***********************************************
WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
Greenpeace
PNG Forest Update for April 1997: Sandline and the Rainforests
***********************************************
Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
http://forests.org/
4/25/97
OVERVIEW,
SOURCE & COMMENTARY by EE
This is
a good one folks! Following is another
excellent, very
current,
report on the rainforest situation in Papua New Guinea put
out by
Brian Brunton of Greenpeace based in Papua New Guinea. Lots of
bombshell
information including illustration of how Sandline mercenary
corruption
is systematic of a deeper malaise, identifying that the
logging
code has not been implemented, noting that PNG has signed the
World
Heritage Convention, an analysis of 1996 export data and
pricing,
and the effects of impending elections on forest giveaways.
The
update then goes on to highlight recent developments in logging
and
rainforest conservation on a province by province basis.
g.b.
*******************************
RELAYED
TEXT STARTS HERE:
From:
bbrunton@pactok.peg.apc.org (bbrunton)
Date:
25 Apr 97 21:39:21 +1000
Subject:
PAPUA NEW GUINEA FOREST UPDATE APRIL 1997, GREENPEACE
To:
gbarry@forests.org
FOREST
UPDATE
PAPUA
NEW GUINEA 1997
BRIAN
BRUNTON
GREENPEACE
PACIFIC
25th
April 1997
INTRODUCTION
Sandline
and the rainforests
The
"mutiny" by elements of the PNG Defence Force in March 1997 is
likely
to an have an important impact on Papua New Guinea's
rainforests.
The shockwaves are still reverberating and growing in
intensity.
Although the mutiny was aimed at the use of mercenaries in
the
Bougainville conflict, the deal that led to the events was part of
the web
of patronage, cronyism and manipulation at large in the
economy
and includes forest policy . That web received a blow from an
unexpected
source. Unfortunately, the immediate impact of the events
has not
yet slowed down the loggers and their mates.
The
government, led by PPP and PANGU, is still pushing ahead with its
expanded
logging program as if there was no tomorrow. Even after the
mutiny
Andrew Baing is still pressuring the system. New logging
projects
are being implemented in accordance with the National Forest
Plan
[in reality the National Logging Plan] ( The NFP with colour maps
can be
purchased from the PNG Forest/Logging Authority ( PNGNFA) for
K100 ).
It was put together by upgrading the forest resources mapping
system
(PNGRIS) after AUSAID injected money into the rapid resource
assessment
program. At the time we said that this was a "loggers map",
and now
know we were right [ much of Australian Aid into forestry has
in fact
gone into making logging more efficient, although to be fair
they
have also funded the DEC strengthening project, but that is slow
in
getting any traction, and as you will see PNGRIS is able to
identify
areas that should not be logged].
The
Sandline deal is part of a series of suspect deals that haunt the
present
and passed governments : Disciplined Forces Housing Project (
a
Wingti deal ); the Porporena Freeway (Nameliu and Chan ); Port
Moresby
Water Supply ( Chan ), Cairns Office (Chan & Haiveta ),
Waigani
Office Development ( Chan/PPP ), the Malanggan House, Brisbane
deal
involving Yii Ann Hii of Monarch Investments a logging company
linked
with Rimbunan Hijau ( Chan). For all the details see The
Independent 11 April 1997.
There
is constant speculation in the country about corruption and it
is in
this speculation that the politics of the Sandline affair has to
be
placed
In the
Sandline contract the GOPNG purchased military hardware, on the
ground
intervention, technical training and support from Sandline
International,
a UK company, for US$36 million. US$18 million has been
paid
already. The deal was put together in early 1996, (which is an
indication
that the government did not intend to settle Bougainville
peacefully)
and signed on the 31st January 1997. The deal slowly
leaked
out in Papua New Guinea via the australian media in Febuary
1997,
and caused a revolt in the Defence Force and rioting in Port
Moresby.
Effectively Chan was forced to hand over the reins of
government
to John Giheno. Giheno is a hawk on Bougainville, but seems
to be
liking being Prime Minister.
Not for
the first time we are beginning to see the links between
politicians
and logging companies.
