Are the carbon cowboys going to feed us?

Deputy Prime Minister Don Polye’s support for the activities of Papua New Guinea’s “carbon cowboys” is at odds with the wishes of thousands of landowners in the Kamula Doso area.
More than 50 ILG representatives, including myself, have made formal submissions to international carbon standards bodies and to the prime minister’s office to complain about the conduct of carbon project proponents in Papua New Guinea and the impact their actions will have on local communities.
We have noted that there have been reports of fraudulent behaviour and uninformed consent from landowners in obtaining agreement to the project.
We have also noted that the claims made by Nupan that there has been adequate community consultation for these projects are completely false.
Most landowner groups have not been consulted at all for the carbon project. 
Worse than the fraud being perpetrated against the people of Kamula Doso is the future impacts a carbon project will have.
The carbon project asks us to halt all forestry and agriculture for the next 40 years.
Proponents of the project say we cannot be trusted with cash payments from any carbon credits for the first two years of the project.
The “sky money” that foreign NGOs talk of so eagerly will not come to the people who need it; instead it will go to carbon traders such as Kirk Roberts.
To the deputy prime minister and Roberts I ask the following: With no way to grow or buy food, what are we supposed to eat?

Paul Sasae
Wawoi Temu Holdings Ltd chairman
Dawasi ILG chairman