By STEVEN WINDUO | THE NATIONAL WEEKENDER (edited)
SURF-TOURISM PNG is more than a concept, if you know what I mean. One person who has seen surfing developed from scratch to something is Andrew Abel, the President of the Surfing Association of Papua New Guinea (SAPNG). Andrew is a co-founding member and has served as the President for 15 years.
The Surfing Association of Papua New Guinea started in 1989 when Andrew was 19 years old. He had given his undivided loyalty to the SAPNG for the last 23 years. Andrew’s father is Sir Cecil Abel KBE, OBE, son of the pioneering missionary and founding father of Kwato Mission, Rev. Charles Abel. Andrew is also elder brother to Charles Abel, MP for Alotau and Minister for Planning.
Andrew is synonymous with surfing PNG. I had long admired his lifelong commitment to developing surfing in PNG.
The story of surf tourism in PNG is that in the beginning there was nothing, and then came long Andrew with his passion for board surfs and wave riding, in the spirits of Duke and other surfers like Peter Troy, to set up the first board riders club at Vanimo in Sandaun Province in 1987.
Over the years Andrew worked with local communities in Vanimo, Madang, and Kavieng and other provinces to develop surfing and tourism together as a sustainable industry. A sustainable community surfing based program around PNG was hatched and Andrew worked very hard with the SAPNG to see that come through.
“If we are going to develop PNG surfing with a clean slate, let’s approach it in a slightly unorthodox manner and make sure we empower the most important people in the equation – the traditional custodians. Because without them, there is no surfing,” Andrew says in a prophetic way to highlight an interesting concept of building sustainable communities through surfing in PNG.
Surfing PNG has received a lot of media attention and coverage, but needs more support to fully develop its magnetic attraction not only to the international community, but also to the locals in the country.
Top level support and cooperation received from Grand Chief Somare and PNG Supreme Court Judge, His Hon and patron of Tupira Surf Club in Madang, Justice Nicholas Kirriwom, and Andrew Abel is able to build a strong community based model for surfing in PNG.
Among the notable achievements, are the first national titles and the selection of the Team PNG that competed in the South Pacific Games in Samoa in 2007.
With the competition and wave of activities there is a silver lining: Villagers in Lido or in Madang are seeing real development in terms of infrastructure such as classrooms and real money being generated as a result of surfing activities in their area. Local boys and girls learn surfing from professional surfers. It brings positive changes and confidence in what young people can do in a natural way. The talents of the locals are encouraged in this sport.
The Tupira Surfing Club in Madang owned by Justice Nicholas Kirriwom adopted and implemented the SAPNG ‘Pink Nose Surfboard’ policy. Among other things this notion encourages the participation of women in this sport.
The Surf Association of Papua New Guinea pursues, as it principle aim the development and promotion of surf-tourism in Papua New Guinea and overseas.
The Board Members of the SAPNG are Andrew C. Abel ML (President and Co-Founder), Kieran Nash (Patron), Sylvia Pascoe (Secretary and Public Relations), Alois Mateos (Wewak Rep.), Andrew Rigby representing Manus and Bougainville, John Aini (New Ireland Rep.), John Toles (Board Member for Vanimo), Shaun Keane as Board Member for Land Operators, and James Kruse as Treasurer.
The Surf Association of PNG has established several goals to pursue as promoted in its website:www.sapng.com
The Surfing Association of Papua New Guinea pursues the goal to establish and maintain a code of ethics that earns the respect of the surfing community in PNG and overseas.
Chief among the goals is to promote surf tourism, which will further the social and economic development of the grass roots level through affiliated its surf clubs in PNG.
One of its goals is to promote conservation and improvement of coastal environments and the protection of surfing resources in PNG so that the sport of surfing can be enjoyed by present and future generations.
The activity of surf-tourism has the potential of attracting tourists from around the world, the SAPNG ensures that it promotes respect for the diverse cultures, traditions, and languages of PNG in all surfers whether members of the SAPNG or guests in PNG.
Along with respect for the diverse cultures and community the aim is also to promote surf tourism in PNG in an atmosphere of free competition. This will ensure the benefits flowing from the promotion of surfing maybe enjoyed by the local population in the vicinity of surfing venues and by the community at large.
In addition the SAPNG will look at ways of promoting the surf-tourism in PNG and overseas to generate more interest around the world, which means working with similar organizations at the international level as well.
There is no doubt that under the leadership of Andrew the SAPNG is promoting the expansion of surf-tourism infrastructure in a manner that is environmentally and culturally sensitive to the needs of the communities.
So far the SAPNG has done an excellent job of supporting and influencing the development of surf-tourism products where the potential exist. It has the participation of PNG nationals at all levels of the surf-tourism industry.
I thank Andrew for accepting my invitation to do a piece on the Surfing Association of PNG as my admiration of the development and promotion of surf-tourism in Papua New Guinea. I am sure through this piece more Papua New Guineans will lend their support to the development of surf-tourism in our beautiful coastal villages and islands.
The potential to develop this industry is yet to be fully realized. Through the various activities and with proper government support the surf-tourism will swell to greater heights.
Surf-tourism promotes PNG in amazing waves. – Via Garamut News.
Extracted from MASALAI BLOG | EDITED (with readers’ comments)
With the controversies surrounding the Office of Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability (now Climate Change and Development Authority [CCDA]) and subsequent sidelining of the director Dr. Theo Yasause, new information is beginning to unfold as the Masalai Blog reports in July 2009.
The blog post with the title “Carbon Trading under More Scrutiny” attracted a massive 178 comments from PNG, Australia and the world over.
According to documents, the government has been pre-selling carbon credits for almost four years prior to 2009 without any proper legal policy documentation and framework in place.
Among the documents obtained was a certificate with serial numbers A1 to A33 and bearing the signature of former Minister for Trade and Industry, Paul Tiensten who signed on behalf of then Prime Minister, Sir Michael Somare on the 26th of July, 2005 with Climate Assist (PNG) Ltd.
The certificate holds the common seal of Climate Assist (PNG) Ltd. It is understood the certificate in “A” Series specifies a monetary value of $20m with its maturity date set on the 1st January, 2008 but it is unclear whether actual monies have exchanged.
Former Prime Minister and the then Opposition Leader Sir Mekere Morauta at the time in learning about this this commented “our carbon is being sold yet we don’t have legislations and policy in place.” “It is unbecoming of leaders travelling around the world selling behind our backs. This is a huge corruption.”
According to the Office of the Prime Minister there are also reports of carbon ‘conmen’ selling customary landowners permits to ‘bag’ carbon from the atmosphere to the Government carbon trading office.
It appears that publicity about these actions has been promoted by Governors in several provinces.
The reason for the Governors’ discontent is that there was no indication that revenue would accrue to them.
According to law, some export-orientated activities direct revenue to provincial administrations. The irregularities, snake-oil salesmen and administrative problems do not bode well for carbon trading in PNG.
