Tavolo Community Forest Conservation Project

Audit Analysis

The Tavolo Community Forest Conservation Project is a VCS ALM project in Papua New Guinea with a 17% buffer pool and VVB-confirmed additionality, but it is burdened by serious land-tenure disputes (SABL/FCA nullification), a 0% leakage deduction with contradictory justifications across documents, and 28 corrective actions flagged by the VVB. The project delivered roughly 360% of its pro-rata ex-ante expectation for the first monitoring period, suggesting a conservative baseline, yet the unresolved ownership conflicts and insufficient non-permanence and leakage assessments create material integrity risk.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Ongoing land-tenure disputes with Kakuna-Lote Resource Development Ltd and Mekar (PNG) Ltd over SABL/FCA issuance; court order of 20 Oct 2022 stayed the FCA pending nullification, but resolution is not yet confirmed in the record.
• ⚠Leakage deduction of 0% is justified as 'quantified' in the verification report but as 'deemed negligible' in the validation report, and the VVB material findings explicitly note insufficient demonstration of no leakage from activity shifting and market effects.
• ⚠28 corrective actions were required by the VVB, spanning additionality, baseline, leakage, non-permanence, double-counting, and safeguards — indicating systemic documentation and methodological gaps.
• ⚠15.2 ha of forest cover loss was detected during the 2019–2022 monitoring period, partially offsetting claimed reductions.
• ⚠Risk of double counting with national REDD+ Results Units was flagged as insufficiently assessed in the verification report.

Credit Vintages