in Papua New Guinea

By PETER S KINJAP | PNG Attitude blog

PORT MORESBY – Deforestation is responsible for up to 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions and is crucial for the international community to achieve its goal of keeping global average temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Papua New Guinea is the world’s second largest island with a landmass of 46 million hectares, of which 29 million are virgin forest. PNG is second only to Brazil in having the largest tropical rainforest still intact.

Legally, land in PNG is owned by the indigenous people. Only 3% was acquired by the government during the colonial period and 97% is recognized by the Customary Land Registration Act for customary landowners.

PNG also has large mineral deposits and currently exports gold, copper, nickel, oil, liquefied natural gas and other resources in which customary landowners are important stakeholders.

Meanwhile, Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index reveals that PNG is one of the most corrupt nations in the world, much of the corruption involving illegal land grabbing.

The country’s biggest land scandal has been triggered by Special Agriculture and Business Lease (SABL) agreements. Using the pretext of promising customary landowners agricultural, the government has used many of these SABL leases for other commercial purposes.

This has all occurred without a proper policy framework in place, enabling ‘carbon cowboys’ to illegally use the land for their own purposes.

The government established a climate change office in 2010 but it soon came under public scrutiny for its dubious activities and was condemned by international observers.

According to leaked documents, the government pre-sold carbon credits for almost four years prior to 2009 without a framework being in place or proper legal documentation.

A gardening site near the Kuk heritage area  in Western Highlands Province

In 2014, the climate change office changed its name to the Climate Change and Development Authority (CCDA), with new management taking over.

The hope was to curb out corruption and implement an agreement known as REDD+, a global effort to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and to foster conservation, sustainable forest management and enhancement of forest carbon stocks

Even though the PNG government is now trying to seize back the SABL leases and return the land to customary landowners, the effectiveness of this, and of CCDA, is questionable as is the implementation of REDD+.

Papua New Guinea’s greenhouse gas emissions mostly come from land use and forestry. As a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, it is a requirement that PNG reduces these emissions. But reducing emissions from deforestation and the degradation of forests will be neither cheap nor easy.

But is has been stated that, in the midst of illegal land grabbing and carbon corruption, blockchain technology can potentially be beneficial to PNG communities.

A decentralized public blockchain-based offsetting and compensation mechanism for indigenous communities in PNG to sustain their forested land with REDD+ mitigation instruments is already mooting to the aid of indigenous landowners.

Scheduled to be officially launched this year, T4G PNG project is an autonomous nonprofit private project designed to implement REDD+ programs in Papua New Guinea.

With REDD+, it provides a distributed ledger payment mechanism to assist landowners gets their royalty payment in full and provides accountability and transparency on the transactions.

With a secured database to house big data on customary land in PNG with genealogical links to their bloodlines, sacred sites, linages, maps and traditional significant sites. By far, it remains as an alternative source of ILG data and customary land title information on a digital platform. 

Acts as an escrow to collect donations from travelers worldwide and provide incentives to indigenous landowners to sustain the standing forests and planting new trees.

The T4G PNG project also act as the plaintiff in the environmental damage litigation against polluters and share the rewards with other plaintiffs including ILGs and indigenous communities as well as providing a consensus mechanism of ILG members to nominate and elect individual members to have legitimacy of ILG land title investment decisions. 

No customary land is individually owned and thus this project provides the platform required to assist for consensus decision making.

 ILGs comprised of many people who own the land and thus the land title which can be easily tempered with by individuals and thus a consensus decision needed to be made for deals in investments of and with the title.            

Overall, T4G PNG is a digital platform (supported by IPCI and Airalab) to implement REDD+ programs in Papua New Guinea in association with CCDA for UNFCCC.

Peter S Kinjap is a freelance writer and an advocate for the T4G PNG project. For more information and technical detail you can email Peter here: pekinjap@gmail.com

 

Addressing the threat of climate change in Papua New Guinea

By PETER S. KINJAP | PNG ATTITUDE BLOG

PORT MORESBY – The earth experienced very warm periods 50 to 70 million years ago and very cold periods 600,000 years ago and most people are aware that the climate is changing again.

But this time the change is not caused by extreme volcanic periods or projects from space colliding with earth. It is anthropogenic – created by us, the people who live on the planet.

The history of climate science is relatively recent. The first scientist to publish on the subject was the Swede Svante Arrhenius in 1896 who hypothesised that human-caused carbon dioxide emissions would be large enough to cause global warming.

Nearer to the present, a report published in 1979 predicted that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would double from pre-industrial levels by about 2035. Today it is expected this will happen by about 2050. A doubling of carbon dioxide will lead to an average warming of the planet of 2°C to 3°C.

The temperature at the polar regions will increase by approximately 12°C and the tropics by less than 1°C. These forecasts are being seen in the record melting of Arctic Sea ice.

For Papua New Guinea, the 2011 Pacific Climate Change science program reported temperatures would rise between 0.4°C and 1.0°C by 2030.

Kavulik village on Tsoi Island in New Island Province is already showing signs of climate change evident in the rise of sea levels.

