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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

Solomon Islands Forests Expose--Forest Activist Dies Under Questionable Circumstances

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

December 13, 1995

OVERVIEW & SOURCE

Following is a posting from Greenpeace's forest campaign in

econet's rainfor.general conference which details the continuing

forest tragedy playing itself out in the Solomon Islands. The

piece details the tension being felt throughout the Pacific

Islands as large scale industrial logging changes lifestyles,

mostly for the worse. As landholders have sought to regain

control of their lands from foreign multinational loggers bent on

completing their clearing and leaving, violence has frequently

broken out. Greenpeace reports on the recent death of a local

forest activist which they allege occurred under questionable

circumstances. There is alot of information in this piece;

including specifics of the Malaysian timber companies that are

devastating these tiny islands for fast timber money.

Truth and justice is on the side of brave forest activists who

every day are laying their lifes on the line in order to highlight

the importance of continued forest processes for all of our

survival. Please take the time to write a letter to the Solomon

Islands Prime Minister, perhaps based on the enclosed sample

letter, emphasizing the importance of forests and sustainable

ecoforestry development.

g.b.

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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

/* Written 5:00 PM Dec 12, 1995 by gn:fmartone in

igc:rainfor.genera */

/* ---------- "Solomon Islands forests: urgent ac" ---------- */

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* Greenpeace Briefing *

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Logging in Solomon Islands Takes its Toll

SUMMARY

Conflict over natural resources in the Pacific region is

escalating. Landowners are fighting for their rights and their

future against corrupt governments and destructive companies.

The seven year old Bougainville armed conflict is a result of

landowner discontent and environmental destruction. In

Melanesia, the "logging fields" are the latest arena where these

bitter conflicts are being fought.

Community tension over government supported logging of disputed

lands on Pavuvu Island has lead to one murder, one suspicious

death, and escalating violence. Maving Brothers Ltd, a Malaysian

company, have logged half the remaining forest already, and are

planning to move in on the rest. The indigenous landowners are

fighting to regain control of their lands and establish small-

scale village based "Ecoforestry".

A recent report released to the Solomon Is media has documented

US$2.2 million worth of bribes from one logging company to

Cabinet Ministers and government workers. In response, a public

rally and petition by Churches, Unions and Non-governmental

Organisations has called for the sacking of the Ministers

concerned. On 4th December seven Solomon Island Government

Ministers appeared in the Central Magistrates Court in Honiara

on corruption charges.

In Solomon Islands logging continues at three times the estimated

sustainable level, with production forests predicted to be logged

within the next ten years. Logging practices by the mainly

Malaysian and South Korean companies are uncontrolled and

destructive, and supply the Japanese and Korean log market. With

more than 60% of government revenue derived from log export

levies, forest depletion means a looming disaster for the

economy.

OVERVIEW

The issue of who develops, benefits and decides over natural

resources in the Pacific region has become increasingly volatile

in the last decade. The increased rate of exploitation and the

money involved has brought governments, foreign companies and

landowners into conflict. Landowner discontent and environmental

damage at the Bougainville copper mine was the catalyst for what

is now a seven year old civil war. One of the largest lawsuits

in the region is being brought by landowners along the Fly River

against the mining company at Ok Tedi in Papua New Guinea.

These conflicts are happening predominantly in Melanesia, rich

in natural resources and where land and coastal areas are still

in customary tenure. Melanesia includes Papua New Guinea,

Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji and Kanaky (New Caledonia). The

accelerating rate of logging by large-scale commercial operations

in Melanesia has even come under severe criticism of the World

Bank. The "logging fields" are simply the latest arena where

these conflicts are being fought, with increasingly high costs

to the local communities and the environment.

SOLOMONS LOGGING

The Solomon Islands lie to the northeast of Australia and east

of Papua New Guinea. A land area of nearly 30,000 square

kilometres is spread over some 992 islands. It has a population

of around 340,000 that is growing at 3.5% per year, and is

predominantly Christian. Although a former British colony,

approximately 90% of the land in Solomon Islands is customarily

owned by family groups.

Around two-thirds of the Solomon Islands is covered with tropical

rainforest, and many of the people still live in villages that

depend on the forest for their survival. This may either be

traditional use or more recently exploitation of their forests

for timber.

The last 10 years has seen a wave of foreign logging companies

sweep through Solomon Islands. The current level of official

production of 830,000 cubic metres, mainly whole log exports, is

running at nearly three times the sustainable level, according

to the 1994 Annual Report of the Central Bank of Solomon Islands.

