***********************************************
PAPUA
NEW GUINEA RAINFOREST CAMPAIGN NEWS
Landowners
Angry Over Forestry Board Composition
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Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
http://forests.org/
2/12/97
OVERVIEW,
SOURCE & COMMENTARY by EE
The
Papua New Guinea's Forest Owners Association has threatened to
halt
all logging operations in the country unless they are granted
Forestry
Board representation. For years, it is
stated, they have
been
"bystanders on their own land."
Unless grievances are addressed,
it was
threatened to hit and destroy equipment at logging sights
across
the country. Following is a _Post
Courier_ article on the
volatile
situation sparked by the placement of the Rimbunan Hijau
director,
the Malaysian timber industries prime player, on the Board.
g.b.
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RELAYED
TEXT STARTS HERE:
/*
Written 10:32 PM Feb 12, 1997 by
drobie@pactok.peg.apc.org in
igc:reg.newguinea
*/
/*
---------- "443 FORESTRY: Landowners angry over" ---------- */
Title
-- 443 FORESTRY: Landowners angry over board
Date --
12 February 1997
Byline
-- Isaac Nicholas
Origin
-- Niuswire
Source
-- Post-Courier (PNG), 12/2/97
Copyright
-- Post-Courier
Status
-- Unabridged
--------------------
BOARD
APPOINTMENTS IRK FOREST OWNERS
By
Isaac Nicholas
Papua
New Guinea's Forest Owners Association has threatened to stop
all
logging operations in the country if landowners are not
represented
on the National Forest Board.
The
association warned that they would mobilise landowners around the
country
and "take the law into their own hands" if the government
failed
to act.
National
president Dominic Evera said yesterday that the landowners
had
been completely left out from the board.
"Landowners
have not been actively participating in the resource
development
for the past 15 years," he said.
"We
feel that we are just bystanders in our own land."
He said
the landowners were unhappy that they were left out on the
board.
Asked
what he meant about taking the law into their own hands, Mr
Evera
said if the government did not listen, they would start burning
down
company equipment and property on logging sites in the country.
Mr
Evera said he would be coordinating campaigns with representatives
in the
New Guinea Islands region, Mamose and the Highlands to hit at
logging
sites.
He said
the government for "donkey years" had been preaching about
sustainable
development, downstream processing and landowner
participation
but it had miserably failed the landowners when dealing
with
forest and land issues in the country.
+++niuswire
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