According to one report, Macquarie Bank has already pulled out of any potential carbon trading in the country, citing a lack of market integrity as the main reason.
Development agencies have something to answer for here. The World Bank actively promoted the idea that carbon credits could be earned and traded in a global emissions trading scheme if deforestation was halted.
One World Bank report suggested that revenue from credits could greatly exceed revenue from forestry.
The Bank offered to provide seed finance for a fund to support development and trading of credits. A number of national aid agencies chipped in.
But it is abundantly clear that this clever financial engineering is too clever. The EU has said that it does not favour the sale of such large numbers of credits from developing countries into the EU trading scheme.
Greenpeace and WWF oppose creation of cheap credits like this, and it is now clear there will not be global agreement on an emissions trading scheme in the near future.
A reader on the Masalai blog comments, this just the tip of the iceberg. Australian company Carbon Planet has just completed a merger. CARBON Planet will merge with Melbourne-based telecommunications investor, m2m Corporation, in a deal expected to create a $117 million, stock market-listed carbon trading company.
In a presentation to m2m shareholders, Carbon Planet said it had 25 Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) projects in Papua New Guinea expected to generate $1 billion annually, with another eight REDD MOUs in Indonesia.
“These are firm contracts on paper,” Mr Johnson said. The company said it had only two projects in PNG less than a month ago.
m2m, incorporating Carbon Planet, will be the first Australian-listed entity providing full services in carbon trading activities, the companies said yesterday.
25 REDD contracts Already signed in PNG with a value of $1 billion annually!!!
Someone is lying here – either Carbon Planet (unlikely as they have to answer to ASIC), or the PNG Government, according to Adelaide Advertiser news.
Another avid reader on the blog argues, foreigners and their Papua New Guinean cohorts have enriched themselves enough using PNG’s resources.
Both parties are telling lies. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe there is currently NO law as yet to sanction the roll out of the whole REDD thing at a global level. So where does ASIC get its legal basis to recognize and validate Carbon Planet’s assertions?
This scheme unfortunately appears to be one trick too many for these raskols. I hope the Carbon Planet people with their PNG cohorts are arrested and charged for operating a scam.
A next reader also commented saying Ilya has more info about how Carbon Planet got’s its claws into this market and arranged a monopoly deal.
Check Cockfighting Carbon Trading Australian Horse Trainer in PNG
at http://aappng.blogspot.com/
Sounds like Ilya is being forced out for telling the truth? Wherever there is a buck to be made in PNG the rogues and scoundrels drop in like flies to suck up whatever they can. How do the local people benefit? It’s happened time and time again.
What gets me mad is that this is fools money. Western companies that produce carbon pollution can buy credits in other countries- basically bribes to stop them cutting down forests, so that they can “offset” this against their carbon emissions – that means they can just carry on producing as much carbon pollution as they want without a hefty tax burden.
It doesn’t reduce carbon emissions as there is no way of knowing whether the forests would have been cut down or not. So it’s a gigantic carbon tax avoidance scheme by western industry.
Of course now the middle men and rogues have jumped in for a piece of the action, obviously involving kick-backs and bribes to PNG officials.
If there is to be a carbon offset scheme, shouldn’t it be directly with the people that OWN the forests concerned?
Why should ‘brokers’ or Governments get the money? Plus it needs a proper regulatory and governance structure to make sure it is all above board – which isn’t in place yet ANYWHERE in the world, let alone PNG! Makes me sick to the stomach. – Via Garamut News.
By NIGEL KAUA | NEWSFLASH
Papua New Guinea’s major cultural events countrywide will be funded directly from the National Budget every year round. This was revealed by the Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Hon. Emil Tammur in Goroka, Eastern Highland Province recently.
A policy submission to the Parliament for the National Government to fund major cultural events, shows and festivals is proceeding from the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture. It will be out in Parliament soon for debate and endorsement.
The major national cultural events and festivals include but not limited to; Goroka Cultural Show, Mt. Hagen Cultural Show, Jiwaka Cultural Show, Enga Cultural Show, Kutubu Kundu and Digaso Festival, Morobe Agri-Cultural Show, Madang Cultural Show, KarKar Island Bilum Festival, Goroka Bilum Festival, National Mask Festival and Warwagira in Kokopo, Sepik River Crocodile and Arts Festival, Hiri Moale Festival, Frangipani Festival in Rabaul, Kenu and Kundu Festival in Alotau and other events or festivals of similar popularity.
“Maintaining and promoting cultural events and festivals is not only important for tourism but also for our identify as a unique and culturally-diverse national in the world,” Mr. Tammur said.
He said unlike many other countries in the world, PNG is a unique nation of over 840 different languages and more than 1,000 various tribes and cultures.
“More importantly, the indigenous people owned over 90 percent of the customary land as individuals, clans and tribes. What this means is that we have the right to determine what sort of economic developments we want for ourselves on our land,” he added.
“We must use the birthrights to embrace tourism and agricultural developments as real sustainable industries. Oil, gas, gold, copper and nickel will benefit only a few including the rich, but tourism and agriculture will benefit the little ordinary people right in the rural communities and for a long time into the future,” the Government Minster said confidently. – Via Garamut News.
By MICHAEL KUMAKA | COMMENTARY
The harsh and rugged landscape of Papua New Guinea (PNG) is home to the largest area of intact rainforest outside of the Amazon, steep mountain ranges, turbulent rivers, untouched beaches, unique flora and fauna, and active volcanoes.
PNG is also home to over 8 million people constituting more than 1,000 different indigenous cultural communities.
It is considered to be one of the most heterogeneous populations in the world, predominately living outside urban districts in rural areas, and differentiated by their own language, customs, and traditions
There are in excess of 860 indigenous languages (tok ples) accounting for a third of the world’s indigenous tongues.
The indigenous communities of PNG embrace the varying cultures through visual expressions, which are all integral to the ongoing way of life in PNG.
It is the rich and diverse cultural festivals, combined with a diverse population and some of the world’s most unique flora, fauna, and landscapes, that provide PNG with a unique selling proposition as an attractive adventure-driven tourism and event destination.
There are significant opportunities for the development of what can arguably be termed an “emergent” tourism and event industry.
For instance, PNG is arguably in the exploration stage of development as it is a relatively unexplored destination in which visitor numbers are small, and access, facilities, and local knowledge are limited. – Via Garamut News.
Extracted from MASALAI BLOG | EDITED (with readers’ comments)
With the controversies surrounding the Office of Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability (now Climate Change and Development Authority [CCDA]) and subsequent sidelining of the director Dr. Theo Yasause, new information is beginning to unfold as the Masalai Blog reports in July 2009.
The blog post with the title “Carbon Trading under More Scrutiny” attracted a massive 178 comments from PNG, Australia and the world over.
According to documents, the government has been pre-selling carbon credits for almost four years prior to 2009 without any proper legal policy documentation and framework in place.
Among the documents obtained was a certificate with serial numbers A1 to A33 and bearing the signature of former Minister for Trade and Industry, Paul Tiensten who signed on behalf of then Prime Minister, Sir Michael Somare on the 26th of July, 2005 with Climate Assist (PNG) Ltd.