On the
22 July 1995 the Independent on its front page published a
story by
Dominic Kakas which linked PPP Forest Minister Andrew Posai
with
Nuigini Lumber, a subsidiary of Rimbunan Hijau. The link was that
Posai
was staying in a K335,000 house owned by a company called Trinco
Number
10 which had the same telephone number as Nuigini Lumber, and
whose
electricity bill was paid by Nuigini Lumber. Trinco had an
interlocking
directorship with Travel Planners, which also involves
Henry
Peni a leader of landowners aligned with the logging companies.
Peni
and Peter Harold, Posai's brother, were at the forefront of
pressure
to relax government control over logging, along with some of
the
major logging companies. The deal to buy the house was in part
done by
Peter Harold. Posai had been a minister in the Wingti
Government
during 1992 and 1993. When Wingti lost office in 1994 Posai
was
made Minister for Forests in September 1994. We now know that he
secretly
rolled back the policy to end export logging by the year
2000.
This fact can only be discerned by combining an objective
examination
of what happened thereafter ( export logging permit
granted
to extend well after the year 2000), and a close reading of
page 9
of the Annual Report 1994 of the PNGFA.
Logging
Code Implemented : April Fool!
Although
it was meant to have been implemented as of the 1st of April
1997,
the loggers exerted pressure on the politicians and the forest
bureaucrats
and the implementation of the Logging Code has been
deferred.
So, those of you who thought that the logging code was going
to come
in and ensure "clean" logging. Think again. The rumour is that
it has
been stood over to the end of the elections.
But an
informed guess would be if PPP and Pangu
( the pro -logging
parties
) get back into office, we will see a push to do away with the
rule
that says no logging on slopes over 30 degrees.
And now
some good news : PNG and the World Heritage Convention
PNG
became the 148th state party to the World Heritage Convention
effective
as of the 18 Febuary 1997. Thank you to Patrick Anderson of
Greenpeace
International who checked with the World Heritage
Information
Centre in Paris as no one knew in PNG that it had
happened.
It is a very important step in the protection of the
rainforests
in PNG. The WHC creates international obligations
but
does not in itself create legal obligations in PNG domestic law.
Conservation
in PNG is a matter of statute law, and the bottomline is
that
which can be implemented by the minister can be undone by the
minister.
World Heritage just makes it more difficult politically for
the
politicians to renege on a WHC commitment,
1996
exports & prices
According
to the Timber Digest December 1997 ( available from the
PNGFA )
PNG exported 2.6 million m3 of logs in 1996 ( cf 2.4 million
m3 in
1995, but the 1994 figure had peaked at
3.1 million m3 ) for a
value
of US$352 million in 1996 ( cf US$324 million in 1995). The
average
log price in 1996 was US$134 ( cf US$135 in 1995 ).
When we
consider that the government promised landholders K23 m3 as a
royalty
in 1996, but delivered only K10m3 as from 1st July 1996 we can
appreciate
how badly landholders are being ripped off under this
system.
The NFA Timber Digest no longer gives us details of royalty
payments,
species exported, or quantities exported on a project by
project
basis, so poor is their publication of statistics.
So lets
do our own back of the envelope calculations.
2.4
million m3 [the total log exports in 1996] at K23per m3 [ what was
promised
in the 1996 budget speach ] = K55.2 million.
But we
know landholders were only paid K10 m3 as from 1 July 1996 [ in
fact
many were not paid the increase, and just how much they lost is
hidden
from us because of the incompetence of the PNGFA statistics],
so we
calculate say 1.2 million m3 ( pro-rata) at K10 per m3 = K12
million
as what landholders may have got in the second half of the
year.
If
before the 1st of July 1997 landholders on average received K5.5 m3
then
the landholders would have received 2.4 million x K5.5m3 = K13.2
million
a year in any case under the old grossly under paid system;
for the
half year that comes in at an extra K6.6 million. [The latest
PNGFA
Annual Report 1994 they are running 2 years behind even though
the Act
requires them to present a Report every year to Parliament]
shows
net royalties for 1993 at K11.3, and for 1994 K12.5 million, so
K13.2
million looks about right ]
Under
the old royalty system in operation for the first half of the
year
the loggers would have had to cough up in any case about K6.6
million.
