Feeger paints PNG to the top

By JASON GIMA WURI

A PAPUA New Guinea contemporary artist has won an arts battle competition in Shanghai, China, The National reports.

Jeffery Feeger, pictured working on his painting of an Angolan woman at the competition venue in Shanghai, was lost for words when his name was announced last weekend.

“I was awarded RMB 2,000 for my efforts in what was the most intense three hours I have ever painted,” Feeger said in an email to his family and friends back home in PNG.

“It was a packed house with artists creating all forms of contemporary art from photography to textile, graffiti, performance, body art, projection, water colour and acrylic,” he wrote.

“A truly unique experience and I am glad everything fell into place for me.”

The competition drew artists from the Pacific, Asia and Europe.

Ramu nickel JV firms laud DSTP court ruling

THE joint venture partners in the Ramu nickel project are supporting the decision of the national court in Madang to proceed with the construction of a deep-sea tailings placement system (DSTP), The National reports.

The court has ruled that the construction of the DSTP can now be completed.

Highlands Pacific managing director John Gooding said the partners – MCC Ramu Nico Ltd, Mineral Resources Ramu Ltd (representing the state), Mineral Resources Madang Ltd (representing landowners) and Highlands Pacific – supported the decision, saying it provided a practical way to resolve an extremely important issue for the project and the PNG mining industry.

“We look forward to completing construction with the DSTP being the last major component after the significant disruption of the last six months,” he said.

Gooding said this would be an opportunity for the facts on DSTP to be presented, some of which included:

* The tailings are of low toxicity which are treated and neutralised prior to release;

* The depth of the pipe outflow will be 450ft below sea level with the neutralsed slurry dropping to much deeper depths;

* The annual tailings represent less than 7% of the 80 million tones of sediment estimated to be deposited annually by rivers in the same area (which has occurred for thousands of years)

* The significant number of independent studies undertaken as part of the environmental approval process which occurred in 2001; and

* Monitoring systems and compliance standards will be in place for the projects duration

Highlands Pacific owns a 8.56% stake in the Ramu nickel/cobalt project worth US$1.4 billion.

Enga shame

Teachers among students caught drinking homebrew

TWO secondary school teachers and 20 students have been arrested by Wabag police in Enga for allegedly drinking homebrew, The National reports.

Wabag police last Friday arrested 12 Grade 12 students at Pausa Secondary in Wapenamanda and another eight Grade 12 students with two teachers in Wabag town for drinking homebrew and behaving disorderly in public.

Provincial police commander Supt Martin Lakari said the students from Pausa, a Lutheran church-run school, stored homebrew in their dormitories and consumed them straight after their national examinations.

He said the students were drinking homebrew and behaving in a disorderly manner on a school truck while on their way to Wabag town when policemen intercepted and arrested 12 of them.

Policemen searched the students and confiscated a number of 500ml containers of homebrew hidden inside their bags.

Lakari said the police were on their way to Pausa Secondary to attend an assault case reported by the school headmaster when they came across the drunken students.

The assault complaint allegedly involved a teacher from Southern Highlands attacking another male teacher from Eastern Highlands.

Police brought the students to the Wabag police cells where they were locked up. They later searched the town and arrested eight more students and two teachers.

Lakari said the students were drinking with their teachers, and were behaving in a disorderly and threatening manner in town when police caught them.

They were held for four hours and later released with a warning.

He urged Grades 10 and 12 students to go back to their villages after completing their national examinations to assist their parents rather than engaging in shameful acts.

Also in Wabag, police raided a house at Pawas buai market near the town and confiscated 40l of homebrew last Thursday.

It was alleged that some Grade 12 students had bought fruits, sugar and yeast for the owner of the house.

Lakari told The National that after receiving a tip-off, policemen raided the house and confiscated the homebrew, 49 empty 500ml containers, a gas cylinder bottle, rubber hose, buckets and other items.

He said that the people involved in the production of the homebrew fled when police arrived.

However, their identities were known and police were investigating.