In Bougainvlle Province, living no more than 1.5-meters above sea level, Carteret Islanders have been some of the first people to succumb to rising ocean tides and are giving the world its first recorded climate refugees. Spokeswoman Ursula Rakova says the encroaching tides have had a major impact on people's health.

"We're beginning to get more requests for people wanting to move because of the situation worsening due to increase water levels and the dire need for food on the island," she said.

The Carterets people have secured land for new homes on the Bougainville mainland. Land was made available from the Catholic Church, enough to resettle about 100 people from 10 families.

But the access to safety and secure land is only half the battle. “The elderly people do not want to move,” Rakova says. And funds for new housing have also proved to be a major hurdle.

Ms Rakova says the islanders want to maintain their independent way of life and need more support.

"The islanders on the Carterets are victims of what other people have caused and the international community needs to aid and support the work that we are doing," she says.

Sea levels are rising at 7 mm a year in the vicinity of PNG, double the global average of 2.8 - 3.5mm a year.

Regions like Momase are wetter and the roads of Morobe and the Highlands provinces will continue to require increased maintenance. The rainfall in Lae has increased by approximately 500mm per annum, or nearly 11%.

Reducing emissions from deforestation and increasing forest restoration will be extremely important in limiting global warming to 2°C.

Forests represent one of the best and most cost effective climate solutions available. Action to conserve, sustainably manage and restore forests can contribute to economic growth, poverty alleviation, rule of law, food security, climate resilience and biodiversity conservation.

But forests get too little attention as a potential solution to climate change. There are just two paragraphs in the Paris Climate Agreement about forests. A third paragraph is about finance for protecting forests.

And the Paris Agreement makes no mention of how to keep fossil fuels in the ground, which is most likely the only way we can prevent climate chaos.

The carbon trading mechanism known as REDD+ could offset continued emissions from burning fossil fuels by discouraging deforestation.

Benoit Bosquet of the World Bank said the goal is to jump-start a forest carbon market that tips the economic balance in favour of conserving forests.

But carbon trading does not reduce emissions. At best it simply transfers emissions reduced in one part of the world to continued pollution elsewhere.

To prevent climate chaos, two things need to happen: reduced greenhouse emissions and an end to deforestation.

In 2003, the World Bank offered PNG a US$17 million loan if the country closed down its notoriously corrupt logging industry.

A few years later, Kevin Conrad’s MBA thesis at Columbia University concluded that the revenue from carbon credits could equal the revenue from logging in PNG.

Now, a smart project to sustain tropical rainforests by providing incentives to indigenous landowners has emerged through the T4G PNG project in association with PNG Climate Change and Development Authority – which have developed a digital platform for implementing REDD+ programs.

*Peter S Kinjap is a freelance writer and a blogger in Papua New Guinea, email pekinjap@gmail.com

REDD+ awareness in PNG with T-shirt. Image credit. T4G PNG project (1)

REDD+ awareness in PNG with T-shirt. Image credit. T4G PNG project (2)

REDD+ awareness in PNG with T-shirt. Image credit. T4G PNG project

Sea water and people in New Ireland. Image supplied.

Shortage of food is an impact of climate change. Kevieng Market. Image supplied

The sea and forests in PNG. Image Credit. T4G PNG project

Tropical forest in PNG. pic by Eddie Wilson Pungal.

Weather  patterns change unpredictably in the highlands of PNG. Image credit. T4G PNG project

Local Environment in Morobe Province. Image Credit. T4G PNG project

Fake travel advice and online fraudulent can be reduced by using a blockchain-enabled tourism marketplace: DeskBell Chain

By NIGEL KAUA | COMMENTARY

Amongst others, the blockchain technology can offer variety for the hotel and tourism industry. It can attract and stores data on decentralization node, thus creating trust in the data created for tourism marketing while provides an ease of trading exchange of currencies. It has the potential to enter the tourism medical insurance spheres and be an aid to content sales and marketing.

Basically, blockchain is very much about moving values where it is currently popular in the banking and financial services but for tourism industry it is about handling and securing data in better ways.

DeskBell Chain project is about handling somewhat legal information in the tourism sector. From a stand point of hotels, there is a need to provide legal guarantees for working with an intermediate like an online travel agent, where each seeks to protect its interests, rather than ensure transparency and openness of the business process.

The scenario below explains; Giluwe Hotel enters an agreement with an online travel agent known as Wanol Travels, with a clause saying that for the next six months, room nights booked more than five days in advance will get a higher commission than those booked later. With today’s model, both parties would sign a contract. When the period ends, both might have run to reports to identify the total number of online bookings from Wanol Travels or they use some commission consolidation service to document it for them.

Although the process of calculating the commission takes time and effort, perhaps with a lawyer as a middlemen to rectify who also take his piece of the pie – the correct commission is eventually paid out.

What if all these were programmed into a smart contract? Well, many benefits; cost savings with removal of middlemen, time savings from cutting down business processes and the trust achieved from storing documents encrypted on a shared ledger.