In the second half of the year they would have had to pay
K12million
( pro rata at K10 m3 ) less the K6.6million they would pay
in any
case under the old system, making an additional sum for the
second
half of the year of = K5.4 million.
Here we
have to remember that the loggers are paid in US dollars, but
they
only have to pay the landholders in rapidly devaluing kina, so
there
was a further saving thanks to the policy of floating the kina (
World
Bank IMF, Chan, Haiveta to blame for this one ) ( could some one
do the
calculation on this for us ?.)
And by
how much could the landholders be down ?
K55.2
million ( what they were promised ) less what they got under the
old
system, K13.2 million = K42 million less the extra K5.4 million
they
were actually paid as a result of the increases after July 1996 =
K36.6
million
So what
is the bottom line for the loggers : they had to cough up
another
K5.4 million, but the landholders are down K36.6 million. That
K36.6
million represents the value of the
project development levy
which
was gazetted last year, but it has never been paid. It is an
amount
due and owing in one form or another. But money not paid is
money
saved. It is a big gift to the loggers. [ the World Bank is
insisting
on a project by project review to implement the project
development
levy, but I have not heard of any implementation yet; the
first
quarter of the year has gone; no royalty statistics are
available,
another K9 or K10 million kina may have been added to what
is owed
to the landholders
Would
K36.6 million have bankrupted the industry ?
In 1996
total log exports were valued at US$ 352, this was a US$28
million
increase over 1995 exports. US$ 28 million in kina terms at
.72
cents to the kina = K38 million. What do you reckon ?
The big
gift to the loggers comes care of the policies of the World
Bank,
Chan, Haiveta, Baing PPP and Pangu.
new
companies legislation
In the
last sitting of Parliament a new Companies Act was passed. I
have
not seen it, but the newspaper reports say that it is modeled on
New
Zealand legislation and there has been a tightening up on the
fiduciary
responsibilities of directors. If this flows onto Landowning
companies
[LOCs], that will have a major impact on the loggers and
their
mates. The new Act has not yet been brought into effect.
Pressure
on the Forestry Board to deliver before the elections
A sickening
situation has arisen with the Forestry Board. In January/
Febuary
this year the Forest Board was pressured by Andrew Baing the
Minister
for Forests to allocate the following timber concession : in
ENB,
Mukus Tolo : Gasmata Holdings; in WNB, Rottock Bay : Nuigini
International
Corporation (of Malaysia); Asengseng : WTK ( more later
as this
is in the middle of a high biodiversity priority area in the
Whiteman
Ranges of West New Britain); Amanab Blocks 3&4 to be
readvertised;
Josephestal in Madang Province : ASB Timbers PNG
of
Malaysia, Hekiko in the Gulf Province : with the Yeungs group of
Hong
Kong, and Semabo in the Western Province to Dienbese which is
said to
be a joint venture company with PNG, Malaysian and Australian
interests.
The
Board has followed the law on these, but there are major problems
with
giving out more logging concessions on the logged-out New Britain
Island.
The decisions are beyond sense and reason : Hekiko is in Karst
country,
Semabo is very small and 60% either swamp or subject to
indundation.
MSG and
a common market in logs
At the
end of last year there were rumours that PNG had agreed to lift
the log
export tax on logs export to mills within the area covered by
the
Melanesian Spearhead Group. The source of this rumour was a senior
officer
within the Foreign Affairs Department. apparently the idea was
that
Rimbunan Hijau wanted to build a plywood factory in Vanuatu and
wanted
to send PNG logs to it. I got broad comfirmation that there had
been a
proposal to this effect from another source. Diplomatic sources
told me
that the common market proposals were not going to go as far
as log
exports. Any major export of logs under this scheme would have
an
effect on PNGs revenue.