Considerable concern has been raised over this situation, from

in Solomon Islands and in the wider Pacific region, and also in

the international financial institutions the IMF and ADB. With

more than 60% of government revenue coming from tariffs on log

exports to Japan and Korea, the country's economy seems locked

into a spiral of resource depletion and unsustainable

development.

Logging has become very controversial recently, with the public

exposure of bribes paid to government Ministers from logging

companies. The Solomon Star newspaper reported on 10th November

that US$2.2 million was paid in bribes from the logging company

Integrated Forestry Industry Ltd, a subsidiary of Malaysian

company Kumpulan Emas, to Ministers and other government

employees. This revelation has shaken the country, with many

calls for the resignation or sacking of the Ministers concerned.

A large protest march occurred in the capital, Honiara on 29th

November, called by the Union, Churches and Non-Government

Organisations. The journalist Duran Angiki, who reported the

story for the Solomon Star was sacked following pressure from the

government and logging companies. He is now taking legal action

against the newspaper for his dismissal. However, on 4th

December, three of the seven Solomon Island Government Ministers

charged appeared in the Central Magistrates Court in the capital

Honiara on corruption charges. They are due to appear again and

are expected to make their pleas next month.

Apart from government attempts to censor the media, it is of

serious concern for freedom of speech in Solomon Islands that at

the recent Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) meeting in

Auckland, the Solomon Is government was one of only two countries

to vote against the suspension of Nigeria from the Commonwealth

for the execution of 9 environmental activists.

Additionally, some of the logging companies come with a track

record from the east Malaysian state of Sarawak, of destruction

of rainforests and tribal forest people's lives. Logging by

Malaysian company Maving Brothers Ltd has been at the heart of

a controversy in the Russell Islands over corruption, land

rights, and environmental destruction. Violence in the Russells

is escalating as logging predictably divides communities into

those who support the logging and receive payments from it, and

those who oppose it. The conflict eventually turns the community

inward on itself. With the long-standing armed conflict on

nearby Bougainville and tension between mining companies and

landowners elsewhere in Melanesia, logging is a major concern for

the continued stability and security of the region.

Logging has reached such heights of activity because of the huge

amounts of profits that can be generated. However, less than 5%

of the profits actually stay with the resource owners, with the

companies and government taking the lions share. Until recently,

the only opportunity for landowners to make a financial income

from their forest resources, was through logging. It was part

of a dilemma that many faced: the need for cash for education,

health, housing and consumer goods but wanting to protect their

natural resources for the future.

However, a tide of small-scale alternatives is rising to

challenge destructive foreign logging. One of these landowner

alternatives is `ecoforestry', or harvesting timber in an

ecologically and socially responsible way. Greenpeace has been

working with the Russell Island communities and with the New

Zealand Imported Tropical Timber Group (ITTG) to establish these

initiatives.

PAVUVU ISLAND LOGGING TURNS BLOODY

Urgent Update

The controversial government logging of Pavuvu Is in the Russell

Group has divided a peaceful community with the recent murder of

anti-logging leader Martin Apa. He was brutally killed on 30th

October as the Malaysian company Maving Brothers was making a

push to log the rest of Pavuvu Is. Both the company and the

Solomons government are implicated in the murder, the government

doubly so through failing after a month to send an investigative

team to find his killers. Previously, in July this year, tensions

reached a high point as frustrated local landowners set three

company bulldozers on fire. Both of these incidents mark further

chapters in the sorry saga of a government supported foreign

company logging against the wishes of the local landowners.

BACKGROUND: A LEGACY OF BRITISH COLONIAL MEDDLING

The Russell Islands lie 45 km northwest of Guadalcanal in Central

Solomon Islands. 12,427 ha Pavuvu Island is the largest of the

20 inhabited islands of the Russells group. Few people currently

live on Pavuvu, because late last century missionaries, traders

and developers forced the indigenous people to move to outer

islands. In the 1920s the British colonial Lands Commissioner

effectively stole the undeveloped areas of Pavuvu and leased them

to the British company Levers Pacific Ltd. At that time

customary landowners agreed to the sale (for 500 pounds) of only

the areas already developed by Levers into plantations, not the

whole area as claimed by the British colonial government.

Considerable areas in northern Pavuvu have been cleared of

rainforest for coconut and cocoa plantations. The 1000 yard

strip encircling the lower half of the island was not developed

(it has been logged now), and since the late 1980s Levers have

been unable to clear the forest due to a corporate policy that

prohibits clearing rainforests. Levers Solomon Island Ltd, still

has a current lease over most of these areas, though Levers

International sold their interests in the company this year.

