The Growing REDD Scandal of Papua New Guinea

The carbon credit scandal in Papua New Guinea appears to be heating up, (Pun Intended). As reported last week it appeared that someone in that country was selling credits without the authority to do so:

If there was ever a make believe commodity its carbon credits. It works like this, a certain are of trees use CO2 for photosynthesis, those tress in turn are sucking up an amount equal to what you produce providing you with a carbon neutral business or lifestyle. Of course that assumes nothing ever happens to the trees such as logging or forest fire. (By the way if I buy Carbon Credits and a natural disaster wipes out the forest, do I get my money back from Mother Earth?) Anyway the sheer folly of such a system was on display in Papua New Guines:

Originally it was reported that some one the credits issued was over a disputed stretch of forest:

Further investigation suggests that at least 39 more such REDD “credits”, which apparently each denote 1m tonnes of carbon, have been issued by the OCC for projects across the country in pilot projects of up to a dozen forests. One of the companies involved in the development of these forests as future REDD credits said a number of certificates had been issued by the OCC. These, it added, were “not real” but rather “symbolic” certificates.

One of these REDD carbon “credits” has caused particular outrage in the country. The area of forest is given as the “Kamula Duso REDD Project”. Yet the 800,000 hectares of virgin rainforest in Kamula Duso are at the heart of a long-running legal dispute over ownership, and the land is now the subject of a court injunction. Until the courts settle the legality of an agreement with the Forest Authority to permit logging, nobody is supposed to touch it.

Now The Economist has released even more evidence of wrongdoing:

Papua New Guinea’s government is probing reports of “irregularities” at the Office of Climate Change (OCC), a state agency that is asserting the right to deal in promises of forest preservation: pledges that may soon be worth a lot of money.And there are things to look into. The Economist has seen a document, apparently signed by the office last November 3rd, which purports to certify the preservation of 1m tonnes of carbon under the UN’s REDD arrangement. It vows that a “carbon sink” in the Kamula Duso region will stay intact till the certificate matures in 2012.

At least two things about this document raise eyebrows. It implies that the REDD system now exists; and it offers a promise about the Kamula Duso forest which nobody can make until the outcome of a court case to settle who owns it. Further investigation suggests that at least 39 more “REDD credits”—each “guaranteeing” 1m tonnes of carbon—were issued by the OCC, covering up to a dozen forests.

The Kamula Duso credit was one reason for a crisis meeting in May of the country’s local governors, who want an audit of the OCC. They said it should be stopped from issuing further credits or approving carbon-trading deals. They urged Norway and Australia, as well the European Union and the UN, to stop conservation aid to Papua New Guinea until the truth is known.

Sir Michael Somare, the prime minister, accepts that if the OCC was issuing REDD credits, it was out of line. His press secretary (and daughter), Betha Somare, says it “has no legal mandate to issue forest carbon credits other than afforestation and reforestation through the CDM, nor is there currently any REDD asset in existence because of the lack of a regulatory framework for forest carbon in Papua New Guinea.” When shown a copy of the Kamula Duso credit, she said: “Very recently, apparent irregularities within the OCC have come to our attention. As a result the prime minister asked for a review to be carried out, and a report to be made to his office.

In other words some charlatan has been selling non-existent credits. How can anyone possibly verify the credits and if there was ever a market for scams and exploitation this is it. How many people are going to buy credits in land they will never see? How many working class and middle class people are going to be duped by this? Maybe we should let Bernie Madof out of jail and put him in charge, he is an expert in wealth that does not exist.

While we are at it I have a bridge to sell, its located in Brooklyn.