ORO
PROVINCE
Collingwood
Bay
The
landholders in Collingwood bay are holding firm and there has been
no
indication of moves to introduce logging. A number of exhibitions
of tapa
clothe are being run this year in the USA. There has been one
visit
to the Maisin by Japanese conservationists to buy tapa in March
1997. We are now in a position to examine the
Maisin lands for a
possible
claim to world heritage status.
MOROBE
PROVINCE
Morobe
South Coast FMA
This
project started in 1996. The permits are held by PNGFP South
Coasts
Pty Ltd, which is a subsidiary of the Prime Group.
The
fact that the Prime Group now holds the timber permits here, with
Turama
in the Gulf Province, and with Watut West (see below) is a
reflection
of a dramatic shift in policy away from the national
ownership
of timber permits which was the policy before 1995. The
policy
reversal was achieved by Keith Dolman ( former General Manager,
now in
Ghana ) and Jean Kekedo ( former Managing Director ) of the
Forestry
Authority. The idea behind the policy shift away from
national
control, was to give the foreign investors security of
tenure.
Briefly, it was reasoned that the experience with Local Forest
Areas
under the old Forestry Act, in which the landowning companies
controlled
the resource, and under the Timber Rights Purchases, had
been
poor (there was truth in that, in fact
under both arrangements
the
foreign loggers controlled everything through one-sided Logging
and
Marketing Agreements). Nevertheless, we have now come the full
circle;
we are back to pre 1972.
There
are concerns that the Prime Group is controlled by elements of
the
Tiong family ( see comments on Turama ). It is only recently that
we have
learnt that the South Coast project successfully geared up in
1996.
Previously we have thought no new project had been brought on
line
since 1992. That is no longer the case. It now looks like round
log
exports began in December 1996. In December 1996 ( also the total
annual
figures ) this project exported 1896 m3 with an average price
of
US$182. That is a price well above the average annual price for the
whole
country in 1996 (which was US$ 134, or k186m3 nb the kina price
is
inflated by the deflated state of the local currency), but probably
reflects
them extracting a high value species.
Watut
West
This is
an extension of the Prime groups interests based around the
plywood
mill at Bululo. In some respects the way in which this project
is
managed is unique. But of course there is a down side. The
uniqueness
comes from the appointment of the landowner company Watut
Wes
Risos Pty Ltd ( WWR) as the logging contractor to PNG Forest
Products
( Prime Group ), which is the permit holder. The contract,
signed
on the 20th January 1997, is to supply
34,000 m3 per annum
until
2007 ( 10 years ) The contract price per cubic metre is not
known.
But it is claimed to bring the company in K2 million a year. If
these
two figures mean anything then ( K2,000.000 divided by 34,000m3
=
K58.82 ) then the contract price would appear to be K 58.82. This is
not a
very high price given the impact of inflation over the years and
the
devaluation of the kina [ in the 1994 Annual Report the NFA gives
logging
costs as K50 m3 ]. But, nevertheless it is a start. The rise
of
wholely-owned and operated PNG logging contractors is progressive
in the
sense that PNG companies are accessible and potentially more
able to
be controlled.
The
other thing that WWR has achieved is to get control of all
development
levies. These include the reafforestation levy, the
agricultural
levy, and the project development levy.These could be
substantial.
There are two problems here. First, WWR will have to
ensure
that the levies are used for the purposes they are intended,
and not
as a general slush fund. This will mean that WWR will need to
have a
high degree of internal self discipline, not normally found in
other
landowning companies (LOC) ( see remarks on new companies
legislation
above ). Secondly it is arguable that the project
development
levy (PDL) does not belong to WWR, but to the individual
landholders
who actually own the trees that are logged. This is so
because
the PDL is a reflection of the price paid to the landholders
for the
alienation of their timber rights under the Forest Management
Agreement
(FMA) . Unless the PDL is fairly distributed fairly there
could
be distatisfaction. Again LOCs are not know for their fairness
in
distributions. Finally PNGFP pays a K10 m3 royalty to landholders.
This of
course in terms of the real value of the trees is too small an
amount.
