BY JOHN HOUANIHAU

Padezaka Tribal Association has recently signed a landmark Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) agreement for a 30-year carbon project.

The agreement forms part of a long-term carbon initiative jointly developed with the Nakau Programme and the Natural Resources Development Foundation (NRDF) under the Babatana Rainforest Conservation Project.

“All Parties believe in fair and transparent partnership involving mutually beneficial collaboration between local and external stakeholders to manage the risks of failure and optimise the conditions required to make carbon projects work and endure.”

The launching and declaration of the Padezaka Tribal Rainforest Conservation Area as a legally designated National Protected Area was done in 2021.

The protected area covers more than 4,800 hectares of forest and forms a portion of the Padezaka Tribal land in Babatana Ward, South Choiseul and Choiseul Province.

This forest area is now the third forest protected area (by law) and also the largest so far, in the country.

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