DeskBell Chain is moving into this sphere, to provide the hotels a blockchain-enabled ecosystem. It allows the hotel business to develop flexible and open marketing tools.

It will also connect small medium tourism businesses (SMEs) with the tourists and guests from all-over to their point of service within a blockchain-enabled system.

The usage of geo-location technology will assist the SMEs in the remote sites with digital content creation, publishing, distribution and giving them the chance to participate in the bigger global tourism marketplace.

Researches have revealed that tourism accounts for 10% of global GDP and is crucial to driving any nation’s economy. A research published by Google Stat states that 74% of all leisure travel and 77% of all business travel is now planned on the internet. This indicates the future of travel and tourism is online.

Thus regardless of where tourism SMEs are located, they need to have online presence to succeed. For those who were on the internet, the payment process and the approach in which they sell their products and services to the potential tourists were not convincing and/or not functioning resulting in losing clients and making lost in business.

DeskBell project will help facilitate the connection between the tourists and the supplier and even facilitating the payment online for both in booking and purchasing of services and products.

In tourism, a blockchain-based marketplace can help fight against global travel scammers and bring a tourist dollar right down to the communities is a direct benefit not only to the local community but also to a nation for its economic prosperity.

Dubai is building a tourism marketplace on the blockchain platform to be launched in 2020. A travel agent in Malta, Bitcoin Adventures, accepts Bitcoin (crypto currency). A Japanese tourist was the first to travel with Bitcoin.

A Russian Tourism Official said blockchain will change the tourism industry in a huge way in about 5-10 years’ time.

Taiwan Airlines accepts Bitcoin seeing a ‘brighter future’ for tourism sector. Last year, Taiwan Central Bank supported regulating crypto currency.

Latvia’s AirBaltic become the first airline in the world to accept Bitcoin in 2014. Later a growing number of airline companies accepting crypto currency in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

Germany Tourism Board accepts Bitcoin.

The tourism business owners, hotels, airlines, tourists/guests, the governments and the communities are all beneficiaries to this project. It will erase the fear of being scammed, fraudulent and faking and directly provides a peer-to-peer business transaction.

It will bring back the confident and trust between the buyer and seller of the tourism products and services. It helps support the SMEs to grow and contributes to the GDP of any country’s economy.

PNG Government’s move to strive for creating digital economy and financial inclusion for its mass rural population may opt for Deskbell Chain for its tourism industry. There are about 50,000 SMEs in PNG according to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, 14% of which are in the tourism sector.

DeskBell Chain brings the solution for PNG tourism SMEs to equally participate in the global tourism market, a breakthrough with the blockchain technology. – Via Garamut News. 

Blockchain Technology can help tourism SMEs in PNG and the Pacific

By NIGEL KAUA | COMMENTARY

Amongst others, the blockchain technology can offer variety for the hotel and tourism industry. It can attract and stores data on decentralization node, thus creating trust in the data created for tourism marketing while provides an ease of trading exchange of currencies. It has the potential to enter the tourism medical insurance spheres and be an aid to content sales and marketing.

Basically, blockchain is very much about moving values where it is currently popular in the banking and financial services but for tourism industry it is about handling and securing data in better ways.

DeskBell Chain project is about handling somewhat legal information in the tourism sector. From a stand point of hotels, there is a need to provide legal guarantees for working with an intermediate like an online travel agent, where each seeks to protect its interests, rather than ensure transparency and openness of the business process.

The scenario below explains; Giluwe Hotel enters an agreement with an online travel agent known as Wanol Travels, with a clause saying that for the next six months, room nights booked more than five days in advance will get a higher commission than those booked later. With today’s model, both parties would sign a contract. When the period ends, both might have run to reports to identify the total number of online bookings from Wanol Travels or they use some commission consolidation service to document it for them.

Although the process of calculating the commission takes time and effort, perhaps with a lawyer as a middlemen to rectify who also take his piece of the pie – the correct commission is eventually paid out.

What if all these were programmed into a smart contract? Well, many benefits; cost savings with removal of middlemen, time savings from cutting down business processes and the trust achieved from storing documents encrypted on a shared ledger.

DeskBell Chain is moving into this sphere, to provide the hotels a blockchain-enabled ecosystem. It allows the hotel business to develop flexible and open marketing tools.

It will also connect small medium tourism businesses (SMEs) with the tourists and guests from all-over to their point of service within a blockchain-enabled system.

The usage of geo-location technology will assist the SMEs in the remote sites with digital content creation, publishing, distribution and giving them the chance to participate in the bigger global tourism marketplace.

Researches have revealed that tourism accounts for 10% of global GDP and is crucial to driving any nation’s economy. A research published by Google Stat states that 74% of all leisure travel and 77% of all business travel is now planned on the internet. This indicates the future of travel and tourism is online.

Thus regardless of where tourism SMEs are located, they need to have online presence to succeed. For those who were on the internet, the payment process and the approach in which they sell their products and services to the potential tourists were not convincing and/or not functioning resulting in losing clients and making lost in business.