For Kauri and Klinki Pine they pay K15 m3. That is a joke. The
low
prices paid to landholders represents a subsidy that landholders
are
forced to provide to loggers and downstream producers. Landholders
should
be able to sell their trees coup by coup at arm's length
prices.
What we have here is a state sanctioned monoply price that
does
not represent the market.
SANDAUN
PROVINCE
Aitape
Oil Palm Scheme
Damansara
Forest products (PNG) Pty Ltd exported 23,000m3 in logs in
1996
for a total value of US$2.7 million ( K3,75 million ). The
average
price of US$120, ( national average US$134 ) which is low
probably
reflects that they are clear- felling for oil palm and having
to
export a lot of low value species, when other loggers do"selective
logging
and take out the high value species. There is still a lot of
landowner
problems associated with the PIA Timber Authority, which
came up
for renewal in Febuary 1997. I have not heard whether it has
been
renewed.
The
other news is that we have received word that serious moves are
being
made to implement the Lou Oil Palm scheme which is said to be in
the catchment
area of Sissano Lagoon. Sissano Lagoon needs to be
conserved
and is a possible candidate for the WHC.
Amanab,
Nuku, Lumi
In the
January 1997 Forest Up date we had the proposals put forward by
Sankung
Trading for a large scale "agro-forestry " project in the East
Sepik
and Sandaun provinces, covering the Lumi, Nuku and adjacent but
undefined
areas of the ESP. That proposal seems to have slipped from
the
limelight as it was exposed and ridiculed in the media.
Now we
have a much more serious proposal stemming from the advertising
of the
Amanab FMAs Blocks 3 & 4. In reality that advert drew one
tender
from a Malaysian company Eastern Era. The decision of the
Forestry
Board, following a recommendation to consolidate the Amanab
Blocks
by the Provincial Forest Management Committee (PFMC), was to
send
the matter back to re-tendering, but said the board, to include
Amanab
Blocks 1,2,3,4, South West Wapei and "Nuku", [which probably
means
the Arko-Samei and the Maimai-Wanwan forest resources].
Amanab,
SW Wapei and Nuku are three separate and distinct areas. What
this
looks like is that we are building up to a huge area of the
Sandaun
province going up for tendering. So, we have the previously
rejected
Timber Supply Area scheme back in another form.
The
landholders at South Wapei were mislead into signing the FMAs;
they
had no lawyers advising them and were overborne by officials.
Vanimo
TRP
All
landholders want TRP reviewed. But there are two groups of
landholders.
One seeking to control the timber resource themselves;
the
other is allied with a South Korean company, it wants to kick out
WTK,
and put in the South Koreans. There is very little chance of that
happening
because the PNGFA would not tolerate that type of
manipulation
of existing contractual rights.
EAST
SEPIK PROVINCE
Hunstein
Ranges
Landholders
signed FMAs for th April Salumei area.
However the April
River
land holders refused to sign. The Forest Authority has
quarantined
an area of 68,000 ht ( about half ) of the Hunstein Ranges
as a
conservation area. There are reports that the landholders at
Gahom
were threaten by Forest Authority officials that if they did not
sign
the FMA the mobile squad would be called in. It is unclear at
present
as to why landholders in areas that had previously resisted
the
loggers, signed up with the Forest Authority. The most likely
explanation
is the failure of ngos to keep in touch with landholders,
and the
failure of big international ngos to deliver on promises (
whether
express or implied ). In this type of conflict, it is the
ability
to have reliable campaigners on the ground that is crucial for
saving
the forests. Apart from the Pacific Heritage Foundation which
has put
in three sawmills, there has been no real development in the
FMA
areas.
The
conservation area of 68.000 is too small. The 1992 Unitech project
feasibilty
report said that the conservation area need to be 100,000
ht. It
also said that there needed to be a conservation corridor to
the
central ranges. Providing the PNGFA doesnot
rail-road the April
River
people into the FMA ( the Board recently approved a device for
incorporating
late-commers in FMAs that have already been signed up ),
there
is a corridor, it merely needs to called a conservation area.