The certificate holds the common seal of Climate Assist (PNG) Ltd. It is understood the certificate in “A” Series specifies a monetary value of $20m with its maturity date set on the 1st January, 2008 but it is unclear whether actual monies have exchanged.
Former Prime Minister and the then Opposition Leader Sir Mekere Morauta at the time in learning about this this commented “our carbon is being sold yet we don’t have legislations and policy in place.” “It is unbecoming of leaders travelling around the world selling behind our backs. This is a huge corruption.”
According to the Office of the Prime Minister there are also reports of carbon ‘conmen’ selling customary landowners permits to ‘bag’ carbon from the atmosphere to the Government carbon trading office.
It appears that publicity about these actions has been promoted by Governors in several provinces.
The reason for the Governors’ discontent is that there was no indication that revenue would accrue to them.
According to law, some export-orientated activities direct revenue to provincial administrations. The irregularities, snake-oil salesmen and administrative problems do not bode well for carbon trading in PNG.
According to one report, Macquarie Bank has already pulled out of any potential carbon trading in the country, citing a lack of market integrity as the main reason.
Development agencies have something to answer for here. The World Bank actively promoted the idea that carbon credits could be earned and traded in a global emissions trading scheme if deforestation was halted.
One World Bank report suggested that revenue from credits could greatly exceed revenue from forestry.
The Bank offered to provide seed finance for a fund to support development and trading of credits. A number of national aid agencies chipped in.
But it is abundantly clear that this clever financial engineering is too clever. The EU has said that it does not favour the sale of such large numbers of credits from developing countries into the EU trading scheme.
Greenpeace and WWF oppose creation of cheap credits like this, and it is now clear there will not be global agreement on an emissions trading scheme in the near future.
A reader on the Masalai blog comments, this just the tip of the iceberg. Australian company Carbon Planet has just completed a merger. CARBON Planet will merge with Melbourne-based telecommunications investor, m2m Corporation, in a deal expected to create a $117 million, stock market-listed carbon trading company.
In a presentation to m2m shareholders, Carbon Planet said it had 25 Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) projects in Papua New Guinea expected to generate $1 billion annually, with another eight REDD MOUs in Indonesia.
“These are firm contracts on paper,” Mr Johnson said. The company said it had only two projects in PNG less than a month ago.
m2m, incorporating Carbon Planet, will be the first Australian-listed entity providing full services in carbon trading activities, the companies said yesterday.
25 REDD contracts Already signed in PNG with a value of $1 billion annually!!!
Someone is lying here – either Carbon Planet (unlikely as they have to answer to ASIC), or the PNG Government, according to Adelaide Advertiser news.
Another avid reader on the blog argues, foreigners and their Papua New Guinean cohorts have enriched themselves enough using PNG’s resources.
Both parties are telling lies. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe there is currently NO law as yet to sanction the roll out of the whole REDD thing at a global level. So where does ASIC get its legal basis to recognize and validate Carbon Planet’s assertions?
This scheme unfortunately appears to be one trick too many for these raskols. I hope the Carbon Planet people with their PNG cohorts are arrested and charged for operating a scam.
A next reader also commented saying Ilya has more info about how Carbon Planet got’s its claws into this market and arranged a monopoly deal.
Check Cockfighting Carbon Trading Australian Horse Trainer in PNG
at http://aappng.blogspot.com/
Sounds like Ilya is being forced out for telling the truth? Wherever there is a buck to be made in PNG the rogues and scoundrels drop in like flies to suck up whatever they can. How do the local people benefit? It’s happened time and time again.
What gets me mad is that this is fools money. Western companies that produce carbon pollution can buy credits in other countries- basically bribes to stop them cutting down forests, so that they can “offset” this against their carbon emissions – that means they can just carry on producing as much carbon pollution as they want without a hefty tax burden.
It doesn’t reduce carbon emissions as there is no way of knowing whether the forests would have been cut down or not. So it’s a gigantic carbon tax avoidance scheme by western industry.
Of course now the middle men and rogues have jumped in for a piece of the action, obviously involving kick-backs and bribes to PNG officials.
If there is to be a carbon offset scheme, shouldn’t it be directly with the people that OWN the forests concerned?
Why should ‘brokers’ or Governments get the money?
Plus it needs a proper regulatory and governance structure to make sure it is all above board – which isn’t in place yet ANYWHERE in the world, let alone PNG! Makes me sick to the stomach. – Via Garamut News.
By NIGEL KAUA | NEWSFLASH
Papua New Guinea’s major cultural events countrywide will be funded directly from the National Budget every year round. This was revealed by the Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Hon. Emil Tammur in Goroka, Eastern Highland Province recently.
A policy submission to the Parliament for the National Government to fund major cultural events, shows and festivals is proceeding from the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture. It will be out in Parliament soon for debate and endorsement.
The major national cultural events and festivals include but not limited to; Goroka Cultural Show, Mt. Hagen Cultural Show, Jiwaka Cultural Show, Enga Cultural Show, Kutubu Kundu and Digaso Festival, Morobe Agri-Cultural Show, Madang Cultural Show, KarKar Island Bilum Festival, Goroka Bilum Festival, National Mask Festival and Warwagira in Kokopo, Sepik River Crocodile and Arts Festival, Hiri Moale Festival, Frangipani Festival in Rabaul, Kenu and Kundu Festival in Alotau and other events or festivals of similar popularity.
“Maintaining and promoting cultural events and festivals is not only important for tourism but also for our identify as a unique and culturally-diverse national in the world,” Mr. Tammur said.
He said unlike many other countries in the world, PNG is a unique nation of over 840 different languages and more than 1,000 various tribes and cultures.
“More importantly, the indigenous people owned over 90 percent of the customary land as individuals, clans and tribes. What this means is that we have the right to determine what sort of economic developments we want for ourselves on our land,” he added.
“We must use the birthrights to embrace tourism and agricultural developments as real sustainable industries. Oil, gas, gold, copper and nickel will benefit only a few including the rich, but tourism and agriculture will benefit the little ordinary people right in the rural communities and for a long time into the future,” the Government Minster said confidently. – Via Garamut News.
By NIGEL KAUA | COMMENTARY
At the official ceremony of opening the Goroka Cultural Show last year, Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Hon. Emil Tammur told the show goers Papua New Guinea’s major cultural events countrywide will be funded directly from the National Budget every year round.
He said a policy submission to the Parliament for the National Government to fund major cultural events, shows and festivals is proceeding from the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture. “It will be out in Parliament soon for debate and endorsement,” the Minister told the crowd in Goroka.
The major national cultural events and festivals include but not limited to; Goroka Cultural Show, Mt. Hagen Cultural Show, Jiwaka Cultural Show, Enga Cultural Show, Kutubu Kundu and Digaso Festival, Morobe Agri-Cultural Show, Madang Cultural Show, KarKar Island Bilum Festival, Goroka Bilum Festival, National Mask Festival and Warwagira in Kokopo, Sepik River Crocodile and Arts Festival, Hiri Moale Festival, Frangipani Festival in Rabaul, Kenu and Kundu Festival in Alotau and other events or festivals of similar popularity.