DeskBell project will help facilitate the connection between the tourists and the supplier and even facilitating the payment online for both in booking and purchasing of services and products.

In tourism, a blockchain-based marketplace can help fight against global travel scammers and bring a tourist dollar right down to the communities is a direct benefit not only to the local community but also to a nation for its economic prosperity.

Dubai is building a tourism marketplace on the blockchain platform to be launched in 2020. A travel agent in Malta, Bitcoin Adventures, accepts Bitcoin (crypto currency). A Japanese tourist was the first to travel with Bitcoin.

A Russian Tourism Official said blockchain will change the tourism industry in a huge way in about 5-10 years’ time.

Taiwan Airlines accepts Bitcoin seeing a ‘brighter future’ for tourism sector. Last year, Taiwan Central Bank supported regulating crypto currency.

Latvia’s AirBaltic become the first airline in the world to accept Bitcoin in 2014. Later a growing number of airline companies accepting crypto currency in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

Germany Tourism Board accepts Bitcoin.

The tourism business owners, hotels, airlines, tourists/guests, the governments and the communities are all beneficiaries to this project. It will erase the fear of being scammed, fraudulent and faking and directly provides a peer-to-peer business transaction.

It will bring back the confident and trust between the buyer and seller of the tourism products and services. It helps support the SMEs to grow and contributes to the GDP of any country’s economy.

PNG Government’s move to strive for creating digital economy and financial inclusion for its mass rural population may opt for Deskbell Chain for its tourism industry. There are about 50,000 SMEs in PNG according to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, 14% of which are in the tourism sector.

DeskBell Chain brings the solution for PNG tourism SMEs to equally participate in the global tourism market, a breakthrough with the blockchain technology. – Via Garamut News.

DeskBell Chain, a solution for hotels and tourism businesses

By NIGEL KAUA | COMMENTARY

Amongst others, the blockchain technology can offer variety for the hotel and tourism industry. It can attract and stores data on decentralization node, thus creating trust in the data created for tourism marketing while provides an ease of trading exchange of currencies. It has the potential to enter the tourism medical insurance spheres and be an aid to content sales and marketing.

Basically, blockchain is very much about moving values where it is currently popular in the banking and financial services but for tourism industry it is about handling and securing data in better ways.

DeskBell Chain project is about handling somewhat legal information in the tourism sector. From a stand point of hotels, there is a need to provide legal guarantees for working with an intermediate like an online travel agent, where each seeks to protect its interests, rather than ensure transparency and openness of the business process.

The scenario below explains; Giluwe Hotel enters an agreement with an online travel agent known as Wanol Travels, with a clause saying that for the next six months, room nights booked more than five days in advance will get a higher commission than those booked later. With today’s model, both parties would sign a contract. When the period ends, both might have run to reports to identify the total number of online bookings from Wanol Travels or they use some commission consolidation service to document it for them.

Although the process of calculating the commission takes time and effort, perhaps with a lawyer as a middlemen to rectify who also take his piece of the pie – the correct commission is eventually paid out.

What if all these were programmed into a smart contract? Well, many benefits; cost savings with removal of middlemen, time savings from cutting down business processes and the trust achieved from storing documents encrypted on a shared ledger.

DeskBell Chain is moving into this sphere, to provide the hotels a blockchain-enabled ecosystem. It allows the hotel business to develop flexible and open marketing tools.

It will also connect small medium tourism businesses (SMEs) with the tourists and guests from all-over to their point of service within a blockchain-enabled system.

The usage of geo-location technology will assist the SMEs in the remote sites with digital content creation, publishing, distribution and giving them the chance to participate in the bigger global tourism marketplace.

Researches have revealed that tourism accounts for 10% of global GDP and is crucial to driving any nation’s economy. A research published by Google Stat states that 74% of all leisure travel and 77% of all business travel is now planned on the internet. This indicates the future of travel and tourism is online.

Thus regardless of where tourism SMEs are located, they need to have online presence to succeed. For those who were on the internet, the payment process and the approach in which they sell their products and services to the potential tourists were not convincing and/or not functioning resulting in losing clients and making lost in business.

DeskBell project will help facilitate the connection between the tourists and the supplier and even facilitating the payment online for both in booking and purchasing of services and products.

In tourism, a blockchain-based marketplace can help fight against global travel scammers and bring a tourist dollar right down to the communities is a direct benefit not only to the local community but also to a nation for its economic prosperity.

Dubai is building a tourism marketplace on the blockchain platform to be launched in 2020. A travel agent in Malta, Bitcoin Adventures, accepts Bitcoin (crypto currency). A Japanese tourist was the first to travel with Bitcoin.

A Russian Tourism Official said blockchain will change the tourism industry in a huge way in about 5-10 years’ time.

Taiwan Airlines accepts Bitcoin seeing a ‘brighter future’ for tourism sector. Last year, Taiwan Central Bank supported regulating crypto currency.

Latvia’s AirBaltic become the first airline in the world to accept Bitcoin in 2014. Later a growing number of airline companies accepting crypto currency in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

Germany Tourism Board accepts Bitcoin.