Hawain
LFA
This
case will probably not proceed. The landholders failed to attend
a
meeting in Wewak with ICRAF lawyers; the meeting was to arrange the
collection
of evidence of environmental damage.
EAST
NEW BRITAIN
Warongoi
This
case started in the National Court, Kokopo in mid April. The
defendants
missed their plane, and there was a problem with the
plaintiff's
evidence. The case was adjourned by Mr. Justice Jalina to
mid May.
Open
Bay
As a
result of the militrary
"mutiny" and the lead up to Warongoi,
there
was a delay in bringing this matter forward.
WEST
NEW BRITAIN
The
Whiteman Ranges : Forest Board's environmental vandalism.
Asengseng
FMA
The
Whitemen Ranges, an area of high biodiversity priority in West New
Britain
are under serious threat as a result of the pressure put on
the
Forest board by the Minister of Forests, Andrew Baing. He has let
the
board know that he wants WTK to get the timber permit in the
Asengseng
FMA. And the board has instructed the West New Britain
Provincial
Forest Management Committee to negotiate the tp with WTK.
Orginally
the WNBPFMC had said there was to be no logging in the
Whiteman
Ranges because of their environmental priority. Then the
Forest
Board said at the time of approving the FMA ( after submissions
from
the NGO representative to the Board, and because of the position
taken
by the the WNBPFMC), that this area was to be a small/medium
scale
project and groups like the Nature Conservancy were to be
invited
to apply, and that it was not to be used for large-scale
export
logging.
The
Asengseng FMA according to the PNGRIS landform and slope variables
is
about 80% unloggable. Its geomorphology consists of polygonal karst
and
karst corridors with slopes greater than 30 degrees. To log in
this
area would be in breach of the Logging Code.
But now
we have Baing inviting in one of the biggest Malaysian loggers
in the
country. To make matters worst we know that the Dept of
Environment
and Conservation had recommended against issuing the
permit,
and had John Douglas its senior environmental adviser ready to
brief
the Board. But the Board chased him out of the room and refused
to hear
him.
Torlu
River : Upper Nakanai Plateau
We hear
that there are "requests" for an FMA over the Torlu River
area.
This has been described to us as a vast forest of Nothofagus (
Southern
Beech ) in karst .
We
should all protest at the environmental vandalism of the PNG Forest
Authority
in the Whiteman Ranges of West New Britain. The New Britain
island
is being logged at an unsustainable rate. Export logging in new
areas has to be stopped.
WESTERN
PROVINCE
Wawoi
Guavi
ICRAF
and WWF completed a patrol into Masula in mid April. Thank you
Bob
Bates of Tribal Tours Mount Hagen for his kind assistance and
effort.
Landholders from around Mt Bosavi, and from Wawoi Guavi Blocks
2 &
3 including Masula, Haivaro, Wario,
Wawoi Falls, Aitabu, Uruda
and
Fogamiuyu attended. There is pressure coming from Nuigini Lumber
and RH
in the area, and some landholders are said to have received
large
amounts of money. The Forest Authority is also pressuring the
Southern
Highlands owners to sign up their FMA, so they can join
the
Hekiko scam in the Gulf Province. The general position is that
most of
landholders all around Mt Bosavi are standing firm. The Forest
Authority
has agreed to a conservation area above the 800 metre
contour
on Mount Bosavi itself. It has also agreed to three other
smaller
areas specified by WWF in the karst country and along the
Hekiko
Valley in the Southern Highlands. WWF
is holding the ground
with
its community based liaison.
But
there is a real need to speed up conservation trust funds and get
money
into the hands of landholders. We need more people writing in to
the
World bank and UNDP/GEF to get them to speed this process up.
Makapa
The
latest on the Wawoi Guavi Supreme Court case is that there has
been a
delay. The deputy Chief Justice, who does the case management
for the
Supreme Court, has been sitting on the High Court of the
Solomon
Islands. He had issued a direction that other defendants were
to be
served with courts papers, before a hearing could take place. An
informed
guess would say not much chance of a hearing before the end
of May.
