***********************************************
PAPUA
NEW GUINEA RAINFOREST CAMPAIGN NEWS
Logging
Update: Business as Usual, with
Ecoforestry and Strong NGO
Movement Providing Hope for Sustainability
***********************************************
Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
http://forests.org/
11/10/96
OVERVIEW
& SOURCE by EE
Following
is an _excellent_ update of the current forest conservation
situation
in Papua New Guinea written by Brian Brunton of Greenpeace,
their
locally based rainforest campaigner. It
details the continued
intensive
industrial forestry as well as the promising ecoforestry and
NGO
movement which potentially could provide a more sustainable use of
PNG's
rainforests. Significantly, each of the
major logging
operations
and local conservation struggles in PNG are reviewed and
the
status of each provided. What emerges
is a consistent pattern of
abuses
of law and environmental destruction.
Brunton summarizes the
situation
as "Loggers efforts have concentrated on subverting the
tendering
procedures of the Forest Act, and trying to sew up as much
as
possible in future concessions. Since
1992, no new logging project
has
come on stream in Papua New Guinea."
This last fact is a
testament
to the continued clout and effectiveness of the thriving
local
environmental NGO movement and their international compatriots.
Keep up
the good work!
g.b.
Note: This piece was written as a quick update and
posted in econet's
rainfor.general
conference. It has been spell checked
and other minor
corrections
made by EE.
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TEXT STARTS HERE:
**
Topic: PNG Rainforest update November 1996 **
**
Written 6:47 PM Nov 10, 1996 by bbrunton@pactok.peg.apc.org
in
cdp:rainfor.genera
**
Papua
New Guinea rainforests
update
November
1996
overview
First
the bad news. The loggers and the regulators : business as
usual.
There is a gap between the rhetoric and reality in Papua New
Guinea's
rainforests. The rhetoric lies in the words of the National
Forest
Authority (NFA) that the National Forest Plan, the logging
code,
and the dedication of regulators will bring order into the
rainforests,
everybody will make money and biodiversity will be saved.
The
reality is that the Forest Plan is nothing more than a logging
plan,
ably assisted by the Ozaid funded resource assessment (logging
inventory).
The plan does not take any account of biodiversity needs,
because
the foresters say that they were unable to get any response
from
the Department of Environment and Conservation. The logging
companies
are busy securing the legal rights over huge areas of
forests
in a new wave of logging. The NFA which has never had the will
or the
ability to regulate the forests in the past, and has never
brought
a successful prosecution against a logging company, and which
refuses
to implement effective bonds over new concessions, simply does
not
have the ability to take on the much wider regularity role that
will be
required of it. There are deep splits within the NFA, with
divisions
running between professional officers who want implement
reforms
and follow due process, and political elements who are locked
into
deals with logging companies and the culture of patronage.
ecoforestry
Now for
some good news. 1996 was the year that ecoforestry became a
force.
Over the past three years there were a number of separate
initiatives
to establish ecoforestry throughout Papua New Guinea.
These
were non government led, although aid donors have been playing
an
important role in providing funds. The NFA has never supported
small
and medium scale operations, although to be fair, it has never
actually
opposed them in the main. Certainly the NFA has supported the
view
that ecoforestry is uneconomical, and cannot bring the returns to
fund
the infrastructure that landholders require. The NFA also argues
that
ecoforestry does not have the scale to produce sustainable forest
management,
whatever that may mean. It argues that a project has to be
big
enough to allow logging over a 30 year cycle, which is what they
say is
the length of time needed for trees taken in selective logging
to
regenerate. I am not sure if this has been achieved with tropical
mixed
species forests, but the research in
this
country shows that selective logging is quite destructive.
Ecoforestry
projects have been done by the Village Development Trust
in
Morobe Province, Foundation for the Peoples of the South Pacific in
the
East Sepik Province, Pacific Heritage Foundation in East New
Britain.
