Preserve rainforests intended for commercial timber harvesting
Overview
NIHT Topaiyo
Papua New Guinea
10,443 ha
Developer: NIHT Inc.
Avoided Unplanned Deforestation
NIHT has partnered with traditional landowners of New Ireland and East New Britain in Papua New Guinea to repurpose land originally scheduled for commercial timber harvesting into a forest carbon project. Since 2014, Papua New Guinea has been the world's largest exporter of tropical timber wood, making the island nation a key area for intervention. The preservation of these rainforests is essential not only for the carbon and biodiversity benefits but also for the well-being and prosperity of the people of New Ireland. Carbon finance provides landowners and communities with a valuable source of alternative income instead of cutting down these critical rainforests.
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Registry
Registry ID: 2293
Methodology
VM0009
NIHT Topaiyo helps conserve one of the most biologically diverse tropical areas on Earth.
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Pachama's project evaluation criteriaPachama rigorously evaluates every project listed on our marketplace to ensure that we're surfacing only the highest quality projects. Our Evaluation Criteria includes a series of checks that every project must pass as well as a number of informative insights on project quality. You can see a preview of these checks below.
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Additional
Does the project have a net additional climate benefit?
Net additional climate benefit
Emissions reductions are calculated based on the difference between baseline, project, and leakage emissions. Pachama analyzes emissions claims to confirm that the project has a net additional climate benefit, and each credit represents at least one metric ton of carbon.
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Conservative
Is the climate benefit based on sound and conservative claims?
Baseline claims
Pachama analyzes baseline emissions accounting to confirm that the reported baseline emissions are less than what Pachama observes with remote sensing.
Project claims
Pachama assesses the project boundary, project emissions accounting, carbon inventory, and financial and legal additionality.
Leakage claims
Pachama summarizes the project's reported leakage emissions accounting.
03
Durable
Is the climate benefit long-lasting?
Ongoing monitoring
Pachama quantifies emissions since the last verification to ensure the project continues to deliver a climate benefit.
Project risks
Pachama characterizes fire and other natural risks and summarizes buffer pool contributions.
04
Beyond Carbon
Does the project deliver benefits beyond carbon?
Social impacts
If a project occurs on community-owned land, Pachama confirms the community is fully informed of the project activity and impact, consent is given without coercion, and a grievance and redress mechanism is in place.
Ecological impacts
For ARR projects, Pachama analyzes native species planting, species diversity, regional suitability, and reforestation practices.
Certifications
Pachama provides a summary of the project's awarded certifications.
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Quality check
A quantitative threshold that each project must align with in order to pass Pachama's Evaluation Criteria. If a project does not align with any one of Pachama's checks, it will not be listed on the marketplace.
Quality insights
A qualitative insight relevant to carbon credit quality. Quality Insights do not impact whether a project aligns with Pachama's Evaluation Criteria.
Impacts beyond carbon
Working in partnership with local stakeholders to support communities
NIHT is committed to the equitable participation of all stakeholders in the project's development and is working in partnership with local, provincial, and national-level governments. The project plans to reinvest 81% of net revenue into local communities. In addition to distributing funds directly to individuals, the project's funds are used developing access to online schools, expanding healthcare in the region, and introducing solar-powered electricity.
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No Poverty
56% of the project's net revenue goes directly to the local community. Many in the area live below the poverty line, and the financial resources that carbon credits provide enable the purchasing of food, health services, and other benefits to help alleviate the impact of poverty.
Topaiyo Foundation, a non-profit set up for the project, is directly addressing health needs expressed by community members themselves, such as nutritional programs, eliminating the high infant mortality rate, and women's health issues.
The project is actively developing access to online schools via WiFi access and has developed prototype portable solar-powered computer centers which allow online education for remote areas. The project is working towards the goal of 100% literacy for students 12 years old and over in the project area.
Papua New Guinea rainforests are a haven for extensive varieties of flora and fauna. Industrial timber operations and forest conversion destroy key habitat for many species and further threaten already endangered species. This project works to conserve local biodiversity by protecting the rainforests within the project area. Additionally, it has completed a biodiversity study to further understand the species that live within the project area.
Public registry documentsApplicable calculation methods are referenced in the reports below. Note that registries do not publicly provide all pertinent data required to reproduce emissions calculations. However, Independent Validation and Verification Bodies have access to the data needed to reproduce and verify emissions calculations.