Lakari said this was the first time Enga police had confiscated a large quantity of materials allegedly used in the production of homebrew in the province.

Interim crash report says airstrip was bad

By STEPHANIE ELIZAH

AN interim report into the crash in August in Milne Bay, which killed three Australians and a New Zealander, suggests that the condition of the airstrip may have caused the crash, The National reports.

Minister for Civil Aviation Benjamin Poponawa had received the preliminary report on the investigation into the Trans Air Cessna jet crash on Aug 31, which killed the four on Misima Island, Milne Bay.

The report, prepared by investigators from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) PNG and the Accident Investigation Commission (ACI), depicted preliminary analysis of the history of the flight, Bwagaioa aerodrome runway information, site and wreckage information and examination on the main landing gear of the Cessna.

Poponawa cautioned that the preliminary report was derived from the initial investigation into the crash.

He said further evidence might alter the circumstances as depicted in the report.

He said investigations were continuing and would include further examination and analysis of various aspects of the crash including the pilot’s background and experience.

Analysis of recordings from the aircraft’s cockpit voice recorder and flight data recordings had been sent to the United States national transportation safety board (NTSB) for recovery.

The preliminary report revealed that the aircraft had travelled 30m beyond the end of the runway before it came into contact with trees and the terrain. A loud explosion was heard and fireball and smoke was observed at the end of the runway.

Crash survivor co-pilot Kelby Cheyne, who was interviewed after his recovery in Brisbane, Australia, recalled that he had exited the aircraft unassisted through a hole in the captain’s window. Shortly after that, a fuel-fed post impact fire destroyed the remaining aircraft wreckage.

Local island inhabitants, who arrived at the scene five to 10 minutes after the accident, assisted with getting the co-pilot to the local hospital.

Findings on the condition of the Bwagaioa airstrip revealed that the runway surface consisted of crushed coral on clay which had been partly overgrown with grass and moss. The only navigation aid on the island was a non-directional beacon (NDB) that was inoperative at the time of the accident.

Investigators reported that the aircraft brakes sustained heat damage from the post-accident fire but appeared to be in relatively good condition and the brake rotors turned freely by hand with no apparent defects.

The final report is expected early next year.

The truth about Papua New Guinea's carbon trade scheme

By CARBON TRADER

Port Moresby

The Prime Minister (PM) of Papua New Guinea (PNG) stated in The National (11^th October 2010) that the REDD+ approach that is being championed by his government is being undermined by the trading of forest carbon through the voluntary carbon schemes (VCS) in PNG.

He describes VCS as being risky and premature.

But how much truth is in what the PM said is anybody’s guess. 

The PM does not elaborate on the risks involved in the VCS, but the only cheap excuse given is that the VCS are thinly capitalised.

The advantages of the VCS over a compliance forest carbon market are not discussed by the PM.

Moreover, the PM failed to admit that REDD markets for forest carbon exists under some VCS, but a compliance market for forest carbon does not exist at the moment and the likelihood of a world market for forest carbon through the REDD+ scheme is far from reality.

The sad fact is that countries in South America, Asia and Africa have gone into VCS, while we are the only ones that are still fighting to engage in a compliance market for forest carbon, which does not exist or is yet to materialise.

Therefore, one wonders why the PM, PNG’s climate change ambassador and the acting director of Office of Climate Change and Development (OCCD) are all hell-bent on a REDD+ carbon scheme under the compliance market.

The reason why the OCCD, the PM and our climate change ambassador are globe trotting on climate change and carbon trade issues is that they want some of that $4.5 billion (US) that has been earmarked for REDD+ projects in developing countries.

So far our negotiations have failed two times to access any international funding because PNG does not want any strings attached to these REDD+ funds.

However, the international community is aware of what is going on in developing countries and will not release any funds until stringent measures are put place by respective governments to protect the rights of indigenous peoples and their forest resources from carbon cowboys.

Earlier this year, the PNGexposed Blog published an article that accused the PNG government of trying to be the “ultimate carbon cowboy”.