New Ireland, East Sepik Province, European Union in West New
Britain,
GTZ in Gulf Province, Manus ( medium sized project), new
project
planned in Finschaven Morobe Province, WWF Kikori Valley Gulf
Province,
Milne Bay Ecoforestry Association in Milne Bay Province.
There
are numerous village based small sawmills, which go in and out
of
business. This is particularly so in the Highlands which are not
thought
of as timber producing areas. The Pacific Heritage Foundation
has a
project in Okapa Eastern Highlands. With an election looming,
Julius
Chan has just distributed wokabaut sawmills in his electorate.
South
Pacific Timbers, a subsidiary of Tim Neville's family company
Coecon
has a relationship with the European Union, in which SPT will
build a
sawmill/factory and the EU will provide villagers with
wokabaut
sawmills around Milne bay and the D'Entrecasteaux Islands.
The oil
companies (SE Gobe project) have plans to use trees cleared
along
the pipeline route to support an ecoforestry business. Mining
companies
appear ready to support ecoforestry in their areas of
operation.
Greenpeace Pacific is promoting the development of the
ecoforestry
timber trade in conjunction with the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
In
September 1996 the Netherlands-based church aid organization ICCO
sponsored
an Ecoforestry Consultation at Ulatawa, East New Britain.
That
brought together ngos ,small sawmill operators, landholders from
Papua
New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanutau (also reps from
Suriname,
Brazil, India, Philippines) with importers from the
Netherlands
and Australia. A major point that came out of this
consultation
was the strength of the domestic market for eco timber in
Papua
New Guinea. Most producers could sell all they could produce
locally.
The export market was viable but needed high technical
standards.
If properly supervised, the export market was viable. At
the end
of this consultation a Small Sawmillers Association was
formed.
In
October 1996 a meeting was held to start a process for the
implementation
of national standards for the Forest Stewardship
Council's
principles. This was well attended by ngos small sawmillers,
foresters,
with nominal attendance from the NFA and the loggers. The
FSC
process was adopted by the meeting, and was put in motion. It is
likely
to take one to two years to complete, as the requirements for
stakeholder
consultation are extensive.
The
basis of ecoforestry is the price of rough sawn timber which
varies
between K200 and K300 per cubic metre, with WWF getting K380/m3
fob ex
Kikori to California ( f course this is less costs of
production
which are about K70/m3. The loggers pay K5 to K10/m3 [ they
are
meant to be paying K23/m3 on current prices, but the deal between
the
World Bank, NFA, and the loggers only put K10/ m3 in the hand of
the
landholders at present, the other K13/m3 is deferred pending
project
reviews...don't hold your breathe ] Eco forestry put a lot
more
money in the hand of landholders. Properly supervised, it has an
acceptable
environmental impact. Unsupervised projects tend to break
down
because of technical and managerial problems.
Sandaun
Province
The
Sandaun Province [ West Sepik Province ], along with the Gulf and
Western
Provinces are the last frontiers of vast untouched lowland
forest
resources in Papua New Guinea. The Sandaun Provincial
Government
has plans for massive agro-forestry projects which will
involve
clear felling the rainforest.
aitape
oil palm scheme
This is
a so-called oil palm scheme, joint venture between a Malaysian
company
Damansera and local landowner companies. The planned venture
would
cover some 120,000 hectares, but at present the only concession
that
has been granted is a Timber Authority for 5000 hectares, which
has
expired. A large number of logs have been felled and shipped out,
but the
company has no demonstrated ability to proceed with a large
oil
palm project. The current activity is centered at Pia. The trees
have
been cut, but there are major problems with planting oil palm,
and
with land title.
A
minority of land holders oppose the scheme, and a majority are
dissatisfied
with the way it has gone so far, but would like to see it
go
ahead. The project is on customary land. There has been an attempt
by the
Government to lease the land from the landholders, and then
lease
it back to the landowners joint venture company for the purposes
of
planting the oil palm [ this is called lease-lease-back, under
section
15 of the Land act ].
There
are disputes over whether or not the lease/leaseback has been
authorized
by the proper landholders. It has so far been impossible to
check
the title because all the files are missing in the Lands
Registry
and the Lands Department.
