ENB-US firm in carbon deal

By ROSELYN ELLISON
EAST New Britain has taken steps to strengthen its climate change awareness and response through the signing of an agreement with a United States company to sell carbon credits.
A memorandum of agreement relating to the NIHT Topaiyo REDD (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation) project was signed between the ENB government and NIHT Inc in Kokopo on Tuesday.
NIHT Inc operates in PNG through its subsidiary NI Holdings Ltd.
Chief executive officer of NIHT Inc and the NIHT Topaiyo REDD-plus project, Esrom ToLigur, said the Government through the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Climate Change recognised the aspirations of the provincial government as well as the clans and integrated land groups (ILGs) in ENB to receive an equitable share of benefits through the revenue generated from the sale of carbon credits.
ToLigur said the memorandum of agreement was based on the contracts with the ILGs.
It would allocate eight per cent of the net revenue to the provincial government and the stakeholders whose clans or ILGs had holdings in the province.
Based on a commitment from the provincial government, it would distribute and spend funds from the sale of carbon credits accordingly.
ToLigur said 52 per cent of the net revenue from the sale of carbon
credits would go to the ILGs and eight per cent to the provincial government.