By Chris Lang
The proposed REDD+ Project in Oro Province of Papua New Guinea covers an area of 418,000 hectares. Kanaka Management Services Private Limited (KMS), an Indian company based in Bangaluru produced a 130-page project document. The project document was posted on Verra’s website on 15 February 2022.
According to Verra the project status is “Under development”. But on 2 March 2022, PNG’s Minister for Environment and Conservation, Wera Mori, announced a moratorium on voluntary REDD+ projects in the country.
Just three months earlier, Mori posed for a selfie with Rao Mandhukar of Kanaka Management Services. They met in the Coalition for Rainforest Nations’ stall at the UN climate meeting in Glasgow in November 2021.
The Governor of Oro Province, Gary Juffa, welcomed the moratorium because PNG does not have a regulatory framework for carbon trading. Juffa told Loop PNG that,
“The moratorium needs to go further than just being a moratorium, it needs to put an end to all current carbon trade projects. Until such time, a thorough review has been conducted as to whether or not those involved are genuine entities and what the mechanics of those arrangements are.
“As far as I know, the price of atmospheric carbon is so low that we should not even be considering carbon trade as an option in PNG until such time those prices reach a level and we have a regulatory framework in place.”
Juffa says he’s concerned that Kanaka Management Services “went to Oro Province and somehow engaged in carbon trade arrangements without the knowledge of the Provincial government”.
According to Kanaka Management Services’ project document the project has already been running for almost five years – apparently without the knowledge of the Provincial government: “The project has commenced its patrolling activities as on 06-May-2017. Hence, the project would consider the same as start date.”
The project document produced by Kanaka Management Services includes a photograph of Governor Juffa (page 129 – that’s him on the right), but without a caption, or a date, or any explanation of what the document in the photograph is:
Carbon cowboys and cattle ranches
On 15 March 2022, the Australia Institute sent a comment about the project to Verra. The comment, titled “Carbon Cowboys and Cattle Ranches”, has not yet been posted on the Verra website, but it can be downloaded here. It was written by Polly Hemming and Andrea Babon.
Carbon Market Watch has also produced a response to Kanaka Management Services’ project document. Carbon Market Watch concludes that,
The proposed project raises significant red flags and concerns. This is largely due to the widespread absence of key evidence and details which makes it essentially impossible to verify the proposal’s core assumptions (baseline/additionality) or to be sure that basic requirements, such as rigorous stakeholder involvement, were fulfilled.
This post focusses on the Australia Institute’s comment on the proposed REDD project. Hemming and Babon write that,
REDD+ projects have a long and vexed history in Papua New Guinea, with the significant issues around integrity, governance, and exploitation by ‘carbon cowboys’ in the past still present today. We are concerned the proposed Oro project appears to be continuing this tradition.
Hemming and Babon note that the project is “enormous in scale”. Kanaka Management Services claims that the project could generate more than 8 million carbon offsets per year for 100 years. Hemming and Babon write that,
Kanaka Management Services (KMS), the proponent of the Oro project, has provided no evidence to support their claims that their project will result in genuine benefits for the climate or customary landholders. The project document is poorly written, largely incomprehensible and lacks the details that would enable an adequate technical assessment of the project.
Kanaka Management Services fails to demonstrate how the project area is at immediate risk of deforestation. The project document includes cattle ranching and railways as deforestation threats, despite the fact that PNG has no cattle ranching in mountainous areas and no railways.
KMS provides “no evidence to suggest that customary landholders have been consulted about the project, nor assurances that they will retain autonomy and control over project activities,” Hemming and Babon write.
Key problems
Hemming and Babon identified a series of “key problems” with Kanaka Management Services’ project document:
- The proponent has indicated that the project will have a retrospective crediting date from 2017 despite not having yet established the project.
- The information on the project contained in the proposal is confusing, contradictory, generic and vague, and provides insufficient justification for the conclusions it draws.
- Despite this being an ‘avoided deforestation’ project the proposal provides no explanation of how proposed project activities will reduce forest loss.
- The information and analysis is inadequate for a project proposed on customary land in Papua New Guinea. There is no evidence of consultation with landowners.
- Evidence of forest decline and the project counterfactual assumptions are unconvincing. There is no historical evidence of deforestation in the relevant region.
- The basic calculations in relation to carbon stocks, GHG reductions and removals are
unclear.
“The proposal document lacks credible information and sufficient detail to be considered a project of integrity,” Hemming and Babon write. “It is concerning that Verra did not address this issue in the first instance and request that the proponent improve the quality of its data and analysis before publishing the proposal on their website and inviting public comment.”
And they question Verra’s approval process in general:
Beyond the Oro project, we are concerned that Verra’s broader project approval process may be inadequate and that other low-quality projects of this nature could already be supplying ‘junk credits’ or ‘hot air’ to corporate and government customers.
@MCarbonWatch talked to Gary Juffa, the Governor of Oro Province and posted a clip of the conversation on Twitter:
Here’s a transcript:
We people of Papuan Waria under the 4 Incorporated Land Groups, Pore, Mawae, Konoma and Kwazulu ILG cannot understand our Governor. He has supported us from day one since 2015 to undertake REDD+ project in Papuan Waria Valley of Oro Province.