These festivals are increasingly being recognized for their contribution to the growth of our communities, the country and around the globe. They revitalize the communication and celebration of indigenous culture, tradition, and rituals. Additionally, indigenous cultural festivals are often used as a draw card to attract tourists and contribute to the development of the provinces and the country.
Our cultural festivals have long been essential to community life and are fundamental in sharing and sustaining indigenous culture of each event.
Local communities and the PNG Government alike are recognizing that these festivals have the capacity to facilitate development of the country’s emerging tourism and event industry.
Our cultural festivals are a relatively unspoiled resource. Tourism has had little influence on the festivals, which we celebrate, among other things, the culture and traditions. However, as tourism gains momentum, arguably a key issue will be the extent to which tourism development adopts the principles of sustainability.
Little to no effort has been made to gain a more comprehensive of cultural festivals within the context of tourism.
Yet the safety, or lack thereof, for visitors is not the only recognizable issue associated with tourism and/ or attending indigenous cultural festivals. Generally, there are relatively poor and unreliable support services like the police and ambulance, various health risks such as malaria and HIV/AIDS, quite limited resources and infrastructure to support the cultural events, limited and unreliable access to technology such as internet, and expensive domestic travel costs with some associated safety concerns.
Information for tourists traveling to and within PNG is limited and not easily accessible for travelers, and Australia’s Smart Traveler website repeatedly makes mention of the need to exercise caution while traveling in PNG, to maintain awareness of personal safety, particularly at night, and to continuously monitor the local media for warnings on new safety and security risks.
In general, tourism development in PNG has failed to keep pace with the rest of the world. In the South Pacific, tourism represents a major opportunity for small island nations to increase their economic base, expand foreign exchange earnings and enhance the standard of living for their people.
Yet PNGs’ share of the South Pacific regional market is very small, at only 5 percent of total arrivals, and less than 2 percent of the holiday market. This indicates the low level of development of this market compared to other neighboring countries, as well as the importance of the business market to PNG.
This can be attributed to a lack of support for the tourism industry by the PNG Government over the last few years. There is a lack of adequate infrastructure to support tourism in PNG. This can be evidenced at the Mt. Hagen Cultural Show where limited accommodation facilities are all booked out in advance so any additional participants arriving at the festival cannot find accommodation because of lack of infrastructure.
Additionally, PNG faces many challenges pertaining to law and order and visitors’ safety in some parts of PNG can be, and often is, problematic. Travel warnings about PNG can be found on numerous government websites around the globe like the Australia’s Smart Traveler website and travel bloggers.
Such reports you can read everywhere to any destination in the world, the best trip advice is to seek travel insurance cover and speak to as many people as you can about Papua New Guinea and analyze the responses.– Via Garamut News.
By MICHAEL KUMAKA | COMMENTARY
The harsh and rugged landscape of PNG is home to the largest area of intact rainforest outside of the Amazon, steep mountain ranges, turbulent rivers, untouched beaches, unique flora and fauna, and active volcanoes.
PNG is also home to over 8 million people constituting more than 1,000 different indigenous cultural communities.
It is considered to be one of the most heterogeneous populations in the world, predominately living outside urban districts in rural areas, and differentiated by their own language, customs, and traditions
There are in excess of 860 indigenous languages (tok ples) accounting for a third of the world’s indigenous tongues.
The indigenous communities of PNG embrace the varying cultures through visual expressions, which are all integral to the ongoing way of life in PNG.
It is the rich and diverse cultural festivals, combined with a diverse population and some of the world’s most unique flora, fauna, and landscapes, that provide PNG with a unique selling proposition as an attractive adventure-driven tourism and event destination.
There are significant opportunities for the development of what can arguably be termed an “emergent” tourism and event industry.
For instance, PNG is arguably in the exploration stage of development as it is a relatively unexplored destination in which visitor numbers are small, and access, facilities, and local knowledge are limited. – Via Garamut News.
Extracted from MASALAI BLOG | EDITED (with readers’ comments)
With the controversies surrounding the Office of Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability (now Climate Change and Development Authority [CCDA]) and subsequent sidelining of the director Dr. Theo Yasause, new information is beginning to unfold as the Masalai Blog reports in July 2009.
The blog post with the title “Carbon Trading under More Scrutiny” attracted a massive 178 comments from PNG, Australia and the world over.
According to documents, the government has been pre-selling carbon credits for almost four years prior to 2009 without any proper legal policy documentation and framework in place.
Among the documents obtained was a certificate with serial numbers A1 to A33 and bearing the signature of former Minister for Trade and Industry, Paul Tiensten who signed on behalf of then Prime Minister, Sir Michael Somare on the 26th of July, 2005 with Climate Assist (PNG) Ltd.
The certificate holds the common seal of Climate Assist (PNG) Ltd. It is understood the certificate in “A” Series specifies a monetary value of $20m with its maturity date set on the 1st January, 2008 but it is unclear whether actual monies have exchanged.
Former Prime Minister and the then Opposition Leader Sir Mekere Morauta at the time in learning about this this commented “our carbon is being sold yet we don’t have legislations and policy in place.” “It is unbecoming of leaders travelling around the world selling behind our backs. This is a huge corruption.”
According to the Office of the Prime Minister there are also reports of carbon ‘conmen’ selling customary landowners permits to ‘bag’ carbon from the atmosphere to the Government carbon trading office.
It appears that publicity about these actions has been promoted by Governors in several provinces.
The reason for the Governors’ discontent is that there was no indication that revenue would accrue to them.
According to law, some export-orientated activities direct revenue to provincial administrations. The irregularities, snake-oil salesmen and administrative problems do not bode well for carbon trading in PNG.
According to one report, Macquarie Bank has already pulled out of any potential carbon trading in the country, citing a lack of market integrity as the main reason.
Development agencies have something to answer for here. The World Bank actively promoted the idea that carbon credits could be earned and traded in a global emissions trading scheme if deforestation was halted.
One World Bank report suggested that revenue from credits could greatly exceed revenue from forestry.
The Bank offered to provide seed finance for a fund to support development and trading of credits. A number of national aid agencies chipped in.
But it is abundantly clear that this clever financial engineering is too clever. The EU has said that it does not favour the sale of such large numbers of credits from developing countries into the EU trading scheme.
Greenpeace and WWF oppose creation of cheap credits like this, and it is now clear there will not be global agreement on an emissions trading scheme in the near future.
A reader on the Masalai blog comments, this just the tip of the iceberg. Australian company Carbon Planet has just completed a merger. CARBON Planet will merge with Melbourne-based telecommunications investor, m2m Corporation, in a deal expected to create a $117 million, stock market-listed carbon trading company.
