The Carbon Cowboy rides again

From PAUL OATES

(A very illuminating report on this person was recently aired on Aljazeera TV)

The Post Courier reports that the well known 'Carbon Cowboy', Kirk Roberts of Nupan (PNG) Trading Corporation has galloped into the Papuan Gulf, fresh from his 'roundup' in the PNG Highlands. Previously, Mr Robert's reported 'modus operandi' involved obtaining the local people's Power of Attorney on the understanding that Mr Robert's Corporation will then sell the local people's forest as carbon credits or carbon sinks on the open market.
Apparently these 'credits' can be traded on the open market to electricity producers elsewhere in the world who use this credit to justify their
continued business as usual and yet claim they are reducing their emissions due to 'emissions trade offs'. A worrying factor to some is the lack of any
details being provided by Nupan as to how any income generated from selling these credits will be distributed or what Mr Roberts and his backers will
get for their efforts.
PNG has yet to legislate any regulations to govern carbon trading and the Office tasked with this activity has since been disbanded due to printing
millions of Kina worth of now claimed, false Carbon Credits with the PM  Somare's signature on them. The PM claimed these 'credits' were forgeries
and after copies were leaked to the press, the issuer then said they were only drafts. Somare has now moved to reorganise government control over this activity by creating a new office within a government department yet nothing appears to be happening.
On another blog site operated by Emmanuel Narakobi, some young, educated PNGians are asking Mr Robert's supporters some important questions like 'who are all these scientists' and 'where is the money coming from'?
All those who have seen how easy it can be to initially hoodwink the local village people with claims of wealth for very little effort will form their
own views about this new activity. No one would suggest PNG people are unable to sort out the sheep from the goats however this may be initially
difficult in the villages, where there may not be a lot of opportunity to gain a full picture of what the true situation about world Carbon Trading
may be.
Previous reports in the local news appeared to suggest that a prominent NA politician had been given K200,000 to 'assist' with this activity. The PNG
government is now for some reason, apparently either unable or unwilling to help their people with this determination. Now why would this be one is
tempted to ask?
So presumably, the Carbon Cowboy will ride off into the sunset with a thick wad of 'Power of Attorney's in his hip pocket and very little security for
those who signed them left behind. What is worrying is that the Post Courier reports that 'Australians' are organising this activity.