The Governor supported the project due to his advocacy towards protection and conservation of rainforests areas. We also supported his advocacy because in our various resolutions we had stopped mining, logging and oil palm planting in the Papuan Sadia Valley. In our various meeting we all agreed to protect our rainforest for our children’s future.
The Governor also appointed a project officer within Oro Provincial Governnent to oversee our project ( name known). This is how we got our motto for our Landowner company, Papuan Waria Rainforest Limited. That is ‘ For our Children’s Future’s.
We, the ILG Chairman’s and Landowner Company Officials had meet meet the Governor eight times in various occasions and three written briefs with three submissions. For the submissions, there were no feedback although verbally in two occasions he promised to support us financially but no vail. Except for Oro Administration who supported us with K10,000 for the ILG process.
It was only in July of 2021, in our final update meeting in Oro Province he abruptly attended and agreed and supported our projects except that we must come under the Northern Province Resource Limited( NPRL) a self Company owned by the Oro Provincial Government. And the proceeds must be chanelled through the NPRL for service delivery and development purpose. This arrangement we, landowners totally disagreed. We did not want a middle men to manage our land use and affairs. Not only that we want benefits to come directly to the landowners who can prioritized the development aspirations of the people and to avoid political interference in the project.
Not only that the Governor wanted us to get Cifor Incraft to be the developer of our project. We, landowners also rejected that as we were undertaking REDD+ project under the voluntary scheme and all along we wanted to seek out investors and agreements made directly with us landowners.
The Governor did not like our arrangement and this resulted in a sudden u turn and this we expected it will to happen as a politician who wants to manage projects in the province. Oro Provincial Administration supported us all along. We have Support Letters to verify that.
For the National Government and government agencies, CCDA and NFA supported and assisted us since 2015 including DLPP on the ILG process CCDA provided us necessary guidance under the framework.
We have exhausted the government process to get the far. We have Support Letters from NFA and CCDA of the project.
In summary, the REDD+ project in Papua Waria Valley is supported by Oro Provincial Government and Adminstration and the Government of PNG including Government agencies. And Governor of Oro has supported the project from day one. His change of heart is due to our reluctance to come under his arrangements of which we outrightly reject.
Thank you all.
Dear National and International Community, We people of Papuan Waria under the 4 Incorporated Land Groups, Pore, Mawae, Konoma and Kwazulu ILG cannot understand our Governor. He has supported us from day one since 2015 to undertake REDD+ project in Papuan Waria Valley of Oro Province.
The Governor supported the project due to his advocacy towards protection and conservation of rainforests areas. We also supported his advocacy because in our various resolutions we had stopped mining, logging and oil palm planting in the Papuan Sadia Valley. In our various meeting we all agreed to protect our rainforest for our children’s future.
The Governor also appointed a project officer within Oro Provincial Governnent to oversee our project ( name known). This is how we got our motto for our Landowner company, Papuan Waria Rainforest Limited. That is ‘ For our Children’s Future’s.
We, the ILG Chairman’s and Landowner Company Officials had meet meet the Governor eight times in various occasions and three written briefs with three submissions. For the submissions, there were no feedback although verbally in two occasions he promised to support us financially but no vail. Except for Oro Administration who supported us with K10,000 for the ILG process.
It was only in July of 2021, in our final update meeting in Oro Province he abruptly attended and agreed and supported our projects except that we must come under the Northern Province Resource Limited( NPRL) a self Company owned by the Oro Provincial Government. And the proceeds must be channeled through the NPRL for service delivery and development purpose. This arrangement we, landowners totally disagreed. We did not want a middle men to manage our land use and affairs. Not only that we want benefits to come directly to the landowners who can prioritized the development aspirations of the people and to avoid political interference in the project.
Not only that the Governor wanted us to get Cifor Incraft to be the developer of our project. We, landowners also rejected that as we were undertaking REDD+ project under the voluntary scheme and all along we wanted to seek out investors and agreements made directly with us landowners.
The Governor did not like our arrangement and this resulted in a sudden u turn and this we expected it will to happen as a politician who wants to manage projects in the province. Oro Provincial Administration supported us all along. We have Support Letters to verify that.
For the National Government and government agencies, CCDA and NFA supported and assisted us since 2015 including DLPP on the ILG process CCDA provided us necessary guidance under the framework.
We have exhausted the government process to get the far. We have Support Letters from NFA and CCDA of the project.
In summary, the REDD+ project in Papua Waria Valley is supported by Oro Provincial Government and Administration and the Government of PNG including Government agencies. And Governor of Oro has supported the project from day one. His change of heart is due to our reluctance to come under his unprofessional arrangements of which we out rightly reject. Politically motivated illegal propaganda with ulterior motives is not fair and totally unprofessional. In the disguise of advocacy on forest protection and conservation targeting communities and making them suffer as they were suffering for decades under this administration is not fair. Fake advocacy is not good for country or its communities. Local communities interests are paramount and critical. Indulging in maligning campaigns about our REDD project on internet like twitter, redd monitor and other websites are nothing but false, malicious, mischievous, politically motivated and legally punishable. Taking information from some one who is jealous of this REDD project progress and writing the dictated text on internet as if it is a fact is highly unacceptable and totally illegal. We strongly urge all outsiders to stop writing false and wild allegations and misguide the international community. This project is having 100% participation by communities and this is a genuine REDD+ project. We thank you all for understanding the facts.