In a presentation to m2m shareholders, Carbon Planet said it had 25 Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) projects in Papua New Guinea expected to generate $1 billion annually, with another eight REDD MOUs in Indonesia.
“These are firm contracts on paper,” Mr Johnson said. The company said it had only two projects in PNG less than a month ago.
m2m, incorporating Carbon Planet, will be the first Australian-listed entity providing full services in carbon trading activities, the companies said yesterday.
25 REDD contracts Already signed in PNG with a value of $1 billion annually!!!
Someone is lying here – either Carbon Planet (unlikely as they have to answer to ASIC), or the PNG Government, according to Adelaide Advertiser news.
Another avid reader on the blog argues, foreigners and their Papua New Guinean cohorts have enriched themselves enough using PNG’s resources.
Both parties are telling lies. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe there is currently NO law as yet to sanction the roll out of the whole REDD thing at a global level. So where does ASIC get its legal basis to recognize and validate Carbon Planet’s assertions?
This scheme unfortunately appears to be one trick too many for these raskols. I hope the Carbon Planet people with their PNG cohorts are arrested and charged for operating a scam.
A next reader also commented saying Ilya has more info about how Carbon Planet got’s its claws into this market and arranged a monopoly deal.
Check Cockfighting Carbon Trading Australian Horse Trainer in PNG
at http://aappng.blogspot.com/
Sounds like Ilya is being forced out for telling the truth? Wherever there is a buck to be made in PNG the rogues and scoundrels drop in like flies to suck up whatever they can. How do the local people benefit? It’s happened time and time again.
What gets me mad is that this is fools money. Western companies that produce carbon pollution can buy credits in other countries- basically bribes to stop them cutting down forests, so that they can “offset” this against their carbon emissions – that means they can just carry on producing as much carbon pollution as they want without a hefty tax burden.
It doesn’t reduce carbon emissions as there is no way of knowing whether the forests would have been cut down or not. So it’s a gigantic carbon tax avoidance scheme by western industry.
Of course now the middle men and rogues have jumped in for a piece of the action, obviously involving kick-backs and bribes to PNG officials.
If there is to be a carbon offset scheme, shouldn’t it be directly with the people that OWN the forests concerned?
Why should ‘brokers’ or Governments get the money?
Plus it needs a proper regulatory and governance structure to make sure it is all above board – which isn’t in place yet ANYWHERE in the world, let alone PNG! Makes me sick to the stomach. – Via Garamut News.
By NIGEL KAUA | NEWSFLASH
Papua New Guinea’s major cultural events countrywide will be funded directly from the National Budget every year round. This was revealed by the Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Hon. Emil Tammur in Goroka, Eastern Highland Province recently.
A policy submission to the Parliament for the National Government to fund major cultural events, shows and festivals is proceeding from the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture. It will be out in Parliament soon for debate and endorsement.
The major national cultural events and festivals include but not limited to; Goroka Cultural Show, Mt. Hagen Cultural Show, Jiwaka Cultural Show, Enga Cultural Show, Kutubu Kundu and Digaso Festival, Morobe Agri-Cultural Show, Madang Cultural Show, KarKar Island Bilum Festival, Goroka Bilum Festival, National Mask Festival and Warwagira in Kokopo, Sepik River Crocodile and Arts Festival, Hiri Moale Festival, Frangipani Festival in Rabaul, Kenu and Kundu Festival in Alotau and other events or festivals of similar popularity.
“Maintaining and promoting cultural events and festivals is not only important for tourism but also for our identify as a unique and culturally-diverse national in the world,” Mr. Tammur said.
He said unlike many other countries in the world, PNG is a unique nation of over 840 different languages and more than 1,000 various tribes and cultures.
“More importantly, the indigenous people owned over 90 percent of the customary land as individuals, clans and tribes. What this means is that we have the right to determine what sort of economic developments we want for ourselves on our land,” he added.
“We must use the birthrights to embrace tourism and agricultural developments as real sustainable industries. Oil, gas, gold, copper and nickel will benefit only a few including the rich, but tourism and agriculture will benefit the little ordinary people right in the rural communities and for a long time into the future,” the Government Minster said confidently. – Via Garamut News.
By NIGEL KAUA | COMMENTARY
At the official ceremony of opening the Goroka Cultural Show last year, Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Hon. Emil Tammur told the show goers Papua New Guinea’s major cultural events countrywide will be funded directly from the National Budget every year round.
He said a policy submission to the Parliament for the National Government to fund major cultural events, shows and festivals is proceeding from the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture. “It will be out in Parliament soon for debate and endorsement,” the Minister told the crowd in Goroka.
The major national cultural events and festivals include but not limited to; Goroka Cultural Show, Mt. Hagen Cultural Show, Jiwaka Cultural Show, Enga Cultural Show, Kutubu Kundu and Digaso Festival, Morobe Agri-Cultural Show, Madang Cultural Show, KarKar Island Bilum Festival, Goroka Bilum Festival, National Mask Festival and Warwagira in Kokopo, Sepik River Crocodile and Arts Festival, Hiri Moale Festival, Frangipani Festival in Rabaul, Kenu and Kundu Festival in Alotau and other events or festivals of similar popularity.
These festivals are increasingly being recognized for their contribution to the growth of our communities, the country and around the globe. They revitalize the communication and celebration of indigenous culture, tradition, and rituals. Additionally, indigenous cultural festivals are often used as a draw card to attract tourists and contribute to the development of the provinces and the country.
Our cultural festivals have long been essential to community life and are fundamental in sharing and sustaining indigenous culture of each event.
Local communities and the PNG Government alike are recognizing that these festivals have the capacity to facilitate development of the country’s emerging tourism and event industry.
Our cultural festivals are a relatively unspoiled resource. Tourism has had little influence on the festivals, which we celebrate, among other things, the culture and traditions. However, as tourism gains momentum, arguably a key issue will be the extent to which tourism development adopts the principles of sustainability.
Little to no effort has been made to gain a more comprehensive of cultural festivals within the context of tourism.
Yet the safety, or lack thereof, for visitors is not the only recognizable issue associated with tourism and/ or attending indigenous cultural festivals. Generally, there are relatively poor and unreliable support services like the police and ambulance, various health risks such as malaria and HIV/AIDS, quite limited resources and infrastructure to support the cultural events, limited and unreliable access to technology such as internet, and expensive domestic travel costs with some associated safety concerns.
Information for tourists traveling to and within PNG is limited and not easily accessible for travelers, and Australia’s Smart Traveler website repeatedly makes mention of the need to exercise caution while traveling in PNG, to maintain awareness of personal safety, particularly at night, and to continuously monitor the local media for warnings on new safety and security risks.
In general, tourism development in PNG has failed to keep pace with the rest of the world. In the South Pacific, tourism represents a major opportunity for small island nations to increase their economic base, expand foreign exchange earnings and enhance the standard of living for their people.
Yet PNGs’ share of the South Pacific regional market is very small, at only 5 percent of total arrivals, and less than 2 percent of the holiday market. This indicates the low level of development of this market compared to other neighboring countries, as well as the importance of the business market to PNG.