Damansera
are using customary land to access a road and a wharf. The
landholders
claim that they were never consulted and that the company
is
trespassing. A trespass action is being instituted in the Aitape
District
Court.
ICRAF
and Greenpeace Pacific organized funding to strengthen the
forest
education and extension work of the Catholic Commission of
Justice
Peace and Development in Aitape.
Funds
were also organized for a marine base-line data collection for
Sissano
Lagoon and Ali Island by the Christensen Research Institute.
The
Report showed that Sissano Lagoon is naturally a lagoon of high
sediment
load and low salinity, supporting a wide variety of fish and
invertebrates.
It is very important to the nearby people as a source
of
protein. By all accounts, the lagoon is steadily becoming shallower
which
may lead to serious depletion of lagoon fish stocks and health
problems
related not only to nutrition but also to sanitation. In
relation
to the planned upstream logging, clear-felling will almost
definitely
cause a rapid increase in sedimentation within the lagoon,
greatly
accelerating and exacerbating these problems.
Ali
Island which is off-shore from the Pia activities has a patch reef
of
phenomenal marine diversity and abundance by any world standard.
There
is a danger that mainland construction activities can
periodically
release quantities of sediment which could result in loss
of fish
catch. Reefs and fisheries in this area are affected by
dynamite-fishing, and increases in shipping traffic from log
carriers.
Copies
of this report are available from ICRAF.
East
Sepik Province
april
salumei, hunstein ranges
The
Hunstein Ranges contains the largest stand of kauri in Papua New
Guinea,
and is of high biodiversity priority. In 1996, the East Sepik
Provincial
Government, in its Provincial Forest Plan has designated
the
Hunstein Ranges for conservation. Unfortunately there is no map
which
officially delineates the scope of the area to be conserved. WWF
South
Pacific and the East Sepik Council of Women ( Ambunti District )
have
been working with the communities of the Sepik Hills and have
reached
agreements with them for the Hunstein Ranges and adjoining
areas
to be a conservation area known as the Sepik Hills Conservation
Area.
Six areas are included the Hunstein Ranges, Me'ha,
Yerakai/Garamambu,
Wakuk, Chambri, Malu/Arpun. WWF is very close to
obtaining
large funding from the Netherlands Government to implement a
program
that will satisfy conservation and development needs in these
areas.
Loggers
are still threatening along the April and the Salumei Rivers.
The NFA
has proceeded on the basis that the original April Salumei TRP
is null
and void, although it has simply refused to acknowledge the
legality
of that proposition in writing. To that extent we can see the
total
irresponsibility of the NFA towards biodiversity priority.
Instead
the NFA has attempted to register incorporated land groups as
the
first move to re establishing its concession. There are two things
wrong
with this process. First it appears to have ignored the
Provincial
Forest Plan which designates the Hunstein Ranges for
conservation,
and only 60,000 hectares of lowland for productive
forests.
Secondly the Land Groups have been incorporated incorrectly,
and
without proper authorization.
Two
lots of loggers appear to be active in the area. One led by
Phillip
Ugu along the April River with a company known as the Future
Development
Corporation, Ugu is from the Waskuk Hills. The other group
which
is not readily identifiable is said to operate along the Salumei
River,
it may well be led by Gasmata Holdings, a company based in West
New
Britain [ Andrew Posai, disgraced former forest minister was a
director
of this company].
NGOs
which are stakeholders in the Hunstein area include the
Greenlight
Trust which has given consistent support over the past five
years,
WWF South Pacific, ESCOW, East Sepik Local Environment
Foundation,
ICRAF, Greenpeace Pacific and the Pacific Heritage
Foundation.
World Vision, which has an office in Wewak, operates along
the April
River, but does not network with other NGOs. Good relations
exist
between ngos and the New Tribes Mission at Begapuki, and the
Catholic
Mission in Ambunti. The Pacific Heritage Foundation has
placed
wokabaut sawmills along the April River and at Yerakai and
Wagu.