The tourism business owners, hotels, airlines, tourists/guests, the governments and the communities are all beneficiaries to this project. It will erase the fear of being scammed, fraudulent and faking and directly provides a peer-to-peer business transaction.

It will bring back the confident and trust between the buyer and seller of the tourism products and services. It helps support the SMEs to grow and contributes to the GDP of any country’s economy.

PNG Government’s move to strive for creating digital economy and financial inclusion for its mass rural population may opt for Deskbell Chain for its tourism industry. There are about 50,000 SMEs in PNG according to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, 14% of which are in the tourism sector.

DeskBell Chain brings the solution for PNG tourism SMEs to equally participate in the global tourism market, a breakthrough with the blockchain technology. – Via Garamut News.

Be in it to win it or never to miss it: A seminar on a Tech that transfers Wealth - Port Moresby

By NIGEL KAUA | COMMENTARY

Like the saying goes, ‘meetings without chairs are important meetings’ – comparing between formal meetings in an enclosed area with members seated on chairs and discussions being tabled against social meetups with parties standing, walking or drinking in a pub.

 For the purpose of this article, let’s put it this way: “meetings without media are very important.”

Imagine how many global media flocked into Port Moresby when Asia Pacific’s economic agendas were tabled and talked over. But the important meetings never attracted such multitude of mainstream media attention. 

Why because the important meetings are not propagandas. Rather they are meetups to change the course of prevailing trends. Or better still are so fundamental that only the chosen ones can access and witness.

People were told that Jesus will born of woman to save the world from sin but media never turned up when He was born – no big celebration is recorded in this history when he Messiah was born. 

It was a quiet moment when Joseph with few witness the delivery, later gifts were presented by 3 wise men from the East.

The point is, very important things that will change the all world never emerge with a loud thunder. They just happen quietly and the impact is seen and felt aftermath. 

 In the same way, very important meetups don’t attract media or huge crowd. It just happens with very few, mostly chosen ones.

Exclusively presented at Lamana Hotel in Port Moresby, there are two divine opportunities that you be in it to win it or never to miss it. 

The Kingdom Technology of Wealth Transfer and The Invitation to Meetups with Friends, Partners, Associates and Investors on Friday, 08th March, 2019 @ 9am – 6pm. 

For Reservations, contact Rita on 72269873 or email: info@cryptotechventures.co  - Via Garamut News.

Fijian blockchain startup provides solution to fishing industry

By NIGEL KAUA | NEWS

If you are aware of the issue of traceability and the ongoing battle to make the fishing industry sustainable and ethical, you would appreciate being able to live anywhere in the world and know that the fish you are able to consume was caught, transported and stored and finally bought by the retailer and served by the restaurant in which you sit all genuinely, legally and under proper processes which ensure sustainability in the industry.

One blockchain startup in Fiji is making this possible in partnership with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), a Fijian fishing and processing company Sea Quest (Fiji) Ltd and US blockchain company ConsenSys.

The project runs on a blockchain product by ConsenSys sub-company, Viant, which enables the traceability of fish caught by Sea Quest in Fiji waters and transported along the supply chain, “from bait to plate” as the project slogan suggests.

Each fish caught is tagged with a QR code that records the date and location of the catch, this process is repeated at every port in which the product lands, in bulk, on ice, sliced, diced and cooked. 

In May 2018, the project team successfully sent 2 tuna tracked on the blockchain from Fiji to New York for the Ethereal Summit where participants were able to view the story of the tuna used in the sushi they were eating.

The next phase of this project is now being implemented which is to trace Fiji-caught fish into the New Zealand market. TraseAble Solutions is working with the Fijian fishing companies and NZ importers and retailers to get this project underway.

 Apart from this supply chain and traceability project, TraseAble Solutions has been fostering a blockchain community in Fiji and co-hosted the Regional Blockchain TechCamp with the US Embassy in Suva, Fiji, April 2018. For more information, visit www.traseable.com -Via Garamut News.

Sea Quest Crew Training – Ken explaining the TraSeable App for data collections

DeskBell Chain -The New Age of Blockchain in hotels: What does it hold in store for the year 2019?

By BENEDICT O'LEARY | THE MEDIUM (edited)

While the DeskBell Chain project (The New Age of Blockchain in Hotels) has been in development for more than three years, 2018 has been the most exciting and busy year for the project to date.

In March, DeskBell Chain project went through a complex verification procedure and received the license to provide virtual services and a license to open digital wallets.

Consequently, the project was entitled to conduct an ICO (Initial Coin Offering) in compliance with the applicable legislation in Estonia.

The ICO has been started, and despite being initially scheduled to end in November this year, with the focus on developing MVP (Minimum Viable Product) rather than ICO promotion, the deadline has been extended until March 2019.

At the end of September several representatives visited Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, to visit a blockchain technology conference hosted by the International Decentralized Association Of Cryptocurrency And Blockchain (IDACB).

This provided an opportunity to showcase the product to industry leaders and gain some valuable insights for future development of the project.

