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PAPUA NEW GUINEA RAINFOREST CAMPAIGN NEWS

Apos, East Sepik Landowners Allege Improper Forest Procedures

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

http://forests.org/

3/15/97

OVERVIEW, SOURCE & COMMENTARY by EE

Following is the latest account of improper forest project

negotiations, this time in East Sepik province. Landowners allege

that their parliament member entered into negotiations to develop

their forests without their consent, incorporated a false landowner

group, and asked for documents to be signed without fully explaining

them. Corruption of this sort threatens community development and

forest sustainability throughout PNG, and much of the tropics.

g.b.

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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

Headline: "Drekikir landowners ask forest authority to intervene on

their project"

Source: _The Independent_

Date: March 7, 1997

Page 15

A GROUP of landowners from the Apos area of Drekikir in the East Sepik

province are calling on the forest authority to engage some officers

to their area and investigate allegations that their member Judah

Akesim is engaging a foreign company to develop their forest.

They are also alleging that the member has failed to consult them as

legitimate owners of the forest area prior to inviting the new company

into the area.

The letter signed by five representatives of the main landowner groups

in the area was delivered to forest authority on November 12 last

year.

In a letter to the general manager of the PNG Forest Authority, Kanawi

Pouru, they informed him that they were concerned in the manner which

the member for Ambunti-Drekikir is engaging foreign developers on

their customary land.

"It is our intention to state that the member and his counterparts

have in their endeavours to incorporate landowner groups, not

explained clearly to our clan members their intentions for

incorporating the landowners groups and they have failed to explain to

our clan members the reason for which they ask us to sign papers,"

they said.

The landowners said that there was strong opinion that Mr Akesim and

his colleagues have breached the Land Group Incorporation Act by

failing to explain in detail their endeavour and also by failing to

provide reasons for signing documents they bring with them.

They are also calling on the authority to send appropriate officers to

the project area to scrutinize and assess the activities being

conducted to establish that the member and his associates conformed

with the Land Group Incorporation Act.

"We strongly call on your office to halt any further activities

related to the proposed logging project on our land until the issue of

the requirements of the Land Group Incorporation Act is settled," he

said.

The landowners are also alleging that there appeared to be devious

motives related with the activities that have taken place and that

they were being mislead.

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