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

Seeking for Asia-Pacific Journalists with Climate Change stories, at least 30 grants available

Extracted from EARTH JOURNALISM NETWORK (EJN) | EDITED

Climate change is taking its toll on the Asia-Pacific, home to megacities such as Jakarta, Bangkok, Manila and Pacific Islands that are increasingly vulnerable to flooding and subsidence caused by rising sea levels and unregulated development.

At the same time, deadly tropical storms and natural disasters have hit the region with more frequency and intensity owing to rising temperatures, with coastal and low-lying areas among the most at risk. At least six super typhoons tore across the region in 2018.


Meanwhile, global warming is destroying coral reefs, marine fisheries and other habitats, putting the livelihoods that sustain rural communities in jeopardy. It’s raising the potential of health epidemics and loss of biodiversity. Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimates some parts of Southeast Asia could see rice yields fall by half within this century if no efforts are made to adapt.

A sobering 2018 report on the impacts of global warming by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change showed that urgent action is needed to limit the catastrophic consequences of a changing climate.

The Asia-Pacific has an important role to play in addressing global warming since it comprises fast-growing economies that are major greenhouse gas emitters and plastic polluters as well as populations that will feel the effects of climate change most intensely but lack the resources to respond.

Despite the scale of the problem, many media outlets in the region, especially local ones at the frontlines of these challenges, don’t have the resources to cover them effectively nor reporters devoted to environmental coverage.

This leads to a lack of stories that explain the complexity of these issues to local communities and illustrate how communities most threatened by environmental change are adapting.

The Earth Journalism Network (EJN) Asia-Pacific launched a project that aims to overcome these barriers by providing grants and mentorship to individual journalists to report on climate change, environment and natural resource management. This work is made possible with funding from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).


TYPES OF STORIES

In-depth or investigative stories that focus on climate and environmental change or natural resource management in any country or countries within the Asia-Pacific region, with a particular emphasis on how women and other marginalized groups (including youth, indigenous people, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities) are impacted by these changes.

They encourage stories that report on potential solutions and address how vulnerable communities are responding to challenges. They are also highly interested in stories that utilize relevant data to illustrate the issue in a compelling and easy-to-understand way.

Finally, they are looking for stories with the potential to inform policy decisions by addressing domestic or transboundary environmental concerns, such as regional cooperation to tackle climate change.

For the purposes of this grant call, they are accepting applications from South Asia, Southeast Asia, China and the Pacific region but not Australia or New Zealand.


WHO SHOULD APPLY?

Journalists (online, print, television, radio) and other expert media practitioners with a track record of reporting on climate change, natural resource management and other environmental issues.

They encourage applications from freelancers and staff from all types of media –international, national, local and community based.

For this round of grants, they’re looking for applications from both: early career journalists with less than 5 years of reporting experience and; mid-level/senior reporters who have at least 5 years of experience.

Please indicate in the application form (online application link provided below) which category you are applying for, how you would benefit from this funding and what type of support you hope to receive.

The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) has agreed to serve as a resource for expert sources and data for the story grant applications from the Pacific.

Grantees are free to publish or broadcast their stories in their affiliated media as long as EJN and Sida are also given rights to edit, publish, broadcast and distribute them freely. Freelance reporters should demonstrate a plan for publication and are encouraged to provide a letter of interest from an editor.


STORY APPROACH AND FORMAT

EJN expects to award around 30 grants averaging $1,500 depending on the proposal and reporting format. They will consider larger awards for in-depth stories using innovative or investigative approaches that may be more costly. Applicants should provide a detailed budget with justification for the amount requested using the template provided.

It is expected that stories will be produced with equipment the applicant already has access to (including cameras, drones, lighting, tripods, etc.) and will not consider budgets that heavily focus on procuring new supplies.

They also encourage the use of multimedia and new or unique media platforms to present and share the stories. Applicants with ideas for long-form and multimedia narratives should include plans and budget for these accompanying elements (i.e. video, photos) and distribution channels in their pitch.