The
bottom line is that there has been no logging in the Hunstein
Ranges
after five years of struggle.
East
New Britain
open
bay
This is
a large concession that has been operated by Kowa Lumber, of
Tokyo,
Japan, since the 1960s. There are five Timber Rights Purchase
agreements
involved in the project. The project has never been able to
achieve
anything but logging. Its sawmill burnt down under mysterious
circumstances
about 15 years ago. Most of the landholders want to
close
the project down because of the company's failure to put in
infrastructure,
and because of environmental damage. The timber permit
under
which the company operates has expired, and the opposition of
the
landholders has forced the company to restrict its activities
to
harvesting from plantations which are on government land. The
landholders
want the timber permit to be re issued to their own
companies
so they can control the project as five separate entities
themselves.
The NFA wants Kowa to stay, and has been manipulating the
negotiations
to keep the landholders who want Kowa out, out of the
negotiations.
Because
the timber permit under the old Act has expired, this
concession
should be advertised for tendering under the Forestry act
1991.
But the NFA and Kowa don't want to do this. No one likes
competition.
The NFA wants to give Open Bay on a platter to Kowa
Lumber.
This
matter is very close to going to court.
warongoi
A
logging company called Kerawara as the contractor for a local
company
called Richard Gault Industries ( controlled by the wife of
the
former premier of east New Britain ), entered cocoa blocks without
the
consent of the owners and logged, ostensibly under the authority
of a
timber authority issued by the NFA. There is a legal issue as to
whether
the contractor could log without the express authorization of
the
block owners. This case is close to going to
court
Southern
Highlands Province
mount
bosavi
Mount
Bosavi is an extinct volcanic cone rising out of the Papuan
Plain
in the Southern Highlands. It is an isolated and undeveloped
area of
high biodiversity priority. Mount Bosavi is in the area that
is
looked after by WWF US under contract to Chevron. The area has been
under
pressure from the Yeungs Corporation of Hong Kong. That company
has
connections with Julius Chan's family and companies own by that
family.
So far there has been a struggle over the Bosavi timber
resources
in which those located in the Gulf Province have been
advertised
for development. However after pressure, the Southern
Highlands
landholders are holding firm. They have refused to sign
Forest
Management Agreements (FMAs) with the
NFA unless they get
Bosavi
designated a conservation area [ the NFA will agree to this],
unless
a road is constructed linking them with the Southern Highlands,
and
unless the project is primarily a downstream processing project
with no
more than 15% export logging. These conditions the NFA have
turned
down. However latest reports indicate
that Yeungs have been
offering
clan groups K10,000 each if they sign up for the FMA. So far
there
have been no takers. This is because WWF organized key
landholder
to visit the Wawoi Guavi TRP in the Western Province ( see
below
); the landholders were not impressed with the environmental and
social
impacts of export logging.
WWF US
and Friends of Bosavi, Conservation Melanesian, ICRAF and
Greenpeace
Pacific have been working on the ground with the
landholders.
One promising matter is that the World Bank is
considering
a major investment with the Bosavi people as part of a
scheme
to ensure that the people are compensated for agreeing to
conserve
their forests. This initiative needs to come on quickly.
The
bottom line is that there has been no logging on or near Mount
Bosavi
after two years of struggle. The landholders look like they
will
remain firm.
Western
Province
The
Western Province is a frontier for the loggers, who are
maneuvering
to grab concessions. There are two indigenous ngos in the
Province.
IDEAS, a branch of the Catholic Church, based in Kiunga, but
is not
thought to deal with forest issues at this point in time.