This can be attributed to a lack of support for the tourism industry by the PNG Government over the last few years. There is a lack of adequate infrastructure to support tourism in PNG. This can be evidenced at the Mt. Hagen Cultural Show where limited accommodation facilities are all booked out in advance so any additional participants arriving at the festival cannot find accommodation because of lack of infrastructure.
Additionally, PNG faces many challenges pertaining to law and order and visitors’ safety in some parts of PNG can be, and often is, problematic. Travel warnings about PNG can be found on numerous government websites around the globe like the Australia’s Smart Traveler website and travel bloggers.
One or two cases cannot speak for the entire country. Every traveler manages risks when traveling and this off course a risk to manage, and it’s a manageable risk anyway. – Via Garamut News.
By MICHAEL KUMAKA | COMMENTARY
The harsh and rugged landscape of Papua New Guinea (PNG) is home to the largest area of intact rainforest outside of the Amazon, steep mountain ranges, turbulent rivers, untouched beaches, unique flora and fauna, and active volcanoes.
PNG is also home to over 8 million people constituting more than 1,000 different indigenous cultural communities.
It is considered to be one of the most heterogeneous populations in the world, predominately living outside urban districts in rural areas, and differentiated by their own language, customs, and traditions
There are in excess of 860 indigenous languages (tok ples) accounting for a third of the world’s indigenous tongues.
The indigenous communities of PNG embrace the varying cultures through visual expressions, which are all integral to the ongoing way of life in PNG.
It is the rich and diverse cultural festivals, combined with a diverse population and some of the world’s most unique flora, fauna, and landscapes, that provide PNG with a unique selling proposition as an attractive adventure-driven tourism and event destination.
There are significant opportunities for the development of what can arguably be termed an “emergent” tourism and event industry.
For instance, PNG is arguably in the exploration stage of development as it is a relatively unexplored destination in which visitor numbers are small, and access, facilities, and local knowledge are limited. – Via Garamut News.
By NIGEL KAUA | NEWSFLASH
Papua New Guinea’s major cultural events countrywide will be funded directly from the National Budget every year round. This was revealed by the Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Hon. Emil Tammur in Goroka, Eastern Highland Province recently.
A policy submission to the Parliament for the National Government to fund major cultural events, shows and festivals is proceeding from the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture. It will be out in Parliament soon for debate and endorsement.
The major national cultural events and festivals include but not limited to; Goroka Cultural Show, Mt. Hagen Cultural Show, Jiwaka Cultural Show, Enga Cultural Show, Kutubu Kundu and Digaso Festival, Morobe Agri-Cultural Show, Madang Cultural Show, KarKar Island Bilum Festival, Goroka Bilum Festival, National Mask Festival and Warwagira in Kokopo, Sepik River Crocodile and Arts Festival, Hiri Moale Festival, Frangipani Festival in Rabaul, Kenu and Kundu Festival in Alotau and other events or festivals of similar popularity.
“Maintaining and promoting cultural events and festivals is not only important for tourism but also for our identify as a unique and culturally-diverse national in the world,” Mr. Tammur said.
He said unlike many other countries in the world, PNG is a unique nation of over 840 different languages and more than 1,000 various tribes and cultures.
“More importantly, the indigenous people owned over 90 percent of the customary land as individuals, clans and tribes. What this means is that we have the right to determine what sort of economic developments we want for ourselves on our land,” he added.
“We must use the birthrights to embrace tourism and agricultural developments as real sustainable industries. Oil, gas, gold, copper and nickel will benefit only a few including the rich, but tourism and agriculture will benefit the little ordinary people right in the rural communities and for a long time into the future,” the Government Minster said confidently. – Via Garamut News.
By NIGEL KAUA | COMMENTARY
At the official ceremony of opening the Goroka Cultural Show last year, Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Hon. Emil Tammur told the show goers Papua New Guinea’s major cultural events countrywide will be funded directly from the National Budget every year round.
He said a policy submission to the Parliament for the National Government to fund major cultural events, shows and festivals is proceeding from the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture. “It will be out in Parliament soon for debate and endorsement,” the Minister told the crowd in Goroka.
The major national cultural events and festivals include but not limited to; Goroka Cultural Show, Mt. Hagen Cultural Show, Jiwaka Cultural Show, Enga Cultural Show, Kutubu Kundu and Digaso Festival, Morobe Agri-Cultural Show, Madang Cultural Show, KarKar Island Bilum Festival, Goroka Bilum Festival, National Mask Festival and Warwagira in Kokopo, Sepik River Crocodile and Arts Festival, Hiri Moale Festival, Frangipani Festival in Rabaul, Kenu and Kundu Festival in Alotau and other events or festivals of similar popularity.
These festivals are increasingly being recognized for their contribution to the growth of our communities, the country and around the globe. They revitalize the communication and celebration of indigenous culture, tradition, and rituals. Additionally, indigenous cultural festivals are often used as a draw card to attract tourists and contribute to the development of the provinces and the country.
Our cultural festivals have long been essential to community life and are fundamental in sharing and sustaining indigenous culture of each event.
Local communities and the PNG Government alike are recognizing that these festivals have the capacity to facilitate development of the country’s emerging tourism and event industry.
Our cultural festivals are a relatively unspoiled resource. Tourism has had little influence on the festivals, which we celebrate, among other things, the culture and traditions. However, as tourism gains momentum, arguably a key issue will be the extent to which tourism development adopts the principles of sustainability.
Little to no effort has been made to gain a more comprehensive of cultural festivals within the context of tourism.
Yet the safety, or lack thereof, for visitors is not the only recognizable issue associated with tourism and/ or attending indigenous cultural festivals. Generally, there are relatively poor and unreliable support services like the police and ambulance, various health risks such as malaria and HIV/AIDS, quite limited resources and infrastructure to support the cultural events, limited and unreliable access to technology such as internet, and expensive domestic travel costs with some associated safety concerns.
Information for tourists traveling to and within PNG is limited and not easily accessible for travelers, and Australia’s Smart Traveler website repeatedly makes mention of the need to exercise caution while traveling in PNG, to maintain awareness of personal safety, particularly at night, and to continuously monitor the local media for warnings on new safety and security risks.
In general, tourism development in PNG has failed to keep pace with the rest of the world. In the South Pacific, tourism represents a major opportunity for small island nations to increase their economic base, expand foreign exchange earnings and enhance the standard of living for their people.
Yet PNGs’ share of the South Pacific regional market is very small, at only 5 percent of total arrivals, and less than 2 percent of the holiday market. This indicates the low level of development of this market compared to other neighboring countries, as well as the importance of the business market to PNG.
This can be attributed to a lack of support for the tourism industry by the PNG Government over the last few years. There is a lack of adequate infrastructure to support tourism in PNG. This can be evidenced at the Mt. Hagen Cultural Show where limited accommodation facilities are all booked out in advance so any additional participants arriving at the festival cannot find accommodation because of lack of infrastructure.