Stories can be produced in English or local languages, or both. Applicants who intend to write or produce stories in the local language need to also include the English translation. Please include the cost for translation in the budget, if necessary.

Please also note on your budget form if you are receiving funding from other donors.



EXPECTED STORY LENGTHS

Text-based stories: 1,000 to 3,000 words

Photo stories: 10-20 images with descriptive captions and a short 200-400 word introduction

Multimedia package: Text between 600 to 1,500 words with 2-4 minute video and/or graphics, photos and maps.


Broadcast: Video piece around 4-6 minutes in length with a short, roughly 200-word introduction

Audio report/podcast: Feature of up to 20 minutes in length with short text to summarize the audio.



JUDGING CRITERIA

Applicants should consider the following points when devising their story proposals

Timing: Expect the proposed story or stories to be published by 31 July 2019.

Relevance: Does the proposal meet the criteria and objectives? Why does this story matter and to whom? Is the main idea, context and overall value to the target audience clearly defined?

Angle: If the story has been covered by mainstream media, does your proposal bring new insights into the topic or offer a fresh angle?


Impact: Does the proposal have a compelling narrative or investigative element that will inform and engage, draw attention, trigger debate and urge action?

Innovative storytelling: The use of creative approaches and data visualization will be considered a plus.

Feasibility. Can the story be realistically completed within the target time frame? Is the budget realistic?

Diversity: They will take gender and geographical distribution into account when selecting the grantees in addition to the criteria above.



HOW TO APPLY

Applicants should follow the link below and complete the form by the listed deadline.

Each application will require a detailed budget proposal. You should follow this link and download and complete the budget form before beginning the application since you’ll be asked to attach it.


In addition to answering the questions on the form, we ask that every applicant submit a resume/CV and three samples of your reporting. For inquiries, please contact info.ejn@internews.org


Submit your application online HERE:


APPLICATION DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 28, 2019 AT 5PM ICT – Via Garamut News.

    

How to Use Carbon Offsets on Your Next Trip [to Papua New Guinea]

Addressing climate change is a must for both travellers and Travel & Tourism on the whole. While there are many facets to increasing sustainability in the industry, carbon offsetting is one topic that many travellers overlook as a necessary imperative in creating trip based around the ideals of low-impact and eco-friendly.

At its core, the carbon offsetting industry is about reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in equal proportion to your personal or family emissions. Every aspect of our lives — electricity usage, food consumption, mileage driven — contribute to carbon emissions and are therefore a factor impacting climate change.

The term “carbon footprint” refers to the carbon pollution and greenhouse emissions a single person or company generates.

Carbon offsetting programs aim to compensate for that carbon footprint by supporting programs elsewhere in the world that remove carbon dioxide from the air in equal measure. These programs are often tree planting and reforestation initiatives, as well as investment projects to increase energy efficiency and renewable energy sources.

For travellers, carbon offsetting is an important topic because flying significantly ups your carbon footprint.

In fact, one meteorologist from the United States was so taken aback by the impact of his frequent travelers that he announced he and his wife would never again take a flight. He wrote:

“World governments will never agree in time to coordinate reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. If anything is to change, it will have to come from individuals taking ownership of the problem themselves. … By vowing not to fly, I went from having more than double the carbon footprint as the average American to about 30% less than average.” [Quartz]

For those unable or unwilling to give up flying altogether, carbon offsetting programs become a way to mitigate the negative environmental impact of your trip.

Because although there is debate in the industry about efficacy of many carbon offsetting projects, the industry has made significant strides in the past decade to overcome the obstacles and produce high quality programs with a measureable impact on the carbon dioxide entering Earth’s atmosphere.

Carbon Offsetting as an industry is not without debate. In the early days of carbon offsetting initiatives, there were few standards ensuring the funded projects were genuinely compensating for the carbon dioxide emissions of individuals and companies.