Nupan Trading was in the spotlight and was seen as being the culprit in carbon trade deals in PNG, but the PNGexposed Blog article also put the PNG government in the spotlight.

This article has been widely read and circulated over the internet and there are now more suspicions about the PNG government’s moves to have customary landowners snub the VCS.

It makes one wonder whether the moves taken by the PNG government are genuine in reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation of forests and ultimately combating climate change, or, is the PNG government trying to blackmail the international community into giving us funds so that we can put them in our pockets; let alone pay for political stability to protect the so-called “national interest”.

At the moment VCS are legal in a sense that it is a business deal that can be struck between a customary land owing group and a carbon broker.

The government has no control over customary lands therefore it cannot decide which carbon market the customary landowners chose to trade their forest carbon.

However, the OCCD, as the mandated authority on climate change and carbon trade issues in PNG, can facilitate carbon trade business deals between customary landowners and carbon dealers under the VCS.

The only problem with carbon dealers in the VCS is the issue of “carbon cowboys”, but this problem should be addressed by the OCCD.

The OCCD should check on any carbon dealer’s records and give appropriate advice to customary landowners on the authenticity of the carbon dealer and whether his business interest is genuine and has integrity.

However, to date the OCCD has refused to have anything to do with VCS or issue carbon certificates.

The reasons given by OCCD for not recognising VCS in PNG and not issuing carbon certificates to Nupan Trading and other carbon dealers is the same as that given above by the PM.

Regardless of the reasons given by the PM and OCCD about VCS in PNG, these are business deals like any forestry and mining business deals and OCCD will have to cater for that.

But the position taken so far by OCCD and the PNG Government to snub VCS indicates that there is something fishy going on in terms of carbon trade in PNG, and it goes to cement the suspicion that the PNG Government wants to be the “ultimate carbon cowboy”. 

One reason why the government wants customary landowners to snub the VCS is that it wants to keep all carbon credits from REDD+ for its own interest so that it becomes the one and only carbon broker in PNG.

Therefore, if the OCCD facilitates business deals between customary landowners and the VCS and much of the forest areas in PNG are registered under the VCS, there will be few or no forest areas left for the PNG government when an international agreement is reached after 2012.

The PNG Government wants to be the “ultimate carbon cowboy” in PNG so it is playing delay tactics to stall VCS in PNG and to maintain all forest areas for itself to have access to when a compliance market comes on after 2012.

The PM also stated that a climate framework was not yet finalised to protect and safeguard the interests of customary landowners dealing with carbon dealers under the VCS.

 However, this is the cheapest excuse that can be given, and it insults the intelligence of people who are familiar with development of policies and legislations.

The issue of climate change has been around since the 1980s, and literature has built up immensely within science and policy domains in the last few years which are available and can be used to develop a climate change framework for PNG.

Thus there is no excuse for the OCCD to say that it has not produced a climate change framework for PNG as yet.

Two offices have preceded the OCCD, in which time a climate change framework should have been produced by now, and the civil societies in PNG have been constantly calling on the government to put in place legislation and policy for climate change.

Moreover, there is sufficient human resource within country that can be utilise by OCCD to draft a climate change framework, but it seems a few handpicked people are being used by the government to run the show so that some peoples’ vested interests are protected.

But since no policy or legislation has been developed for climate change in PNG as yet, it goes to show that the PNG government is deliberately avoiding the issue so that it does not put itself under any obligation to protect its indigenous people and their forest resources from carbon cowboys, of which the PNG government is one of them and the “ultimate carbon cowboy”.

Finally, a few years ago the PM was questioned on his family’s vested interest in carbon trade in PNG and the establishment of a pyramid structure that was establish within the Office of Climate Change and Carbon Trade (OCCCT) to  deliberate on carbon financing.

Although time has passed and memories have faded, I am of the opinion that the pyramid structure that existed within OCCCT is still alive and exists within the OCCD and is just waiting to deliberate on any international funding on REDD+ that may come out from the $4.5 billion (US) earmarked for developing countries.

