Estimating Tourism Carbon Footprints in PNG with cases from New Zealand

By MICHAEL KUMAKA | COMMENTARY

A study commissioned by the UNWTO shows that CO2 emissions from global tourism transport are in the order of 981 Mt CO2, and more than half (52%) of these are estimated to be caused by air travel.

Much of this air travel is international in nature.

Sectors other than aviation have been more successful in reducing emissions, and if aviation fails to address its greenhouse gas emissions it will put an additional burden on other economic sectors to meet national or international targets.

At present, greenhouse gas emissions associated with international air travel are not formally part of a country’s emissions inventory (or more specifically they are measured through the sales of bunker fuels at the airport but do not form part of national reduction targets), and it is the International Civil Aviation Organization that is charged under the Kyoto Protocol to develop mechanisms for dealing with aviation’s emissions.

The average international tourist travelling to New Zealand flies for about 13,000 km one-way and the emissions associated with this amount to about 1.6 tCO2 per person.

The total amount of CO2 emissions associated with international tourists’ travel to New Zealand (one-way) had been calculated for 1999 at 1.9 million tonnes. This referred to 1.59 million arrivals and when extrapolated to the 2.47 million international tourists in 2007, the emissions would be in the order of 2.1 million tonnes of CO2.

The footprint of international tourists’ air travel to New Zealand is therefore of a similar order to the in-country footprint of 2.56 million tonnes of CO2 – not accounting for non-carbon greenhouse gases and not considering tourists’ return flights.

It is important, however, to understand that the carbon footprint measured within a country is potentially only a small proportion of the total.

New Zealand’s total CO2-e emissions in tonnes by domestic tourism carbon footprint is 1,918,937 and while international tourism carbon footprint is 637,820 ton C02-e emissions. Carbon emissions per tourist per trip is 45.7kg CO2-e domestically and 258.2kg CO2-e internationally. On a daily basis, however, domestically 27.5kg CO2-e emissions and internationally 13.0kg CO2-e emissions.

From these figures, by comparison, a single trip of an international tourist visiting New Zealand emits four times more CO2-e than a domestic tourist’s trip.

Given this scenario for New Zealand, Papua New Guinea would record the same trend in domestic and international tourism carbon footprints.

Looking at a tourist’s emission per trip to New Zealand is at 258.2kg CO2-e, and for a return trip to the UK from Australia would cost $425 for carbon emissions, on average it is anticipated that an international tourist, either for business or holiday or visiting friends/relatives pays a $75 per trip for carbon footprints in Papua New Guinea.

PNG is amongst the 164 countries in the world that have submitted their national plans to combat Climate Change since the Paris Agreement was adopted in December of 2015.

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

PNG, along with other rainforest nation countries pushed for a mechanism that will address reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) and compensating those countries that have forest cover.

It was eventually adopted as a mechanism under the UNFCCC framework as REDD+.

The PNG Government established the CCDA to coordinate all climates change-related polices. The Government also created National Climate Change Committee to take full responsibility for all policies and actions concerning climate. The Committee meets monthly to ensure that climate change is addressed by the PNG Government. - Via Garamut News.

We Are All OPM - Operasi Papua Merdeka - The Big Family of Melanesian Origins

West Papuans are Melanesian, they are not Asians to be Indonesians.

  Papua New Guinea must reaffirm its position and role has the voice of democracy and defender of free will as it demonstrated itself against the face of neo-colonialism in Vanuatu in 1980. 

The military intervention by the Kumul Force - PNG Defense Force – and its successful operation on the Santo revolt sent a clear message that PNG can defend and safeguard regional security and protect against neo-colonist influence.

Whilst the recent successful hosting of the 2018 APEC Leaders Summit PNG’s is seen as an emerging player in regional dominance and that now gives us the leverage to perform a filial duty in carrying the plight of West Papua to the center of the international fora.

 Filial duty in the sense that the cries and pain of our Melanesian brothers and sisters on the other side of the imperialist divide must get the appropriate international attention.

Decolonization and human rights have been elusive in the jungles of West Papua.

