Papua New Guinea: dreaming of 'sky money': how carbon-trading schemes are undermining indigenous peoples' rights

Abstract

In Papua New Guinea (PNG). 94% of annual greenhouse gas emissions originate from deforestation and degradation, the highest proportion of any country in the world.55 55% of PNG's forests are in large blocks Cover 500 kmJ) of minimally disturbed forest ecosystems known as Intact Forest Landscapes (IFLs). However, continued illegal and destructive logging and the conversion of forest areas into plantations could see much of PNG's commercially accessible tropical forests cleared or degraded by 2021. Customary ownership by local communities represents 97% of the total land area (46 million hectares), including all these forest areas