In the 1960s and 1970s the indigenous landowners of Pavuvu (known

as the Lavukal) began a campaign to have the lands leased by

Levers, or what is known as the `alienated lands' returned to

customary control. They have been fighting ever since, with the

1990s seeing this intensified under the threat of logging. The

main avenue to have the land returned is via legislation that

covers the Alienated Lands, where a requirement is that the

indigenous communities must have a viable development project for

the land.

The forests on this beautiful hat shaped island (steep mountain

centre with coastal flat ground) are rich in valuable timber.

An Australian aid-funded forest assessment in 1992 found that

Pavuvu contains more than 130,000 cubic metres of harvestable

logs, worth more than US$20 million. However, the landowners

have ideas other than logging. They have developed their own

resettlement scheme that involved establishing a landowner

company Lavukal Resources Development Ltd, and included small-

scale ecoforestry and ecotourism. As of November 1995 a total of

12 Russell Islanders had been through a six week ecoforestry

training course, with several now completing management plans in

preparation for harvesting on their customary land on Pavuvu

Island. They are very near to harvesting and marketing timber

from their forests themselves. The ITTG-supported ecoforestry

training has received funding from the New Zealand government.

MALAYSIAN LOGGERS

Into the picture in the early 1990s came a Malaysian logging

company, Maving Brothers Ltd. The Maving Bros company directors

include Solomon Islander Robert Belo, and Malaysians Hii Kiong

Mee and Hii Yew Mee. Working with politicians, they have secured

a licence to log the alienated lands to pave the way for a

proposed government "development" and resettlement scheme. They

tried to start operations in 1992 but were forced to back off

after landowners threatened to burn their machinery. They

returned in 1995 with the support of the recently returned

Mamaloni government, and the government paramilitary defence

force.

In February this year the ousting of Central Province premier

Nelson Ratu, by pro-logging provincial members, allowed the final

'approval' to be given for logging to start by Maving Brothers

Ltd. When the logging equipment arrived the landowners began a

peaceful sit in protest at the logging camp. The government

responded by having a Paramilitary Field Force (PFF) move in and

make arrests. The PFF has been stationed there ever since in

support of the company and vested government interests.

Landowners have tried every peaceful means possible to have the

Solomons government halt the logging and address their concerns,

including many meetings, a petition and peaceful rallies.

The government has responded with military and police force, with

propaganda that all the landowners now support logging, with

censorship of the media and diversionary plans of a fake

settlement scheme. Alan Kemakeza, Minister of Forests,

Conservation and Environment claims that "the Pavuvu alienated

lands are owned by the government, not the people of Russell

Islands". Yet he also says the reason for the logging is for

resettlement and return of the lands to the customary owners.

Since April the trees have been falling at a rapid rate. The

only fresh water source on southern Pavuvu has been polluted with

silt and many shipments of logs have already been shipped to

Japan. With the "alienated" lands almost exhausted the company

is now pursuing logging of the actual customary lands. It is

expected that bogus "landowners" will sign agreements to log

these areas, pitting the actual landowners in further direct

conflict with the company and government.

ILLEGAL AND DESTRUCTIVE LOGGING

An investigative mission by the opposition party in Solomon

Islands recommended that the logging be halted immediately and

the land returned to the customary landowners. Furthermore, a

recent investigative visit by Greenpeace to Pavuvu confirmed

local reports of illegal and destructive practices.

According to Greenpeace Solomon Island Forests Campaigner

Lawrence Makili, both the government and the company are guilty

of lies and destructive practices.

"We found that more than half the logs at the Pavuvu camp were

undersize, there was illegal logging on customary-owned land, and

destructive practices such as cutting next to a stream and

hauling the log up the stream bed. Yet before logging started

in April, the government promised landowners that the operations

would be controlled and monitored by government forestry, lands

and agriculture officers. None of this has happened. There's

only destruction," he said. "When a company representative was

asked about the undersize logs, he said`they came from when large

trees have fallen onto small ones', but this does not account for

the large proportion and we observed free-standing small trees

that had been felled."

Despite widespread public condemnation of the logging, the

government has refused to halt it and address the concerns of the

landowners. A public opinion poll in Honiara in June found that

85% of people agreed that landowners should have the first say

over any development of their land.

"This failure of the government to respect customary land rights

threatens the very foundation stone of Melanesian culture. It

is not government for the people but basic profiteering for a few

people," Makili said.

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CHRONOLOGY OF THE LOGGING OF PAVUVU ISLAND

Late 1800s to early 1900s: European missionaries, traders and

developers based in Russell Islands, forcing the resettlement of

local people to coastal areas and to small outer islands of the

group.