Additionally, PNG faces many challenges pertaining to law and order and visitors’ safety in some parts of PNG can be, and often is, problematic. Travel warnings about PNG can be found on numerous government websites around the globe like the Australia’s Smart Traveler website and travel bloggers.
But the reality is sometimes not always as reported; we cannot say it is safe or unsafe. Any city in the world has its own problems. But the striking thing is that those who travel to PNG always make positive comments about the country. A survey report in 2018 indicates, more than 60% of the holiday seekers said they wanted to return some day in the future. – Via Garamut News.
By NIGEL KAUA | COMMENTARY
At the official ceremony of opening the Goroka Cultural Show last year, Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Hon. Emil Tammur told the show goers Papua New Guinea’s major cultural events countrywide will be funded directly from the National Budget every year round.
He said a policy submission to the Parliament for the National Government to fund major cultural events, shows and festivals is proceeding from the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture. “It will be out in Parliament soon for debate and endorsement,” the Minister told the crowd in Goroka.
The major national cultural events and festivals include but not limited to; Goroka Cultural Show, Mt. Hagen Cultural Show, Jiwaka Cultural Show, Enga Cultural Show, Kutubu Kundu and Digaso Festival, Morobe Agri-Cultural Show, Madang Cultural Show, KarKar Island Bilum Festival, Goroka Bilum Festival, National Mask Festival and Warwagira in Kokopo, Sepik River Crocodile and Arts Festival, Hiri Moale Festival, Frangipani Festival in Rabaul, Kenu and Kundu Festival in Alotau and other events or festivals of similar popularity.
These festivals are increasingly being recognized for their contribution to the growth of our communities, the country and around the globe. They revitalize the communication and celebration of indigenous culture, tradition, and rituals. Additionally, indigenous cultural festivals are often used as a draw card to attract tourists and contribute to the development of the provinces and the country.
Our cultural festivals have long been essential to community life and are fundamental in sharing and sustaining indigenous culture of each event.
Local communities and the PNG Government alike are recognizing that these festivals have the capacity to facilitate development of the country’s emerging tourism and event industry.
Our cultural festivals are a relatively unspoiled resource. Tourism has had little influence on the festivals, which we celebrate, among other things, the culture and traditions. However, as tourism gains momentum, arguably a key issue will be the extent to which tourism development adopts the principles of sustainability.
Little to no effort has been made to gain a more comprehensive of cultural festivals within the context of tourism.
Yet the safety, or lack thereof, for visitors is not the only recognizable issue associated with tourism and/ or attending indigenous cultural festivals. Generally, there are relatively poor and unreliable support services like the police and ambulance, various health risks such as malaria and HIV/AIDS, quite limited resources and infrastructure to support the cultural events, limited and unreliable access to technology such as internet, and expensive domestic travel costs with some associated safety concerns.
Information for tourists traveling to and within PNG is limited and not easily accessible for travelers, and Australia’s Smart Traveler website repeatedly makes mention of the need to exercise caution while traveling in PNG, to maintain awareness of personal safety, particularly at night, and to continuously monitor the local media for warnings on new safety and security risks.
In general, tourism development in PNG has failed to keep pace with the rest of the world. In the South Pacific, tourism represents a major opportunity for small island nations to increase their economic base, expand foreign exchange earnings and enhance the standard of living for their people.
Yet PNGs’ share of the South Pacific regional market is very small, at only 5 percent of total arrivals, and less than 2 percent of the holiday market. This indicates the low level of development of this market compared to other neighboring countries, as well as the importance of the business market to PNG.
This can be attributed to a lack of support for the tourism industry by the PNG Government over the last few years. There is a lack of adequate infrastructure to support tourism in PNG. This can be evidenced at the Mt. Hagen Cultural Show where limited accommodation facilities are all booked out in advance so any additional participants arriving at the festival cannot find accommodation because of lack of infrastructure.
Additionally, PNG faces many challenges pertaining to law and order and visitors’ safety in some parts of PNG can be, and often is, problematic. Travel warnings about PNG can be found on numerous government websites around the globe like the Australia’s Smart Traveler website and travel bloggers.
But in fact, the reality is that Port Moresby is just like any other city in the world, we cannot undermine the work of police and say it is unsafe nor should we say it safe. - Via Garamut News.
By NIGEL KAUA | NEWSFLASH
Papua New Guinea’s major cultural events countrywide will be funded directly from the National Budget every year round. This was revealed by the Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Hon. Emil Tammur in Goroka, Eastern Highland Province recently.
A policy submission to the Parliament for the National Government to fund major cultural events, shows and festivals is proceeding from the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture. It will be out in Parliament soon for debate and endorsement.
The major national cultural events and festivals include but not limited to; Goroka Cultural Show, Mt. Hagen Cultural Show, Jiwaka Cultural Show, Enga Cultural Show, Kutubu Kundu and Digaso Festival, Morobe Agri-Cultural Show, Madang Cultural Show, KarKar Island Bilum Festival, Goroka Bilum Festival, National Mask Festival and Warwagira in Kokopo, Sepik River Crocodile and Arts Festival, Hiri Moale Festival, Frangipani Festival in Rabaul, Kenu and Kundu Festival in Alotau and other events or festivals of similar popularity.
“Maintaining and promoting cultural events and festivals is not only important for tourism but also for our identify as a unique and culturally-diverse nation in the world,” Mr. Tammur said.
He said unlike many other countries in the world, PNG is a unique nation of over 840 different languages and more than 1,000 various tribes and cultures.
“More importantly, the indigenous people owned over 90 percent of the customary land as individuals, clans and tribes. What this means is that we as indigenous landowners have the right to determine what sort of economic developments we want for ourselves on our land,” he added.
“We must use the birthrights to embrace tourism and agricultural developments as real sustainable industries.
Oil, gas, gold, copper and nickel will benefit only a few including the rich, but tourism and agriculture will benefit the little ordinary people right in the rural communities and for a long time into the future,” the Government Minster said confidently. – Via Garamut News.
Extracted from MASALAI BLOG | EDITED
With the controversies surrounding the Office of Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability (now Climate Change and Development Authority [CCDA]) and subsequent sidelining of the director Dr. Theo Yasause, new information is beginning to unfold as the Masalai Blog reports in July 2009.
The blog post with the title “Carbon Trading Under More Scrutiny” attracted a massive 178 comments from PNG, Australia and the world over.
According to documents, the government has been pre-selling carbon credits for almost four years prior to 2009 without any proper legal policy documentation and framework in place.
Among the documents obtained was a certificate with serial numbers A1 to A33 and bearing the signature of former Minister for Trade and Industry, Paul Tiensten who signed on behalf of then Prime Minister, Sir Michael Somare on the 26th of July, 2005 with Climate Assist (PNG) Ltd.
The certificate holds the common seal of Climate Assist (PNG) Ltd. It is understood the certificate in “A” Series specifies a monetary value of $20m with its maturity date set on the 1st January, 2008 but it is unclear whether actual monies have exchanged.