The team has grown in size during the year, with the addition of more staff and advisors who bring a range of experience to the project. Articles on a range of media sources have reinforced the numerous roles that DeskBell Chain can fulfil and its potential advantages.

This exciting project could be a groundbreaker for the tourism sector — hotels can increase their revenues from guests, while travellers get more rewarding trips.

Other industry sectors will benefit too: with its us of geolocation based technology marketers have an unrivalled opportunity to target their audience at precisely the right time with the goods, product or service that is being searched for.

Simultaneously, a whole lot of work has been going on behind the scenes developing the MVP. The number of tested and operational functions and possibilities now available on the platform increases daily. The interface is completely Material Design / SPA, while the code base has been re-written by 50–70%.

What does next year hold in store?

2019 promises to be the most exciting year yet in the history of DeskBell Chain. The ICO is running until the end of March, and there will be a targeted investment drive until that point, including venture capital.

In the coming weeks, as a demo version of the POC (Proof of Concept), a charity campaign will be launched that works both in the application and on the server, and is recorded on blockchain.

Tokens will be issued to everyone who installs the app and signs-up to DeskBell Chain. At the same time, the app is being rolled out to hotels who can start uploading the relevant information to integrate with the platform.

The MVP (Minimum Viable Product) was released in a demo-version on 24th December, and the charity promotion will be launched on January 1st.

 At the current stage we have launched an opportunity of mutual motivation by rewarding users for their activity and businesses for participation in advertising displays.

The number of marketing programs will grow in the near future, from B2B models to more traditional methods for distributing information and advertising displays.

In the process the concept has been broadened and more detail added, so at the start of the year information about all the exciting new developments will be announced.

In addition a new roadmap will be revealed, displaying new directions for the project’s development.

The app has been developed, and although content still needs to be added, it has a completely different feel and look.

The future is exciting — the future of hotel technology is DeskBell Chain!!!

Application DeskBell will help you be guided quickly, easily and comfortably in the hotel you have checked in. You needn’t use books describing hotels options. - Via Garamut News.

*Benedict O’Leary is ICO Advisor in the travel and accommodation sector and currently advise Deskbell Chian. 

Building an inclusive digital ecosystem in the Pacific, Blockchain Pasifik in the forefront

By NIGEL KAUA | FEATURE

APEC 2018 in Port Moresby with the theme “harnessing inclusive opportunities, embracing the digital future” has truly become a launch-pad for building digital economies not only for Papua New Guinea and APEC member countries but also for non-APEC Pacific Island member countries. Fiji and PNG are in the lead to trial the emerging technologies including blockchain and the use of distributed ledger technology. Fiji is one of the non-APEC member Pacific Island countries that embrace blockchain technology.

TraSeable Solutions is a Fijian blockchain start-up that supports global seafood sustainability through a blockchain-ready software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform for seafood traceability that fosters collaboration between stakeholders, leverages and integrates Internet of Things (IoT) technology, and facilitates transparency by providing regulators with the means of verifying and validating end-to-end forward and backward traceability of seafood products.

Seafood traceability is increasingly becoming a focal point to address the entry of illegally and unethically produced products into the supply chain. More and more, experts view full supply chain traceability and transparency as the only way to ensure against the continued entry of illegally or unethically produced seafood products into the seafood supply chain.

Blockchain can be a significant part of the solution – providing the full transparency and traceability required to enable the market to reward responsible and ethical producers, and push those that are illegal and unethical out of the supply chain.

Sometime soon, American consumers may be able to purchase tuna labeled with a QR code that can be scanned to reveal when and where the fish was caught, and by whom. This new blockchain project aims to prove that a completely transparent, traceable seafood supply chain is possible, and can curb misdeeds on the high seas.

In a significant development for global fisheries, blockchain technology is now being used to improve tuna traceability to help stop illegal and unsustainable fishing practices in the Pacific Islands tuna industry.

TraSeable is sponsoring a Future of Fisheries project at the University of South Pacific, USP‘s IEP programme where the goal of the project is build a decentralized application (dApp) on the Ethereum blockchain that can complement TraSeable’s seafood traceability platform.

Expecting a future demand for blockchain developers in the Pacific, TraSeable is helping to develop the first generation of Fijian blockchain developers.

So, why a traceability startup?

Very simply – the seafood traceability space is ripe for disruption through technology innovation.

There are so many exciting technological advances now that when combined have the potential to make things previously impossible, now possible. Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are just a few technologies that are now being applied to multiple domains.

TraSeable Solutions founder Kenneth Katafono has attended the Blockchain Pasifik 2018 conference in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea in October to present the seafood transparency and traceability. Kenneth is working with ICDP to develop Pacific partnerships, particularly in supporting existing projects relating to blockchain and ICT.

Other Pacific blockchain startups that were presented at the International Blockchain Pacific 2018 conference are; Coin-sure, a PNG-based blockchain startup developing a blockchain-based cryptocurrency insurance software that will underwrite cryptocurrency transactions and crypto-wallets.

Tano Network, a blockchain-based land titles registry and management system that will eliminate corruption by preventing duplication of titles and delay in processing, developed by Kilakila Secondary School students from PNG.