1920: British Colonial government Lands Commissioner recommends

the aquisition of Pavuvu forest land for 500 pounds, against the

agreement of landowners to sell only the areas already developed

by Lever's Pacific Plantation Ltd.

1978: Demonstration by Russell Islanders at Loun village over the

return ofPavuvu alienated land during a visit of the Governor

General Sir BaddleyDevesi.

1989: Levers International group of companies passes a policy of

not clearing rainforest.

1989: the people of Loun Islands present a proposal for the

return and resettlement of the "Alienated" land in Pavuvu

(currently leased by Levers Solomon Ltd).

1992: The Mamaloni government approves a logging licence on the

alienated lands of southern Pavuvu (a 1000 yard strip from the

coast inland), to Malaysian company Maving Brothers Ltd.

1992: Minister of Agriculture releases a resettlement scheme for

Pavuvu, coopting some parts of the Loun Islander 1989 proposal,

with the addition of a major agricultural development to follow

after the forest is logged and cleared.

1993: Maving Bros attempt to land on southern Pavuvu to build a

landing for machinery but are ousted by local people under the

threat that any machinery will be burnt.

1994

July: Russell Islanders express interest in carrying out

ecoforestry and ecotourism as part of their resettlement of

Pavuvu.

October: Lavukal people (indigenous Russell Islanders) work with

Greenpeace and the New Zealand Imported Tropical Timber Group on

a programme to develop ecotimber operations on Pavuvu.

November 1994: Billy Hilly NCP government overthrown. Mamaloni

returned to power.

December 1994: A meeting of all village leaders (over 100 men and

women) at Hae village in Russell Islands agrees unanimously to

have the alienated lands returned to a local landowner company

rather than being logged.

1995

January March: A 60% share in Levers Solomons Ltd is bought by

thegovernment body, Solomon Island Commodities Export Marketing

Authority. Levers still have a current lease over the alienated

lands of Pavuvu.

February: a vote of no confidence issued against Central Province

antilogging Premier, Nelson Ratu.

February: Maving Brothers abandon their logging concession at

Ataa, East Fataleka, Malaita, with many breaches of conditions,

including failing to build roads, schools, clinic, bridges, and

failure to meet the Standard Logging Agreement requirements.

February: Minister of Forests, Environment, and Conservation Alan

Kemakesa (also MP for Russell Islands and Savo) announces

government plans for logging of Pavuvu, including harvesting

895,000 cubic m of logs (more 6 times the assessed harvestable

volume for the whole of Pavuvu), and a resettlement scheme that

would include roads, a secondary school and a clinic.

February: Russell Island landowners vow to burn machinery and use

force to protect their customary land rights to Pavuvu.

March: Central Province Premier Nelson Ratu replaced by Peter

Manetiva, and two days later a business licence issued to Maving

Bros.

March: 33 bags of rice offered to Sau village as compensation for

garden plantations destroyed to develop a log pond. Sau people

reject the offer, saying they are not hungry and ask the

government to halt the proposed logging.

April 13th: a government paramilitary defence force (PMF) armed

with SL8 automatic rifles, smoke grenades and tear gas arrives

at Pavuvu to protect the recently arrived logging equipment.

April 18th: a large group of landowners travel to the log pond

to disrupt the movement of logging machinery on Pavuvu. 56 men

are detained and held at the log camp, with two being taken to

Yandina police station for questioning. All charges are

subsequently dropped.

May 12th: Catholic Church of Solomon Islands publicly condemns

the logging of Pavuvu.

May 19th: Opposition Party Mission release findings that the

logging of Pavuvu should be immediately terminated, and the

government should immediately transfer all portions of alienated

land on Pavuvu Island to the customary owners.

May 21st: Prime Minister Mamaloni attacks NGOs for meddling,

especially foreigners and naturalised citizens, warning them that

they will now be closely monitored. NGOs respond by requesting

the PM to substantiate the accusations or apologise to the NGOs,

accusing the Mamaloni government of being a dictatorship.

May 24th: Maving Brothers logging company rejects any

responsibility for the government resettlement programme.

May 28th: Government sends a secret mission of 11 people

(including two Ministers) to Russell Islands, without informing

local people, to gather support for their logging and

resettlement scheme. Reports of bribes and gifts abound.

1st June: News blackout on the Pavuvu Issue. Government pressure

on Solomon Islands Broadcasting Company and other media.

22nd June: Rally of 300 Russell Island supporters outside

parliament with a presentation of a petition to the deputy Prime

Minister.

