Historical Context and the Birth of REDD+ in PNG
The April Salumei REDD+ project, officially sanctioned by the PNG government in 2012, stands as the first and only government-approved REDD+ pilot project in a country holding the world's third-largest expanse of pristine tropical rainforest. This initiative traces its origins to a seminal 2003 conversation between then-Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare and Columbia University scholar Kevin Conrad on a beach in Wewak. Confronted with the dilemma of logging-driven deforestation, Somare challenged Conrad to devise a mechanism where industrialized nations would compensate PNG for not logging its forests – an idea that became Conrad's MBA thesis and later formed the basis of PNG's REDD+ advocacy. This vision directly influenced Articles 5 and 6 of the Paris Agreement, positioning PNG as an early conceptual leader in forest-based climate mitigation.
The project area encompasses 521,500 hectares in the remote Hunstein Range above the Sepik River – a biodiversity hotspot and customary land of approximately 5,000 Indigenous inhabitants. Unlike typical conservation models, April Salumei emerged as a direct alternative to industrial logging after Malaysian and Taiwanese logging interests were blocked in the 1990s through community and WWF advocacy. Its designation as a REDD+ site represented a landmark commitment to test whether forest communities could derive sustainable livelihoods from carbon stewardship rather than timber extraction.
Governance Failures and Institutional Challenges
Systemic Weaknesses in Forest Governance
PNG's REDD+ framework operates within a context of endemic governance failures that directly undermine its implementation. The forestry sector is characterized by rampant illegal logging accounting for 70-90% of timber exports, among the highest rates globally; pervasive corruption where logging companies exert influence through political donations, sponsorship, and media ownership, with documented cases of bribery and land rights violations; and weak regulatory capacity where the Papua New Guinea Forest Authority lacks resources and political autonomy to enforce compliance, particularly in remote areas like the Hunstein Range.
The creation of the Office of Climate Change and Development (OCCD) to manage REDD+ funds failed to overcome these systemic issues. Instead, it became embroiled in the "carbon cargo cult" scandal of 2009, where unscrupulous actors ("carbon cowboys") sold fraudulent carbon credits to villagers anticipating "sky money" (mani bilong skai). Executive Director Theo Yasause was implicated in issuing questionable carbon trading certificates, including a notorious case involving a $200 million agreement with a shell company (Climate Assist PNG Ltd) for 33 million metric tons of non-existent credits. This early mismanagement severely damaged REDD+'s legitimacy before April Salumei even commenced.
Land Tenure Complexities and FPIC Violations
The project faces fundamental challenges regarding customary land ownership – approximately 97% of PNG's land, including April Salumei, is held under customary tenure. While theoretically advantageous for community benefit-sharing, in practice, Special Purpose Agricultural and Business Leases (SPABLs) have been systematically abused to alienate customary lands. Between 2003-2011, over 5 million hectares (11% of PNG) were improperly leased, predominantly to foreign logging and palm oil companies. Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) processes remain inadequate. The 2010 amendment to the Environment and Conservation Act removed indigenous rights to challenge resource deals, creating power imbalances during consultations. Representation issues have also arisen: the Hunstein Range Holdings Ltd (HRHL) structure, intended to represent 129 landowner groups, has faced questions about accountability and equitable benefit distribution.
Carbon Market Dysfunction and Financing Shortfalls
The Illusion of Market-Based Solutions
The GCF/FAO model relies heavily on functioning voluntary carbon markets that have consistently failed to materialize for PNG. Key market barriers include lack of domestic policy, as PNG has no comprehensive legal framework for carbon trading, creating regulatory uncertainty; buyer reluctance due to concerns about additionality, leakage, and PNG's governance record deterring major investors. Despite Australia's 2008 REDD cooperation agreement, no significant credit purchases have occurred. Price volatility and undervaluation remain critical issues, with current carbon prices (typically $3-10/tCO2e) rendering projects financially unviable compared to logging revenues.
Misaligned GCF/FAO Support Frameworks
International support mechanisms exhibit critical flaws: technical versus livelihood focus, where FAO support emphasizes technical capacities (carbon measurement, MRV systems) while neglecting livelihood-centered approaches. The Juma Project reference highlights this gap – its $60/month direct payments created immediate household benefits, whereas April Salumei's complex carbon-trading architecture has delivered nothing comparable after 12 years. Inadequate financial structuring is another issue, as the Green Climate Fund's cumbersome access procedures and preference for national-level programs disadvantage community-led initiatives. No significant GCF financing has reached April Salumei despite PNG's REDD+ readiness preparations since 2008. Ignoring non-carbon values also undermines financial viability, as biodiversity co-benefits (e.g., habitat for Goodfellow's tree-kangaroo and birds of paradise) remain unpriced.
