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PAPUA
NEW GUINEA RAINFOREST CAMPAIGN NEWS
NGOs
Call for Another Commission of Inquiry into Logging
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Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
7/9/97
OVERVIEW
& SOURCE by EE
Papua
New Guinea NGOs are organizing to resist the eleven new timber
projects
at various stages in the approval process encompassing nearly
1,000,000
hectares of priceless rainforest. Below
is their press
release
which calls for another Commission of Inquiry into Logging
based
on indications that forest policies are being flaunted and
alleged
significant environmental and social irregularities. Nearly a
million
hectares of rainforest are at stake here including some of the
areas
identified as highest priority biodiversity areas (i.e. Kikori-
Purari,
Whiteman Ranges and Hunstein Ranges).
The attachment includes
specific
concerns relating to nine proposed new industrial forestry
operations. Though several weeks old, this information
is still red
hot and
current.
g.b.
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TEXT STARTS HERE:
Commission
On Inquiry Into Logging Urgently Needed Says NGOs
Greenpeace
Pacific Limited
P.O.
Box 136, Gerehu
N.C.D.
136
Papua
New Guinea
Fax/Ph: +675 326 0560
Email: bbrunton@pactok.peg.apc.org
Port
Moresby 11th June 1997: Key
environmental non government
organisations
are calling for a Commission of Inquiry into logging in
Papua
New Guinea claiming that the new forest concessions planned by
the PNG
Forest Authority make such an inquiry urgent.
The
groups today released information that identified nine recent
concessions
awarded by the PNG Forest Authority that they claim are
seriously
flawed environmentally or legally. It
was announced last
week
that tenders are to be called for the concession in the Hunstein
Ranges,
an area considered of high biodiversity value.
"The
allocation of these forest concessions by the Forest Authority
are
gravely defective", said Brian Brunton, Greenpeace Pacific's
Forest
Specialist in Papua New Guinea.
"There are indications of
breaches
of law and questions about the role of the Forest Board and
the
Provincial Forest Management Committees that urgently need to be
addressed,"
he said.
WWF's
Representative in the Pacific, Peter Hunnan points out that
these
non-government organisations have immense practical experience
in
conservation and sustainable forest management from Papua New
Guinea
and around the word. "Each of the
groups actively supports
sustainable
development based on sound use of natural resources, where
the
benefits of developers are shared by local communities and
landowners. But at the same time, these NGOs are
committed to
stopping
reckless industrial logging and devastation of forests,
rivers
and marine systems, and the destruction of livelihoods", said
Mr.
Hunnan.
"The
Hunstein Ranges concession makes a mockery of the fact that Papua
New
Guinea became a member of the World Heritage Convention in
February
1997. You would think that efforts to
combine conservation
and
development would take precedence over logging concessions in an
area
like the Hunstein. The Board is putting
short term logging
interests
ahead of the longer term interests of future generations,"
said
Mr. Brunton.
The
groups are calling for a new Commission of Inquiry into logging to
establish
how these acquisitions were made, why the projects have been
allowed
to proceed despite their legal and or environmental defects,
and a
full and wide ranging investigation into who is responsible for
these
misallocations.
"Papua
New Guinea's forests are too important to present and future
generations,
and to the country's economy as a whole, to allow for the
expansion
of large-scale industrial logging to new areas without wider
consultation
and debate. It appears that the PNG
Forest Authority and
the
Department of Environment and Conservation are being pressured
into
allowing new logging concessions for short-term Government gain,
at the
expense of the landholders, the environment and the future"
said
Mr. Max Henderson, Director of the Pacific Heritage Foundation.
This
press statement is made on behalf of the following environmental
non-
government organizations operating in Papua New Guinea:
Conversation
Melanesia Inc. Peter Bosip 323 2758
ENB
Sosel Eksen Komiti Inc. Linda and
Simon Passingan 983 7048
Greenpeace
Pacific Limited Brian Brunton 326 0560
Individual
and Community
Rights Advocacy Forum Inc. Powes Parktop 326
2469
Melanesian
Environment
Foundation Inc. John Motise 325
2917
Pacific
Heritage Foundation
Inc. Max Henderson 982 1381
Village
Development Trust Inc. Sasa Zibe 472 4824
WWF
South Pacific Program Peter Hunnan 679 315 410
ATTACHMENT
1. Tapila Wipim, Trans-fly, Western Province
Bad
environmental planning: Transfly is one
of the major centres of
mammal
endemism in Papua New Guinea; endemic mammals found in the
Oriomo
sub species include the red-legged pademelon thylogale
stigmatica
(a kangaroo) and the bronze quoll (tiger cat) desyurus
spartacus. 10 new species of fresh water fish have been
found
recently;
the area is the only known habitat for the Fly River Grass-
bird;
and the Zitting Cisticola (a bird).
Landholders are known to
oppose
industrial logging in this area.
2. East Awin, south of Kiunga, Western Province
Bad
environmental & social planning.
Unplanned and greedy penetration
of a
vast lowland rainforest area threatening the potential
destruction
of one of the last and largest stands of untouched
tropical
low-land forest in the southern hemisphere.
Vandalism at its
worst.
3. Semabo, inland Bamu, Western Province
Non
compliance with need for sustainability; bad environmental
planning. Very small area, too small to be sustainable
within the
meaning
of the Forestry Act and the Logging Code, 60 to 70%
swamp/subject
to inundation.
4. Hekiko, Upper Kikori River, Gulf Province
Non
compliance with need for sustainability.
Bad environmental
planning.
Too small a project to be sustainable in karst country,
threatens
the biodiversity and integrity of the Kikori River.
5. April Salumei, "Hunstein Ranges"
Ambunti District, East Sepik
Province
Unlawful
acquisition by the Forest Authority.
Bad environmental
planning. FMA obtained by undue influence on the part
of Forest
Authority
officers; of so high biodiversity priority as to mean that
industrial
logging in this area amounts to environmental vandalism;
conservation
area conceded by the Forest Authority has no basis in law
and is
so inadequate to protect biodiversity and social values of the
people
as to be meaningless.
6. Asengseng, central West New Britian
Non
compliance with the need for sustainability.
Bad environmental
planning. A logging project in the environmentally
sensitive Whiteman
Ranges
of West New Britain. More than 70% of
this concession is
polygonal
karst and karst corridors and is on slopes greater than 30
degrees
and cannot be logged under the Logging Code.
Too small a
concession
to be a sustainable within the meaning of the Act. More
logging
on the logged-out New Britain island.
Blatantly
irresponsible.
7. Rottock Bay, West New Britain
Non
compliance with the need for sustainability.
Not enough timber to
be a
sustainable forest area. More logging
on the logged-out New
Britian
Island.
8. Mukus Tolu, East New Britain down on WNB
border
Improper
incorporation of land groups by a local "landowner company"
relied
on by the Forest Authority to bolster its property rights.
Non-compliance
with the need for sustainability, and more logging on
the
logged-out New Britain Island.
Incorporated land groups rushed
through
and done incorrectly causing confusion amongst landholders.
There
is a lot of garden land in this so-called forest area, which is
really
too small to be sustainable.
9. Buhem Mongi, Morobe Province
TRP
expired in November 1996. PNG Forest
Authority "renewed the TRP"
and
allowed the developer to operate in the area.
Non compliance with
the
Act; irregularity.
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