VICTORY
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PAPUA
NEW GUINEA RAINFOREST CAMPAIGN NEWS
PNG
Government Declares Collingwood Bay Off Limits to Large Scale Development
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Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
10/10/96
OVERVIEW
& SOURCE by EE
The
Papua New Guinea government has decided to exclude Maisin customary lands,
located
in Collingwood Bay, Oro Province, from plans for timber or large scale
agricultural
development. Greenpeace and others have
been active in the area in
developing
small scale alternative community development schemes. Despite
numerous
community attempts to have their land removed from large scale
industrial
development consideration, a number of schemes were proposed. This
action
should give the community the room they need to actualize their own
development
potential in a sustainable, community owned manner. This item was
posted
in econet's gp.press conference.
g.b.
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TEXT STARTS HERE:
/**
gp.press: 86.0 **/
**
Topic: Government Congratulated for "Doing **
**
Written 5:38 PM Sep 30, 1996 by nobody@xs2.greenpeace.org in
cdp:gp.press *
*
Subject:
Government Congratulated for "Doing the Right Thing"
Date:
Mon, 30 SEP 96 16:54:20 GMT
----------
Original-TO: World Press (Green2:Green2:Gnl:INET)
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GOVERNMENT
CONGRATULATED FOR "DOING THE RIGHT THING" IN COLLINGWOOD BAY
Press
Release
Port
Moresby, September 30, 1996 (GP) -- Non-Governmental Organizations have
joined
Collingwood Bay's Maisin community in applauding a PNG Government
decision
to exclude Maisin customary lands from
plans for timber or large scale
agricultural
development.
The
government's decision was conveyed in a letter from the PNG Forest
Authority
to the Individual and Community Rights Advocacy Forum (ICRAF), which
has
been acting on instruction from Maisin
customary landholders.
It
comes after months of work by the Maisin community to convince the
government
of their opposition to large scale logging on their customary lands.
Maisin
lands in Collingwood Bay, in PNG's Oro Province, have been under threat
of
logging and agricultural conversion to a Coconut Sap plantation by Ukedeco
Corporation
of the Philippines and by the PNG government's plans to create an
Forest
Management Agreement (FMA) area in Collingwood Bay that includes Maisin
lands.
"We
are very encouraged that the government has heeded the Maisin Community's
wishes
to preserve our forest and land" said Sylvester Moi, Chairman of the
Maisin
Integrated Conservation and Development
Association (MICAD). "We are
hopeful
that this is a first step in the
government actively supporting Maisin
community plans to conserve our land and develop small
scale, community based
enterprises
that will not destroy our forests and that we can manage ourselves"
Moi
said.
Over
the past three years, the Maisin community has been successfully working
with
Greenpeace Pacific and Conservation Melanesia to exhibit and market tapa
cloth
paintings internationally and to build community capacity to manage the
tapa
enterprise and other conservation and development activities.
"We
see this decision by the government as a milestone" said Lafcadio Cortesi
of
Greenpeace
Pacific "We hope it signals a turning point in the government's
willingness
to look beyond large scale logging and support sustainable,
community-based
development "
A note
of caution has, however, been sounded by Carroll Poyep of Conservation
Melanesia.
"It
is indeed good news, but this decision is not yet reflected in the draft
Provincial
and National Forest Plans. The government must be true to its words
and
take immediate action to exclude Maisin customary lands from the areas
proposed
for timber and agricultural development in these plans."
For
more information contact:
Lester
Seri, MICAD Spokesperson: 675-327-1788
Carroll
Poyep, Conservation Melanesia Director: 675-323-2758
Brian
Brunton, Greenpeace Pacific: 675-326-2469
Lafcadio
Cortesi, Greenpeace Pacific: 1-510-527-2858
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