30th June: Government report claims that majority of local

Russell Islanders support logging of Pavuvu.

3rd July: Three bulldozers burnt by angry local people.

Government send more police and use violence in their

investigation of the burnings.

20th July: Two log shipments with an estimated total of 7000m3

of logs valued at approx. US$1million leaves Pavuvu for Japan.

26th July: Fake Russell Island landowner Moses Pandai claims most

Russell Island landowners now support logging.

11th August: Russell Island customary landowners reaffirm their

total opposition to logging in a media release which goes

unreported in Solomon Islands media.

19th August: Greenpeace confirms local reports of illegal

logging on customary land, logging of undersize and protected nut

trees, pollution of a freshwater stream, logging within 50 metres

of a stream, and using a stream as a log skid trail.

25th August: Leaked secret Maving company plans confirm local

suspicion that the company intends to log all of Pavuvu Is,

including areas under clear customary ownership.

September: Local Russell Island landowners who have recently

completed the ecoforestry training make preparations for

Ecotimber harvesting on their land, including completing

Management Plans.

10th October: Half of the potential forests (all 2000 ha of the

"alienated lands") are logged by Maving Bros is the first 6

months, after previously claiming they would take one and a half

years to log it. Pressure begins on the landowners to allow

logging on their actual customary land.

30th October: Russell Island anti-logging leader Martin Apa is

murdered on Yandina Wharf. Pro-logging locals are suspected of

carrying out the murder.

30th November: A month after the murder of Martin Apa, the

Solomons government has still yet to send a CID team to

investigate and find his killers.

1st December: Solomon Star reporter Duran Angiki is sacked after

writing an article documenting bribes paid to government

Ministers by a Malaysian Co.

3rd and 4th December: Timber Rights meeting to be held by Russell

Island Area Council at the request of Maving Bros, to begin

logging on customary land. Duran Angiki says he's taking legal

action against the Solomon Star newspaper, claiming unfair

dismissal. Seven Cabinet Ministers face logging-related

corruption charges in Honiara Central Magistrates Court. They are

due to appear again in January 1996. Another Minister and his

deputy will appear at the same court next week on similar

corruption charges.

ENDS

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FOR GREENPEACE SUPPORTERS AND OTHER NGO's ONLY

What You Can Do

* Don't buy tropical timber from Solomon Is unless it is from a

certified ecoforestry source

* Send a letter to the Prime Minister of Solomon Islands, Solomon

Mamaloni, urging him to halt the logging immediately, return the

Pavuvu lands to the customary owners and fully investigate Martin

Apa's murder.

Model Letter:

Prime Minister of Solomon Islands

Rt Hon Solomon Mamaloni

Prime Ministers Office

P.O. Box G1

HONIARA

Solomon Islands

Fax: 677 26088

Dear Prime Minister

Logging of your country's forests has been in the news a lot

lately. I was shocked to read that your government is supporting

a Malaysian company to log forests on Pavuvu Island when the

landowners strongly oppose it.

Of even more concern is the brutal murder of a local man who was

opposed to the logging, and that your government has failed to

investigate his death. From the outside it seems that your

country is slipping further towards violent conflict similar to

neighbouring Bougainville, and that the foreign logging companies

have more say in the running of the country than the people of

Solomon Islands.

I have been told that customary rights to land and resources is

the cornerstone of Solomon Islands and Melanesian culture. The

lesson the world over is that abuses of indigenous peoples'

rights haunt and burden future generations, as they have to

redress the injustice at some stage. Is this the legacy you wish

on your grandchildren? Also, with the excessively high rates of

logging occurring in your country, surely it would be better to

support local village people to use their forest resources in a

way that is sustainable, such as the small-scale timber

production plans by the Russell Islanders.

I urge you to halt logging on Pavuvu Island immediately before

further blood is shed within the Russell Island communities, and

return all lands alienated from the customary owners back to

those rightful owners. I urge you also to immediately start an

investigation of Martin Apa's death and ensure that justice is

carried out.

yours sincerely

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You are encouraged to utilize this information for personal

campaign use; including writing letters, organizing campaigns and

forwarding. All efforts are made to provide accurate, timely

pieces; though ultimate responsibility for verifying all

information rests with the reader. Check out our Gaia Forest

Archives at URL= http://gaia1.ies.wisc.edu/research/pngfores/

Networked by:

Ecological Enterprises/ 301K Eagle Heights/ Madison, WI 53705

USA/ Phone- (608) 233-2194/ Fax- (608) 233-2193/ Emails-

gbarry@forests.org or switpi@igc.apc.org