One significant advancement in the industry has been the development of standard minimums for the type of projects that qualify as a carbon offset.

Funded programs must be those that would not be possible without the money from carbon offsetting.

If a company or individual already donates to rainforest reforestation, then that donation does not count as a carbon offset since the action was in motion already.

Instead, the best carbon programmes are now funding projects that would not otherwise be possible — wind farms that previously had no viable funding source, or development projects in developing countries to provide people with alternatives to wood-burning cookstoves.

With the projects now certified and tracked, companies around the world have stepped up their efforts to offset carbon emissions — corporations are some of the largest funding sources for carbon offsetting programmes.

But at the corporate and personal level, one of the largest criticisms centers on the fact that offsetting doesn’t address the underlying behaviors.

There is no possible way that humans can undo the damage caused by burning fossil fuels.

Although carbon offsets can mitigate the damage, the only true solution is seriously altering our consumption habits.

You don’t get a “free pass” to unsustainable behavior just because you plan to offset your actions.

Some contend that carbon offsets give people a clean conscious to pay others to offset their personal choices, and that’s the sort of attitude that set in motion the climate issues we are facing today.

There’s validity in each side of the debate. We certainly have an obligation to lessen our carbon footprint just as we offset those emissions that are impossible to fully mitigate.

Offsetting your carbon footprint is about more than calculating the amount and donating, it’s about selecting projects that will have genuine impact.

Many of the best programs use carbon offset funds to bring critical services like energy, water, and food to vulnerable people and places.

When donating to a program, one way to ensure the money will make its way to high-quality projects is to look for certification and the baseline standards the organization’s projects.

One respected company within the industry is Gold Standard (https://goldstandard.org). This group grew from a need for high quality oversight over the many carbon offsetting programs.

Gold Standard was “established in 2003 by WWF and other international NGOs as a best practice benchmark for energy projects developed under the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), Gold Standard was set up to ensure that projects delivered genuine emission reductions and long-term sustainable development.

“Many of the projects funded by the carbon offset calculators below are certified by this organization, ensuring the money will make its way to forests in Costa Rica, cookstoves in rural Africa, and wind farms in India.” [Nothing was allocated to PNG for its forests]

Lessen the carbon impact of your trip [to PNG]

Your flights will usually represent the largest portion of your trip’s carbon footprint; consider using airlines that have invested in advanced technology and equipment to already lessen the impact of your flights.

This National Geographic piece lists the most fuel-efficient airlines in the word. Additionally, consider how you can shift your plans to include closer destinations, or accommodations using renewable energy sources.

Calculate the carbon footprint of your trip [to PNG]. Use an online calculator to input the details of your next trip and calculate a number to represent the carbon impact of your trip. This calculator from Carbon Footprint is free and includes a range of options to calculate the carbon footprint of flights, buses, trains, and more.

Choose a quality carbon offset programme. Once you have a figure representing the carbon footprint of your trip, select an organization with funding quality and certified carbon reduction programmes around the world. Carbon Footprint supports industry certified programmes, as does MyClimate. [None of both (Carbon Footprint, https://carbonfootprints.com and MyClimate, https://myclimate.org) has any carbon reduction programmes in PNG].

Many of the most touristed destinations in the world — reefs, beaches, and rainforests [in PNG] — are already stressed by climate change.

With a commitment to lowering your personal carbon footprint and offsetting trips [when travelling to PNG], you can be a part of the climate change solutions. Travellers must join the global efforts to keep this planet livable.

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If you are travelling to PNG or are planning to or you already are a regular traveller with repeated trips to PNG, then know the following fascinating facts and share with your friends, relatives, colleagues or neighbors.

With over 60% of the country’s surface area covered by forests, PNG is home to the third largest area of intact tropical forests in the world. A large portion of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions come from the use of land and forests.