Former Prime Minister and the then Opposition Leader Sir Mekere Morauta at the time in learning about this this commented “our carbon is being sold yet we don’t have legislations and policy in place.” “It is unbecoming of leaders travelling around the world selling behind our backs. This is a huge corruption.”
According to the Office of the Prime Minister there are also reports of carbon ‘conmen’ selling customary landowners permits to ‘bag’ carbon from the atmosphere to the Government carbon trading office.
It appears that publicity about these actions has been promoted by Governors in several provinces.
The reason for the Governors’ discontent is that there was no indication that revenue would accrue to them.
According to law, some export-orientated activities direct revenue to provincial administrations. The irregularities, snake-oil salesmen and administrative problems do not bode well for carbon trading in PNG.
According to one report, Macquarie Bank has already pulled out of any potential carbon trading in the country, citing a lack of market integrity as the main reason.
Development agencies have something to answer for here. The World Bank actively promoted the idea that carbon credits could be earned and traded in a global emissions trading scheme if deforestation was halted.
One World Bank report suggested that revenue from credits could greatly exceed revenue from forestry.
The Bank offered to provide seed finance for a fund to support development and trading of credits. A number of national aid agencies chipped in.
But it is abundantly clear that this clever financial engineering is too clever. The EU has said that it does not favour the sale of such large numbers of credits from developing countries into the EU trading scheme.
Greenpeace and WWF oppose creation of cheap credits like this, and it is now clear there will not be global agreement on an emissions trading scheme in the near future. – Via Garamut News.
By NIGEL KAUA | NEWSFLASH
Papua New Guinea’s major cultural events countrywide will be funded directly from the National Budget every year round. This was revealed by the Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Hon. Emil Tammur in Goroka, Eastern Highland Province recently.
A policy submission to the Parliament for the National Government to fund major cultural events, shows and festivals is proceeding from the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture. It will be out in Parliament soon for debate and endorsement.
The major national cultural events and festivals include but not limited to; Goroka Cultural Show, Mt. Hagen Cultural Show, Jiwaka Cultural Show, Enga Cultural Show, Kutubu Kundu and Digaso Festival, Morobe Agri-Cultural Show, Madang Cultural Show, KarKar Island Bilum Festival, Goroka Bilum Festival, National Mask Festival and Warwagira in Kokopo, Sepik River Crocodile and Arts Festival, Hiri Moale Festival, Frangipani Festival in Rabaul, Kenu and Kundu Festival in Alotau and other events or festivals of similar popularity.
“Maintaining and promoting cultural events and festivals is not only important for tourism but also for our identify as a unique and culturally-diverse national in the world,” Mr. Tammur said.
He said unlike many other countries in the world, PNG is a unique nation of over 840 different languages and more than 1,000 various tribes and cultures.
“More importantly, the indigenous people owned over 90 percent of the customary land as individuals, clans and tribes. What this means is that we have the right to determine what sort of economic developments we want for ourselves on our land,” he added.
“We must use the birthrights to embrace tourism and agricultural developments as real sustainable industries. Oil, gas, gold, copper and nickel will benefit only a few including the rich, but tourism and agriculture will benefit the little ordinary people right in the rural communities and for a long time into the future,” the Government Minster said confidently. – Via Garamut News.
By NIGEL KAUA | COMMENTARY
At the official ceremony of opening the Goroka Cultural Show last year, Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Hon. Emil Tammur told the show goers Papua New Guinea’s major cultural events countrywide will be funded directly from the National Budget every year round.
He said a policy submission to the Parliament for the National Government to fund major cultural events, shows and festivals is proceeding from the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture. “It will be out in Parliament soon for debate and endorsement,” the Minister told the crowd in Goroka.
The major national cultural events and festivals include but not limited to; Goroka Cultural Show, Mt. Hagen Cultural Show, Jiwaka Cultural Show, Enga Cultural Show, Kutubu Kundu and Digaso Festival, Morobe Agri-Cultural Show, Madang Cultural Show, KarKar Island Bilum Festival, Goroka Bilum Festival, National Mask Festival and Warwagira in Kokopo, Sepik River Crocodile and Arts Festival, Hiri Moale Festival, Frangipani Festival in Rabaul, Kenu and Kundu Festival in Alotau and other events or festivals of similar popularity.
These festivals are increasingly being recognized for their contribution to the growth of our communities, the country and around the globe. They revitalize the communication and celebration of indigenous culture, tradition, and rituals. Additionally, indigenous cultural festivals are often used as a draw card to attract tourists and contribute to the development of the provinces and the country.
Our cultural festivals have long been essential to community life and are fundamental in sharing and sustaining indigenous culture of each event.
Local communities and the PNG Government alike are recognizing that these festivals have the capacity to facilitate development of the country’s emerging tourism and event industry.
Our cultural festivals are a relatively unspoiled resource. Tourism has had little influence on the festivals, which we celebrate, among other things, the culture and traditions. However, as tourism gains momentum, arguably a key issue will be the extent to which tourism development adopts the principles of sustainability.
Little to no effort has been made to gain a more comprehensive of cultural festivals within the context of tourism.
Yet the safety, or lack thereof, for visitors is not the only recognizable issue associated with tourism and/ or attending indigenous cultural festivals. Generally, there are relatively poor and unreliable support services like the police and ambulance, various health risks such as malaria and HIV/AIDS, quite limited resources and infrastructure to support the cultural events, limited and unreliable access to technology such as internet, and expensive domestic travel costs with some associated safety concerns.
Information for tourists traveling to and within PNG is limited and not easily accessible for travelers, and Australia’s Smart Traveler website repeatedly makes mention of the need to exercise caution while traveling in PNG, to maintain awareness of personal safety, particularly at night, and to continuously monitor the local media for warnings on new safety and security risks.
In general, tourism development in PNG has failed to keep pace with the rest of the world. In the South Pacific, tourism represents a major opportunity for small island nations to increase their economic base, expand foreign exchange earnings and enhance the standard of living for their people.
Yet PNGs’ share of the South Pacific regional market is very small, at only 5 percent of total arrivals, and less than 2 percent of the holiday market. This indicates the low level of development of this market compared to other neighboring countries, as well as the importance of the business market to PNG.
This can be attributed to a lack of support for the tourism industry by the PNG Government over the last few years. There is a lack of adequate infrastructure to support tourism in PNG. This can be evidenced at the Mt. Hagen Cultural Show where limited accommodation facilities are all booked out in advance so any additional participants arriving at the festival cannot find accommodation because of lack of infrastructure.
Additionally, PNG faces many challenges pertaining to law and order and visitors’ safety in some parts of PNG can be, and often is, problematic. Travel warnings about PNG can be found on numerous government websites around the globe like the Australia’s Smart Traveler website and travel bloggers. These are warnings by people whom have never traveled to PNG. Those whom have traveled ell a different story.– Via Garamut News.
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.