ECOSEEDS
is a new ngo based in Daru, and works in social and
environmental
issues. ICRAF has worked in the past with IDEAS, but
is
currently working with ECOSEEDS. WWF South Pacific is involved with
conservation
work along the border near Benschbak. There are huge
areas
of forest in the province. There is an urgent need for ngo co
operation
in the Western Province.
wawoi
guavi
There
are three Wawoi Guavi TRPs ( Blocks 1, 2 and 3 ), all
administered
under one timber permit, which is effectively controlled
by
Nuigini Lumber a Rimbunan Hijau subsidiary. Wawoi Guavi Block 3
lies to
the south of Mount Bosavi, and poses a threat to the unique
biodiversity
of the Mountain. It is the largest timber concession in
Papua
New Guinea. It is in an isolated area very difficult for ngos
and the
NFA to access. There have been a number of critical reports,
both
government and non government, alleging environmental damage and
social
disruption. Landholders from the northern extreme Block 3, have
called
for the permit to be canceled. In 1995, the then NFA Managing
Director
Jean Kekedo recommended that a show cause notice be issued,
but she
was stopped by her technical officers. The struggle to stop RH
in
Wawoi Guavi is gearing up, but it will be a long fight. This is an
isolated
area. The people are very poor. Poor communications
exacerbate
health problems. There is a lot of prostitution associated
with
logging activity. The position of women is particularly critical.
Labour
conditions are poor. Women are a large portion of the workforce
at the
project sawmill, which has a quota of 20,000/m3 per annum.
This is
an area where ngos need to focus their alternatives.
makapa
Makapa
is the south west of Wawoi Guavi and so Nuigini Lumber (RH)
would
dearly like to get its hands on these forests. Makapa has large
areas
of wet land. It is a concession that was granted to a Sabah
based
company called Innovision (PNG) Pty Ltd in a timber permit
issued
by the late Jack Genia, Minister for Forests, on the 24th of
June
1992, a day when the Minister issued sixteen permits in a hurry
to help
his logging mates and avoid the provisions of the new Forestry
Act
1991 which came into effect the following day.
Innovision
(PNG) Pty Ltd is a subsidiary of Innoprise Corporation
Sedirian
Berhed, a commercial arm of the Sabah Foundation/ Sabah
Government.
Innovision has sat on the permit for four years, done
nothing,
while trying to maneuver for favorable conditions under which
to
operate. There have been numerous legal problems with the permit.
The
best view was that the permit lapsed because of the company's
inactivity,
but this view did not prevail within the
Justice
Department and the NFA, and in July 1995 the Forest Board
passed
the buck to the National Executive Council for approval.
However
the New Straits Times on the 25th of August 1994 reported that
Innovision
(PNG) sold its interest in the Makapa TRP to a company
called
CASH.
CASH (
Construction and Supplies Houses Berhad ) was acquired by
Barito
Pacific in 1994. The Barito Pacific Group is led by Sino-
Indonesian
businessman Prajogo Pangestu. A major shareholder in the
group
is Bamang Trihatmojo, a son of President Suharto of Indonesia (
source
George Aditjondro " Suharto Clan's Global Forestry Interests"
The
Nation 9 September 1996, Bangkok )
There
is still considerable competition over who will log Makapa. The
landholders
are split between those aligned with Innovision, Nuigini
Lumber
(RH), and a landholder company called Pisa, that had
arrangements
with the Collins and Leahy group, to do environmentally
friendly
downstream processing. There is some chance that there will
be a
court case on this project. There is
also a good chance that
Nuigini
Lumber will get its hands on the concession because it owns
the
rights in Wawoi Guavi, and is trying to expand westwards (see
below )
There
is a need for ngos to focus alternative development in this
area.
The
bottom line is that there has been no logging after four years of
struggle
in Makapa.
wawoi
guavi-makapa extension
Nuigini
Lumber have been very active in the Western Province trying to
sign up
landholders over a huge area west of Wawoi Guavi to Nomad and
the
Strickland River, and South down to Makapa. They will probably try
to
convince the NFA that this area should be given to them as an
extension
of their existing Wawoi Guavi permit. That would make a
mockery
of the tendering procedures of the act. However there is a
precedent
for it , with the granting of the Turama permit in the Gulf
Province
as an extension of an existing permit already in the hands of
the
Prime Group. These extensions would be another example of how
loggers
seek to get around the provisions of the Forestry Act and
avoid
tendering procedures.
