The Esperanza visits Papua New Guinea

There's a small but growing community of people who are trying bring some clarity to the debate about forest protection in the run-up to Copenhagen - specifically the REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) process.

Natasha Loder, who writes for the Economist, is covering the intricacies of the carbon trading markets in Papua New Guinea on her blog. Her latest post is a look at the tangled web of project-based carbon offsetting. A 'project based' approach for REDD would allow bits of forest to be 'bought up' by organisations, who'd pay to protect the forest in return for securing rights to the future carbon credits from it.

A dance troupe from Manokwari take a tour of the Esperanza's bridge in October 2008 © Greenpeace/Rante

Jamie wrote this - his thoughts and reflections on the ship tour so far - as he was waiting for something to happen in Indonesia last night. Eventually, something did.

Direct actions can be quite boring at times. The few moments of excitement are the ones which make the headlines and the photos, but anyone who has participated themselves will know there can be long, drawn-out stretches when not much is happening. Direct inaction, if you will.

I'm currently experiencing that now. As I write this, nestled in the campaign office on board the Esperanza, we're playing a waiting game. You've probably read about what the crew here has been up to in the Indonesian port of Dumai, painting and blockading palm oil tankers.

I've mentioned before about how I love wandering through the Greenpeace photo library (it's on a big server, so any wandering is purely figurative) - there's always just one more enticing folder to explore. And it's hardly surprising, when our campaign work takes photographers to some stunning locations and places them at the heart of the action. Some have even won major international awards for their work, both with Greenpeace and independently.

Following the recent fun with a timber cargo ship in Papua New Guinea, the Greenpeace team on the Esperanza has sent through some more material which throws the spotlight on what's happening in the country's forests. The video below explains how local communities are being short-changed by logging companies, with things like schools and medical centres promised by these companies simply not materialising:

A Greenpeace team occupies the Harbour Gemini, carrying illegal timber from Papua New Guinea and bound for China
© Sutton-Hibbert/Greenpeace

As we wait for the European Commission to consider legislation to prevent illegal timber from entering Europe, a Greenpeace team in Papua New Guinea have stepped in to prevent a ship from loading up with wood of dubious provenance.

The ship, Harbour Gemini, was loading timber at Paia Inlet in Gulf Province, when four activists from our ship the Esperanza climbed a loading crane to hang a huge banner reading 'Protect Forests, Save Our Climate'. Looking on were groups of local people in boats, while others held their own peaceful protests at the port and nearby logging camps.

Greenpeace volunteers and Lake Murray clansmen marking out boundaries in 2006

Long-time readers may remember that two years ago a team of Greenpeace campaigners and volunteers arrived at Lake Murray in Papua New Guinea to establish a forest rescue station. They were invited by local clans to help mark out and document the boundaries of their traditional lands, and also to train people in eco-forestry techniques.

Last week, the first fruits of that project were delivered in the form of a shipment of timber from Lake Murray arriving in Sydney. Sep Galeva, a landowner and one of the key players in the eco-timber project, explained to the press how working on this community initiative has helped protect their part of the rainforest from industrial logging.

Not only are homes in the UK gradually becoming greener, their Asian equivalents could also heading in the same direction now that B&Q is removing all products containing illegal timber from their shelves in China.

You couldn't make it up. After having been exposed no less than three times already for using illegal timber in their building projects, Tony Blair's government has done it again.