PNG’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are mostly from land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF). PNG’s CO2 emissions from LULUCF in 2007 was 146.5 – 268.6 million tCO2.

It is the second largest island in the world, with over 29 million hectares of forested land which are customarily owned by the indigenous people – the Government has no legal control over the land, forests and carbon ownership.

The customary landowners (CLOs) in PNG are custodians of the 97% of the land mass in the territory of sovereign nation of PNG which come under a customary landownership recognized by the law in the country, which is a total area of 462,840km2 (an area 25% larger than the size of Japan).

Some of these production forests areas are comprised of high quality tropical hardwoods and other forest products and are major export revenue source for PNG.

Yet none of the globally funded projects has ever benefited the customary carbon owners in PNG. Not even the Gold Standard’s projects or Carbon Footprint and MyClimate has ever set foot in PNG shores to donate to customary landowners against logging, land use clearing and to cover the cost of managing the standing forests.

The Indigenous Rights of the PNG customarily landowners are protected under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People and Indigenous Rights is now part of the negotiating text on REDD+ at the UNFCCC COPs.

In the not so long future, travellers to PNG will pay for their carbon footprints directly to the customary forest carbon owners to preserve the forests against logging, land use clearing and to cover the cost of managing the standing forests.



Source: World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), https://wttc.org (An edited version of a series of articles about the various pledges that are part of the IS IT TOO MUCH TO ASK campaign by WTTC.)

Carbon is now tracked and traded like any other commodity at the global carbon market - says PNG's Climate Change Minister

PNG's ENVIRONMENT and Climate Change Minister John Pundari says that REDD+ is reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries. 

Mr. Pundari said REDD+ aimed to create financial value for the carbon stored in forests offering incentives for developing countries to reduce emissions.

He said carbon trade partition commitment under the Kyoto Protocol had accepted targets for limiting or reducing emissions.

“Emission trading set out in Article 7 of the Kyoto Protocol allows countries that have emission units to spare emissions permitted them, but not used to sell these access capacities to countries that are over their target,” Pundari said.

“So, if a country is emitting more carbon, they are able to trade with nations that emit less green house gases. Thus, a new commodity was created in the form of emission reduction or removals, since carbon dioxide is the principal greenhouse gas people speak simply of trading in carbon.

“Carbon is now tracked and traded like any other commodity and this is known as the carbon market as we all know it. There are other carbon markets also called the voluntary carbon trading schemes.This is basic science as the Member for Nuku alluded to.”

“When it comes to carbon trade in PNG, what we think of is the rainforest and the carbon sink that it has so that we can trade that to great corporate institutions of the world.”

Source: The National Newspaper.

Climate Change is 'no laughing matter' - Fijian Prime Minister told his Australian counterpart in Suva

Climate change is "no laughing matter" and poses an "enormous" threat to Fijians and Pacific Islanders, Fiji's Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama has told Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in Suva. who made visits to Pacific Island countries.

COP23 President and Fijian Prime Minister Hon. Frank Bainimarama delivers his remarks at the COP 24 meeting in Katowice, Poland in December 2018.

The Fijian Prime Minister called on Australia to put the welfare of Pacific people's before the interests of any single industry.

"Here in Fiji, climate change is no laughing matter," he said.

"From where we are sitting, we cannot imagine how the interests of any single industry can be placed above the welfare of Pacific peoples — vulnerable people in the world over."

It is the first time a political leader has publicly confronted Mr Morrison on the question of climate change during his Pacific tour.

"Prime Minister, I urged your predecessor repeatedly to honour his commitment to clean energy future, the only future that guarantees the survival of your neighbours in the Pacific," he said.

A vocal proponent of climate change policy who led the UN's Climate Change Conference in 2017, Mr Bainimarama said the issue "cannot be written off as a difference of opinion".

"Consensus from the scientific community is clear, and existential threat posed to Pacific Island countries, a certainty."

Source: https://www.abc.net.au/news