Community Exclusion and Livelihood Impacts
The Unfulfilled Promise of Forest Stewardship
The 5,000 inhabitants of the Hunstein Range have become stakeholders without benefits in a project ostensibly designed for their empowerment: zero tangible benefits have been realized. Contrary to the Juma model, no regular payments or livelihood alternatives have materialized since 2012. This violates the core REDD+ principle of incentivizing conservation. Consultation without consent has been reported; initial consultations were conducted (e.g., by Chem-Clean Ltd in 2009), but subsequent decisions about carbon rights and project design occurred without meaningful community input. Studies reveal widespread confusion about carbon trading concepts and frustration over unfulfilled promises – a dynamic scholars term "carbon cargo cult" psychology.
Development Pressures and Deforestation Drivers
The project fails to address underlying drivers of forest loss such as road expansion threats. PNG's plan to increase roads from 8,700km to 15,000km by 2022 includes the Madang-Baiyer link bordering Hunstein Range. Research confirms such infrastructure enables illegal logging, hunting, and encroachment. Logging concessions continue to pose threats; over 5 million hectares of forest (including critical habitats near April Salumei) remain allocated as logging concessions. Agricultural expansion, particularly oil palm plantations driven by SPABLs, continues converting forests with government support.
Pathways to Reform: Aligning REDD+ with the Original Vision
Direct Benefit Transfer Mechanisms
To honor the Juma-inspired vision, PNG and its partners must establish direct, verifiable payments to forest stewards. Household-level payments should be structured as monthly transfers ($50-60) conditional on forest monitoring, using mobile banking for accessibility and funded through GCF grant windows, not volatile carbon markets. Community trust funds should allocate a portion of revenues to community-managed funds for education, health, and micro-enterprises, building on incorporated land group structures. Participatory monitoring is essential, employing community rangers with GPS-enabled devices to track deforestation, generating data while creating jobs.
Governance and Land Tenure Reforms
Strengthening land rights by formalizing customary tenure in the project area through the Customary Land Registration Act, establishing inalienable community titles, is critical. Anti-corruption safeguards must be introduced by establishing independent REDD+ benefit-sharing oversight committees with civil society representation and real-time payment tracking. Judicial support should be enhanced by creating specialized environmental courts to handle carbon rights disputes, building on lessons from Brazil's Public Defenders Office.
Strategic Realignment of International Support
A GCF results-based payment pilot should designate April Salumei for GCF's simplified REDD+ payment stream, using $100 million upfront commitment to enable immediate steward payments while carbon markets develop. FAO livelihood integration should shift support from pure technical assistance to integrated agroforestry and non-timber forest product programs that supplement carbon incomes. Securing additional financing for April Salumei's carbon-rich peatlands, estimated to store >1,000 tC/ha, as a peatland protection premium, is recommended.
Conclusion: The Imperative for Urgent Course Correction
The April Salumei project stands at a crossroads. Twelve years after its approval, it risks becoming a monument to REDD+'s broken promises rather than the pioneering model envisioned by Sir Michael Somare. The failure to deliver tangible benefits to the 5,000 forest stewards of the Hunstein Range – while logging concessions and oil palm plantations advance nearby – represents a fundamental betrayal of the original social contract underpinning REDD+.
Making REDD+ work in PNG requires nothing less than a paradigm shift from market-centric approaches to stewardship-centered justice. The Juma Project's lesson is not about $60/month per se, but about recognizing that forest conservation depends on direct, reliable benefits reaching those sacrificing immediate economic opportunities. National Planning, the Climate Change Authority, and FAO must collaborate to implement the reforms outlined here before industrial logging interests – still dominating PNG's political economy – secure the final destruction of the Hunstein Range.
As PNG's founding father envisioned on that Wewak beach two decades ago, the world must pay for the climate service these communities provide. Articles 5 and 6 of the Paris Agreement remain empty words unless made real in the lives of April Salumei's people. The time for excuses has passed; only decisive action can redeem REDD+'s promise in PNG's forests.