PAPUA New Guinea customary landowners may benefit from carbon trade and our environment must be protected.
But PNG has been so used to being raped for every other resource that we have that most people are alarmed at how quickly things are moving and the lack of transparency.
So here are just some questions if anyone can help about an Australian carbon trading company called Carbon Planet:
1). It has been stated that Carbon Planet have 25 carbon contracts from PNG. Where in PNG are these from and what economic vehicle are the landowners using to engage with Carbon Planet? (E.g. have they formed companies to help invest that money?)
2). What is Carbon Planet’s strategic position while the policies and legislation in PNG for carbon trading is yet to be approved?
3). With reports that Carbon Planet will be making estimated annual sales of $1 billion. What percentage of this income is being retained by landowners?
4). PNG has a long history of landowners receiving money through mining dividends and squandering it. Will Carbon Planet be also educating landowners on how to use their money?
5). Is there an education component to your carbon trading in PNG and if so how is that conducted?
The main issue here is that the rules are still murky and the market and the country is still in the dark about the whole carbon trading industry, so it is a very scary situation to hear that a foreign company plans to make billions from carbon trading from our forests when we ourselves in our own country do not even know who to trust.
Not even the government with their behaviour so far. – Via Garamut News.