Birdwing Network, a blockchain-based National Identity Registration and Management System in PNG developed by Kopkop College students.

Diwai Network, a blockchain-based global carbon emissions trading platform to combat climate change by creating an economy for the preservation of forest stocks via a compensation mechanism is developed by Don Bosco Technical Secondary School students from PNG.

Doa Network, a blockchain-based digital currency (cryptocurrency) that is fully subject to existing PNG Monetary Policy and can be deployed to sectors that cash is either risky or problematic to utilize, is developed by Port Moresby International School students from PNG.

Vanuatu was represented by Sandra Hart of Oxfam International who leads a pilot project that will use a blockchain digital asset platform to deliver quicker, more efficient and traceable cash transfers to people affected by disasters in Vanuatu and elsewhere.

Solomon Island was represented by Sharon Inone, who is an environmental scientist and climate change activist, said Solomon Island would welcome any blockchain-based startups to solve some of its problems faced by the country today.

Tonga, Samoa, Tuvalu, Cook Island, Kiribati, Marshall Island, New Caledonia, Micronesia, France Polynesia and other smaller Pacific Island countries were not represented at the International Blockchain Pasifik 2018 conference in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea and the upcoming 2019 Blockchain Pasifik conference is open for Pacific Island countries and some of them may attend to showcase their blockchain-based startups to this Pacific Blockchain Community.

For more information about the 2019 Blockchain Pasifik conference, visit www.blockchainpasifik.com or email: hello@blockchainpasifik.com or call +675 7260 1900. - Via Garamut News. 

Four schools in Port Moresby give a go in blockchain tech competition

By NIGEL KAUA | NEWS

Blockchain Pasifik is a local PNG firm based in Port Moresby comprising of PNG blockchain practitioners and experienced event managers. It was established to start the blockchain conversation, with no analogue in PNG and the Pacific.

Its featured events include Blockchain Pasifik Policy Conference, ABAC and Blockchain Pasifik Leaders meeting, Blockchain StartUp Exhibition, Blockchain Junior Project and the Shark Tank.

Amongst others, the Blockchain Junior Project has been launched in partnership with Em Stret Limited and fully funded by Australian Government to run a Blockchain Startup Competition in PNG schools.

Four schools in the National Capital District have been identified to participate in the inaugural challenge; Port Moresby International School (POMIS), Kila Kila Secondary School, Don Bosco Technical Institute, and Kopkop College.

The competition requirement is for each School Team to prepare a Proof of Concept Paper on blockchain projects for PNG or the Pacific.

The teams will pitch their ideas during the PNG Leaders blockchain session on 10th October, at the grand event, and will be judged by blockchain experts from all over the world.

The top concepts will win cash prizes and possible funding from investors or government.

Outstanding individual talents will be placed in a talent pool for further development via junior internships under blockchain projects in PNG, or abroad. – Via Garamut News.

Australia supports blockchain startups in Papua New Guinea

By NIGEL KAUA I NEWS

THE Australian Government through the PNG-Australia Partnership is piloting a new approach to support small and growing enterprises in PNG. It is promoting the development of digital industry in PNG.

One of the first blockchain companies to participate in this pilot project is Coin-Sure, a PNG- based blockchain startup. Coin-Sure PNG is developing blockchain-based cryptocurrency insurance software that will underwrite cryptocurrency transactions and crypto-wallets.

The Coin-Sure concept has been developed by two (2) Papua New Guinean entrepreneurs, Rex Paura and Nou Vada.

Australia’s support to Coin-Sure paired the startup with Generative Solutions, a Melbourne-based technology business consultancy that partners with startups to help them leverage technology to deliver impact.

Through a series of intensive engagements in both Australia and PNG, and through virtual communication, Coin-Sure PNG and Generative Solutions Australia worked together to establish a product prototype, and undertook an intensive process of business building, testing and piloting, and adopting to establish a model to drive Coin-Sure’s sustainable growth.

Australia’s support for innovative enterprises like Coin-Sure is helping PNG businesses connect with international market places and readying them for the digital future.

Coin-Sure PNG also supports the pitching of four (4) new blockchain startup concepts developed by four (4) different secondary schools in Papua New Guinea.

Tano Network, a blockchain-based Land Titles Registry and Management System that will eliminate corruption by preventing duplication of titles and delay in processing, developed by Kilakila Secondary School students.

The second startup is Birdwing Network, a blockchain-based National Identity Registration and Management System developed by Kopkop College students.

The third is Diwai Network, a blockchain-based global carbon emissions trading platform to combat climate change by creating an economy for the preservation of forest stocks via a compensation mechanism is developed by Don Bosco Technical Secondary School students.

And the fourth is Doa Network, a blockchain-based digital currency (cryptocurrency) that is fully subject to existing PNG Monetary Policy and can be deployed to sectors that cash is either risky or problematic to utilize, is developed by Port Moresby International School students.

These four junior startups are sponsored by PNG-Australia Partnership under the Department of Australian Foreign Affairs and Trade. – Via Garamut News.