Wawoi
Guavi Extension
We are
worried about the push across from Bosavi to the Strickland
River.
One report, as yet unconfirmed is that a small group of
landholders
have been paid a very large amount of money. by loggers.
Here we
have another reason for speeding up the conservation trust
fund
process and other biodiversity initiatives.
SOUTHERN
HIGHLANDS PROVINCE
Mount
Bosavi
As we
said above, the Forest Authority has agreed to a conservation
area
above the 800 metre contour on Mount Bosavi itself. It has also
agreed
to three other smaller areas specified by WWF in the karst
country
and along the Hekiko Valley in the Southern Highlands. WWF is
holding
the ground with its community based liaison. But the Forest
Authority
under pressure from PPP, (and also
because of its own pro
export
logging agenda), and the loggers, are anxious to complete
the FMA
work that was stopped last year. It is in the process of
trying
to get ICRAF lawyers to agree to the FMA conditions. ICRAF is
prepared
to negotiate a settlement, but the landholder clients have
firm
views on the sort of project they want.
Mount
Bosavi is described as of very high conservation priority by DEC
and the
IUCN. It is an outlying Pleistocene volano and vast alluvial
plain.
The 800 metre contour conservation area was negotiated by
lawyers
and may not reflect the true conservation needs of the wider
area.
The problem has been that the negotiations have had to take
place
in a situation of political pressure and no DEC imput. National
Park
status was suggested for this area in the 1980s, but DEC has been
moribund
for nearly a decade and a half.
GULF
PROVINCE
Turama
The
Ombudsman Commission Report on the allocation of the timber
permits
in 1995 is still being processed and has not yet been
released.
We have not seen the drafts, but we hear from those that
have
that it is very critical.
Hekiko
The
Forest Board, after being talked to by the Minister, has
instructed
the Gulf Provincial Forest Management Committee to
negotiate
a project agreement with the Yeung Corporation Hong Kong.
The
Board has taken steps to fix a set of negotiating conditions.
These
conditions are likely to raise economic difficulties for a
project
that has a number of major difficulties already. The tenure of
the
timber rights is in doubt, as the rights were originally
transferred
to Turama Forest Industries. Much of the area is karst,
and
very difficult country to access. The Environmental Plan prepared
for
Yuengs is defective, and has been critised by competent scientists
(
indeed it showed signs of being one of the EPs-off-a-hard-disk.
There
were passages that clearly came from East New Britain, and had
not
been deleted on the wordprocessor. Although I am not totally
familiar
with the botany of the area there is a suggestion that there
may be
substantial stands of Nothofagus, Southern Beeches, which were
described
to me as relict forests from before the Gondwanan break-up
350
million years ago. One safety check on this is that no timber
permit
can be issued until the EP is approved. DEC is beginning to be
a
little stronger ( despite what has gone before ) and the absence of
an
approved and professional environmental plan these days is likely
to put
a stop to a project.
Vailala
We have
no reports that export logging is going on at present in any
of the
three blocks. GTZ is running its alternative wokabaut sawmill
project
just outside Ihu.
MILNE
BAY
Sagarai
Gedisu
Last
month there was confirmation from the Governor of Milne Bay, Tim
Neville,
that Saban the contractor and RH affiliate had been caught
exporting
rosewood logs which are a prohibuted export in PNG in log-
form.
Mr Neville said that a log ship had been raided off the coast
near
Port Moresby by the Police. I approached SGS about this incident.
They
were very tight-lipped. They said that checking on rosewood
exports
was not in their contract with the Forest Authority. SGS's
lack of
transparency and its close relationships with the logging
industry
are very unsettling for environmenatlists. Saban was closed
down by
Mr. Neville for a short period of time, but has begun to
export
again.
###RELAYED
TEXT ENDS###
You are
encouraged to utilize this information for personal
educational
and campaign use. All efforts are made
to provide
accurate,
timely pieces; though ultimate responsibility for verifying
all
information rests with the reader.
Check out our Gaia Forest
Conservation
Archives at URL= http://forests.org/
Networked
by Ecological Enterprises, gbarry@forests.org