Many still questioning how Sabah's carbon trading deal was signed without consulting public

KOTA KINABALU: Several parties are still not happy with the explanation given by the Sabah Attorney General’s Chambers on the status of the controversial Nature Conservation Agreement (NCA).

On Wednesday (Feb 9), Attorney General Datuk Nor Asiah Mohd Yusof had said that the NCA was not enforceable for now as due diligence was still being conducted on the third-party company involved, while matters on the terms of the agreement were still being fine-tuned.

Parti Warisan secretary general Datuk Loretto Padua said while the clarification by the state AG was appreciated, key concerns – including how the agreement came about and was signed without Sabahans knowing or being consulted beforehand – were not addressed.

"How is it that a project this big involving some two million hectares of land with a 100-year lease, affecting thousands of natives, was prepared and signed without any of us knowing?" he asked.

"The issue is not on the agreement itself but on... how it came about," he said.

Loretto also questioned the credibility of the company meant to be in charge of carbon trading under the NCA, as well as Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan’s insistence on appointing the company and defending the decision.

Apart from Loretto, a group of non-governmental organisations in Sabah have also voiced similar concerns over the deal and were calling for transparent technical consultation.

They include Borneo Futures, the Danau Girang Field Centre, Ezplast Solution, Land Empowerment Animals People (LEAP), Sabah Environment Trust, Sabah Human Rights Centre, Sabah Reform Initiative and the South East Asia Rainforest Research Partnership (SEARRP).

Others like the Society for Equality, Respect And Trust For All (Serata), WWFMalaysia and Zero Waste Sabah were also seeking answers to unanswered questions about the NCA.

Dr Robecca Jumin, Sabah Head of WWF-Malaysia, said the Voluntary Offset Carbon market was based upon principles of transparency and sound governance among others.

"Given the urgency of climate change, and the possibility of 'carbon cowboy' scandals, these standards are getting stricter.

"Unless seriously addressed, Sabah will not be able to market its carbon, especially not in premium markets," she said.

She added that these matters were complex and required technically competent people from relevant government departments, universities, civil society and other stakeholders to sit down and examine the ecological, social, economic, legal and institutional complexities together.

Dr Rahimatsah Amat, founder of the Sabah Environmental Trust, said a proper analysis was needed to look into the forest stratum to determine what kind of replanting and silviculture might actually generate income in totally protected areas (TPAs) designated for carbon trading.

LEAP’s Cynthia Ong asked if the deal adhered to national guidelines on international carbon trading which put in place regulations to protect the integrity of carbon accounting – something that is required for such international agreements.

"The reality is that the underlying business model of the NCA is flawed because it is based on numbers created to capture public attention.

"Under the NCA, (third-party company) Hoch Standard’s actual performance target is to monetise 50,000ha over the first two years," she said.

According to Ong, the state government would have to raise about RM400mil to invest in restoration (at RM8,000 per hectare) to produce the amount of carbon necessary to meet the projected revenue under the NCA.

She said the interest payments on that funding alone would be higher than the state’s carbon sales revenue, once the owners of Hoch Standard take their 30% cut.

She said "hard and honest work towards a Carbon Sovereign Sabah" should instead be striven for, where open public discussion would enable professionals across the sectors to work out ways carbon trading can actually benefit Sabah’s forests, its rural communities and the state.