"20 February 2010 Govt inaction as carbon cowboy rides again BY PAUL OATES THE PNG POST-COURIER reports that carbon cowboy, Kirk Roberts, of Nupan (PNG) Trading has galloped into the Papuan Gulf, fresh from his roundup in the PNG Highlands.
Previously, Mr Roberts modus operandi involved obtaining local people's Power of Attorney on the understanding that Nupan will sell their forest assets as carbon credits or carbon sinks on the open market.
Apparently these credits can be traded on the global market to electricity producers who use the credit to justify business as usual while claiming they are reducing carbon emissions due to the trade-off involved.
A worrying factor is the lack of any details provided by Nupan as to how income generated from selling credits will be distributed or what Mr Roberts and his backers will get for their efforts.
PNG has yet to legislate for carbon trading and the office tasked with this activity was disbanded after it printed millions of kina worth of false carbon credit certificates with Prime Minister Somare's signature on them.
Sir Michael later claimed these to be forgeries and, after copies were leaked to the press, the issuer said they were simply drafts.
Sir Michael has now moved to assert more control over this activity by creating a new office within a government department. But nothing appears to be happening.
Some educated Papua New Guineans have asked Mr Roberts supporters some hard questions about his scientific backing and where the money is coming from, so far without any persuasive answers.
People who know how easy it can be to hoodwink village people with claims of wealth for little effort will form their own views about this activity.
While Papua New Guineans can separate sheep from the goats, initially this can be difficult when dealing with new concepts, where there may not be a lot of opportunity to gain a full picture of the true situation.
Theres a clear need for government intervention to protect peoples interests and rights."
It would seem that Nupan Corp is actively getting the support of the islanders - and speculation in the PNG post as to who the "backers" are... - on another article, it is noted that "australians" are behind the deals. All we can hope for is that the ventures M2M and Nupan are doing are not floating on a sea of dodginess - As it was, few months ago, there was a lot of negative publicity in relation to Kirk Roberts and his dealings. In the long term, we shareholders want something substantial behind the company...and preferably not dodginess. Any views anyone? Clearly I hold the stock and have done for some time, and hope one day for the company and us shareholders for the stock to be able to regain some value. But are we kidding ourselves here?
MCL Price at posting:
0.3¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