Preparing Papua New Guinea for likely drought in near future

By RAGHUNATH GHODAKE and MARTIN MOSE of NARI

There is a high possibility of occurrence of a strong El Niño event, causing severe drought in Papua New Guinea within the next three to four years (2011-2014).  

 In fact, there are strong indications for El Niño conditions developing in the later part of 2011.

 Strong El Niño events causing severe drought conditions in PNG have increased in frequency over the last 100 years. 

Prior to 1972, the average interval between such strong El Niño events was about 30 years; whereas in recent past such interval has been reduced to 10-15 years.

 Besides, the recent El Niño events have been much stronger and have been producing increasingly more severe drought conditions in PNG.  

This suggests another El Niño event causing severe drought in PNG is highly likely within the next three to four years. 

During the 1997 drought there were severe shortages of food and water, with garden produce declining by 80%, 1.2 million people without locally-available food, declined health and increased mortality, and huge exodus of people to towns (Bang et al. (2003) ESCAP CGPRT Centre Working Paper 73). 

 By considering the increasing severity of the recent El Niño events, it is expected that the next drought may also be more prolonged and more damaging than that of the year 1997, and that would put the lives and livelihoods of many thousands of people at risk throughout the country.

It should however be noted that reliable assessment and indications of El Niño occurrence can only be known two to three months ahead of such event and that would be too late to prepare for adaptation to and mitigation of adverse impacts of such severe drought, particularly in a country like PNG where the majority of population is in remote areas with weak communication and infrastructure.  

Therefore there is need to have an appropriate understanding and preparedness to face such events much in advance.   

Food production in PNG is highly vulnerable to El Niño-induced droughts and even other seasonal events of droughts.  

Unless action is taken to empower and equip our farming and rural communities with appropriate technologies and information, people would be exposed to food insecurity, malnutrition and hunger.   

It is advisable that PNG has contingency measures in place which can be activated at short notice to deal with drought and food shortage situations under such a highly likely scenario.  

National Agriculture Research Institute (NARI) and its sister institutions like the National Disaster Centre (NDC)  are raising awareness, nationally, of the prospect of a drought in the near future and generating debate on how best to prepare rural communities for such a scenario.  There is certainly a need to empower farming and rural communities with information on and access to drought-coping strategies such as water and food conservation techniques, drought-tolerant crops, their species and management practices, and understanding of El Niño and drought events.  

These activities need to be undertaken in partnership with government and non-government organisations, community-based and church organisations and progressive communities.

Besides food and water shortages (both in rural and  urban areas), severe droughts can cause disease outbreaks, population out migration, school closures, bush and forest fires, hydro-power shortages, breakdown of transport and communication infrastructures and law and order problems. 

Drought management will therefore require a multi-sectoral partnership through a national drought management task force.

NARI and NDC are working closely with other organisations such as National Weather Service and other stakeholder groups in this endeavor and are strongly advocating for a national drought preparedness strategy to coordinate and manage the numerous emergency issues associated with likely severe drought in near future.

The challenge is for all in preparing PNG for such an event.

University of Goroka receives new books from Mormons

President Fata (left) donating the books to early childhood head of department Dr Dinah Ope with deputy librarian Kametan Parkop (centre) looking on

The University of Goroka was last Friday the recipient of a donation of early childhood text books from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

President Fata of the Port Moresby Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was on campus to present the donation of books to the value of K10, 500 to the department of early childhood studies of the education faculty at UOG.

The donation came about after President Fata toured the campus in May this year and saw first hand the need for books at the university. 

He then contacted dead of department for early childhood studies Dr Dinah Ope and arrangements began to order the books from the United States of America.

President Fata said he was happy to help the university with its need for books as he had previously seen a lot of empty shelves in the library on his first visit to the campus.

Dr Ope said the donation was timely and she was grateful to have the books funded by the church.

 “There are currently no books on early childhood in the library so these are the first batch for the programme,” she said.

“ Students will start to use them next year”, said Dr Ope.

The donation was also witnessed by members of the Goroka Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, education faculty, library and other staff of the university.