Gulf
Province
Vailala
There
are three Vailala concessions. Blocks 1, 2, and 3. Block 1 was
allocated
some time ago to a Chinese company (People's Republic )
called
Shiesi. The concession is on the coast , west of Kerema. It was
plagued
with landholder disputes and bad management. Eventually a show
cause
notice was issued. But Shiesi, used its government 's influence
in
Peking to put pressure on the Government of Papua New Guinea, and
although
the permit has not been canceled, no work has gone on in
Vailala
Block 1 for nearly two years. Shiesi is meant to be
restructuring
and finding new capital.
Vailala
Blocks 2 and 3 are very controversial. No Timber Rights
Purchase
was ever done to get the timber rights off the landholders,
but a
timber permit was issued to a company called Frontier Holdings
Pty
Ltd. The shares in Frontier Holdings are owned 9999 by a company
called
Superacme [ with a post office address in Port Moresby ] and
one
share by Hii Yii Ann. Superacme is not registered in Papua New
Guinea.
Frontier Holdings on its face is an improperly registered
company.
So a timber permit was granted to a company which was
unlawfully
registered, in respect of timber rights which were not the
property
of the NFA.
All
this was known to NFA management. In 1995 NFA staff sought to
regularize
this situation by having land groups incorporated, and FMAs
signed
over Vailala Blocks 2 and 3. They sought to patch up in
retrospect
the defect that that they had granted a timber permit in
respect
of rights over which they held no property in the first place.
Some
NFA staff hoped that they may be able to cancel the Frontiers
Holding
permit because of irregularities, and call for tenders. But
they
were undermined by the lawyers. In early 1996 Frontier Holdings
reached
an agreement with the Minister of Forests and the Solicitor
General
that there should be a consent order in the National Court, to
a
declaration that the original permit was lawful. A declaration was
so
obtained. But it was obtained without serving the National Forest
Authority.
The Forest Board, which was under the political control of
the
Minister, refused to appeal, or otherwise intervene in the
decision
of the National Court. This is another example of how a
timber
permit is issued without following the tendering procedures
under
the Forestry Act. These dealings have caused concern amongst
professional
staff in the NFA.
The
German aid organization GTZ has established a small wokabaut
sawmill
presence in Ihu. Recent information suggests that the idea of
ecoforestry
production is growing in Vailala, and that the people are
resisting
the logging companies.
The
bottom line is that no logs have been exported from Vailala Block
1 for
two years, and no logs have been exported from blocks 2 and 3
period.
turama
In 1995
the NFA issued a timber permit to the Prime Group for vast
areas
of forest in the Kikori Valley and east of Kikori. The bottom
line is
that no logs have been exported from this new concession. WWF
US is
establishing an ecoforestry capability in the area, and has
already
sent two containers of ecotimber to California.
Milne
Bay Province
sagarai
gedaisu
This
concession was originally held by a New Zealand company, but the
project
went into receivership. The joint venture landowning/operating
company
was ladened with debt. An arrangement was made whereby the
debt
would be worked off by giving the logging contract to Saban Pty
Ltd,
the contractor for Gara Modewa, an adjoining concession. Saban is
a
subsidiary of Rimbunan Hijau. Instead of the timber permit being
revoked,
and tenders being called, the timber permit was passed to
Saban.
The ngo
Milne Bay Ecoforestry association is beginning to be active in
the
area. In an adjoining concession, the Coecon subsidiary ( Tim
Neville's
family company ) South Pacific Timbers,
has gone into an
arrangement
with the European Union. The EU will
supply wokabaut
sawmills,
and SPT will do the milling and exporting.
The
Bottom Line in 1996
Loggers
efforts have concentrated on subverting the tendering
procedures
of the Forest Act, and trying to sew up as much as possible
in
future concessions.
Since
1992, no new logging project has come on stream in Papua New
Guinea.
All log
exports come from permits which were granted in 1992 or before
that
date.
The
struggle continues.
No
Pasaran !
bbrunton@pactok.peg.apc.org
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