 And a nagging question coming strongly to the fore now is if Papua New Guinea can have the resolve against neo-colonialism why can it not take an affirmative stance on the West Papua issue?

From 1973 until 1975, the year of Papua New Guinea's independence, the Indonesian military stepped up its activity against the West Papuan people.

 Many dispossessed West Papuans joined the "Organisasi Papua Merdeka", or Free Papua Movement (OPM), the fighting wing of the resistance.

 Although Indonesia has consistently maintained that the OPM is not a threat, the might of its army has been deployed since the occupation in a vain attempt to destroy the movement. 

Villages were destroyed as the army hunted for OPM members and the whole population turned against the invading forces.

 It became impossible to separate activists from the community; all people, whether villagers of refugees, proclaimed their solidarity: We are all OPM.

It was the Western imperialists who carved up our island of New Guinea and decimated a 50,000 years old civilization with guns and religion to extract our natural resources.

Hence, we will not look up to the West to take up this plight for us but we will take it up ourselves.

Look at what Australia, mostly known as the America’s deputy sheriff in the South Pacific, did to East Timor, for instance. 

Australia stood and watched while Indonesia invade East Timor in 1975, and then massacred a third of its population to suppress demand for independence. 

And according to John Pilger of the Ecologist Journal, unearthed documents now show the genocide was supported by Australia so it could grab the oil and gas reserves of the Timor Sea.

Despite East Timor’s independence, won in 1999, Australia was still stealing its oil and gas revenue worth $5-billion and counting through a proxy agreement it signed with Indonesia.

Again, Australia’s position on the New Caledonia referendum for independence is very conservative. 

Australia prefers New Caledonia sticks with France in the fear that independence might have unpredictable results in the broader Pacific. 

Particularly with the emergence of China as a power in the region Canberra is worried that an independent New Caledonia might be drawn into Beijing’s orbit.

With the geostrategic change tilting the scale of balance from the traditional power players to new players like China coming into the region it is an opportune time to flag the West Papua question.

China is making overtures to East Timor through the Road and Belt project. 

The country sees China as an old friend and welcomes its assistance.

 Now Chinese and East Timorese companies are building homes, commercial facilities, schools, road, harbor and infrastructure development like never seen before.

The call made by Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister for regional members to take the issue of West Papua to the UN decolonization committee is a very bold statement and is encouraging. 

Prime Minister O’Neill made the statement while in Fiji where he was the keynote speaker at a public lecture on “Pacific Regionalism”.

On the diplomatic front, the admittance of West Papua into the Melanesian Spearhead Group is a start to a new beginning. 

West Papua has actively participated in the regional discussions since then. 

In recent years members of the MSG, notably Vanuatu and Solomon Islands, as well as other Pacific countries have been vocal about West Papua in international fora. 

Their concern centers on violations against the basic human rights of West Papua, and claims that Papuans have been denied a legitimate self-determination process.

According to the Fiji Times Prime Minister O’Neill said PNG was encouraging that this be put to the UN decolonization committee. 

 It was not the first time Mr. O’Neill has spoke about his country’s concerns about human rights abuses in West Papua. 

O’Neill also express his country’s desire for West Papuans to have more autonomy and freedom.

While diplomacy is taking its course there are other means we can echo the suppression of welting injustice and sensitize the cruel atrocities of the Indonesian government done to our people.

Martin Luther King Jr once said “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”

Militarily, we cannot match the might of the Indonesian TNA but we can make noise and attract international attention. 

Make no mistake, we are already in arms way by design the moment Indonesia annexed West Papua in 1969. 

The rape, pillage and genocide on our people on the very soil we share is the infliction on us. We are fortunate to escape such persecution but we are in a position to help.

Of course, there is this argument that Indonesia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected but has Indonesia respected the equal right of sovereignty and territorial integrity of West Papua?

The so called the Act of Free Choice of 1969 was only farcical and carried out under extreme duress. 

And this should no longer give the legal basis for Indonesia to continue its occupation of West Papua.