APEC Minister Hon. Justin Tkatchenko announcing his official support for Blockchain Pasifik as an event and initiative that compliments the APEC 2018 Theme: Harnessing Inclusive Opportunities, Embracing the Digital Future.

PHOTO: Blockchain Pasifik Team Leader Rex Paura, Counsellor-Economics Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Chakriya Bowman, Minister APEC Hon. Justin Tkatchenko, NCD Governor Hon. Powes Parkop, Ambassador APEC H.E Ivan Pomaleu and Blockchain Pasifik Strategic Advisor Nou Vada at the International Convention Centre.

Using blockchain, Central Bank aims to make PNG capital of FinTech in the Pacific.

By NIGEL KAUA | NEWS

Blockchain Technology or Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), an IT infrastructural platform, blockchain provides a global public ledger capable of automatically recording and verifying a high volume of digital transactions, regardless of location.

Its capability in handling high volume of data in accurate manner especially financial transactions is interesting to the business world. It has attracted the attention of the banks. It can solve some of their conventional problems in data management, transferring and storing data independently.

In Papua New Guinea (PNG), the Bank of Papua New Guinea (BPNG) has spent the last few years researching and trialling the use of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) or blockchain technology.

BPNG has successfully completed a ‘Proof of Concept’ in both an urban setting (that is, in Port Moresby) and a rural setting, in Lalaura Village, Abau District, Central Province.

Its ‘Proof of Concept’ will be piloted locally and will engage local expertise in this exciting project, tailored by locals for local applicable and usage.

The Bank will train suitable qualified and enthusiastic Papua New Guineans to develop the skills and capabilities to build a variety of business solutions using this technology.

A paid advertisement was calling for registration of interests to identify the level of interest within the Papua New Guinea software development community to take this opportunity prior to it committing time, money and resources in enabling this to occur.

Ideally, BPNG was seeking individuals that have a software development background, although other respondents may be considered. A basic level of familiarity with computing basics and standard desktop software (e.g. word processing, spreadsheets, etc) and software development lifecycle was required.

The bank preferred that any person with experience in the development of DLT solutions or blockchain technology in use cases is not a pre-requisite. However, respondents may be required to undertake an aptitude test to assess their capacity to undertake this kind of work.

BPNG requires practical, hands-on people who want to help Papua New Guinea become the FinTech Capital of the Pacific, without total reliance on overseas expertise.

In addition, BPNG was looking for individuals who can support the Bank’s values of: Accountability, Efficiency, Integrity, Professionalism, Teamwork and Transparency.

The Bank declined to accept registrations from individuals who have no particular interest in the blockchain technology, programming or problem solving.

BPNG was actually looking for individuals who can demonstrate, the following personal attributes:

numerical problem solving, logical reasoning, pattern recognition, ability to follow complex procedures, time management, creativity, teamwork, determination, clear & concise documentation and ability to learn new skills quickly.

BPNG was seeking to develop in-country expertise in the development of DLT solutions and blockchain technology, with the aim to make PNG the capital of FinTech in the Pacific.

BPNG can be contacted regarding information on blockchain training via email at: DLT.training@bankpng.gov.pg Submissions close by 5pm, 21 December 2018. -Via Garamut News.

BPNG seeks local blockchain enthusiasts to implement its ‘Proof of Concept’

By NIGEL KAUA | NEWS

The Bank of Papua New Guinea (BPNG) has spent the last past two (2) years researching and trialing the use of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) in Papua New Guinea.

Having successfully completed a Proof of Concept in both an urban setting (Port Moresby) and a rural setting, Lalaura Village, Abau District, Central Province, the Central Bank has been presented with an opportunity to train suitable qualified and enthusiastic Papua New Guineans to develop the skills and capabilities to build a variety of business solutions using blockchain technology.

The Central Bank is in a mission to identify the level of interest within the PNG software development community whom can be able to participate to implement the Proof of Concept.

BPNG Governor Loi M. Bakani is calling on interested Papua New Guineans who are keen for a training opportunity in blockchain technology to contact the bank. The training will commence in early 2019.

In a statement released to PNG media, Mr. Bakani stated that prior to committing time, resources and money (funding) in enabling the implementation of the Proof of Concept, a pool of blockchain enthusiasts from PNG to be identified and selected.

In association with the APEC 2018 meeting, an International Blockchain Pasifik 2018 conference was hosted in October in Port Moresby, gathering a pool of blockchain enthusiasts and startups in PNG and the Pacific.

The Blockchain Pasifik 2018 conference was sponsored by the Australian Government and supported by PNG Government which sees a pool of interesting blockchain startups from PNG and the Pacific.

Blockchain Pasifik 2019 conference will be announced earlier next year.

The Central Bank does not wish to receive registrations of interest from individuals who have no particular interest in technology, programming or problem solving.

This is not directly related to immediate employment opportunities with BPNG.

For more information about the BPNG training on blockchain technology and its application in PNG, visit BPNG’s official website at https://www.bankpng.gov.pg - via Garamut News.