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WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
Call
for Papua New Guinea to Give Logging
Christmas Gift to Nation's Children
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Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
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12/22/98
OVERVIEW
& COMMENTARY by EE
Greenpeace
makes an appeal for Papua New Guinea to reconsider it
forest
policy in order to give a gift to future generations of PNG
children. More concretely, it is requested that tax
cuts be reversed
and a
moratorium declared on all new logging concessions.
g.b.
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TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: GREENPEACE URGES PAPUA NEW GUINEA PRIME
MINISTER BILL SKATE
TO GIVE LOGGING CHRISTMAS GIFT TO
NATION'S CHILDREN
Source: Greenpeace press release via Pacific Islands
Report
http://pidp.ewc.hawaii.edu/PIReport/1998/
December/12-22-20.html
Status: Distribute freely with credit given to
source
Date: December 22, 1998
GREENPEACE
PACIFIC
Suva,
Fiji Islands
NEWS
RELEASE
December
22, 1998
GREENPEACE
URGES
PAPUA
NEW GUINEA PRIME MINISTER BILL SKATE
TO GIVE
LOGGING CHRISTMAS GIFT TO NATION'S CHILDREN
Port
Moresby, Papua New Guinea
Greenpeace
is alarmed that recently passed tax breaks for the logging
industry
have led to a dramatic increase in production, without any
corresponding
benefits to the nation or landholders.
"We
have just learned that log exports in November were up about 150%
over
the previous month's average -- from about 100,000 cubic meters
exported
per month prior to November, to about 250,000 cubic meters
exported
in November" said Brian Brunton, Greenpeace Forest
Specialist.
"We believe this is a direct result of the dramatic tax
breaks
that the Skate government quietly pushed through in October."
The new
tax breaks require that logging companies pay absolutely no
tax on
any logs exported at a price of under 125 kina per cubic meter
FOB.
These changes see, on average, companies saving 25 Kina per cubic
meter
in taxes. In fact, a recent study by ANU researchers Theodore
Levantis
and John Livernois found that the PNG Government captures
only
2.75% of the total value under the recently reduced tax rates
compared
to around 33% under the previous regime.
"We
believe that this situation is scandalous" continued Brunton. "Not
only do
these rates increase the incentive for companies to mislabel
and
undervalue logs, but the government is now getting almost no
income,
landholder royalties have declined to pre-Barnett Inquiry
levels,
and the nation's trees are being exported at a furious pace.
We are
giving away one of the PNG's most precious resources.
"We
have reached a point where it is better to leave the trees in the
ground
rather than make logging companies rich at the expense of
future
generations" said Brunton. "What has us really concerned, are
rumors
that, just when it makes sense for our nation to stop the
expansion
of export logging, the PM is pushing to have more logging
concessions
and FMA's given out to the companies."
"We
urge the PM and the Papua New Guinea government to give our
children
and grandchildren a sustainable future this Christmas by
reversing
the tax cuts and declaring a moratorium on all new logging
concessions"
said Brunton.
For
more information contact:
Brian
Brunton: TEL: + 675-326-0560
Lafcadio
Cortesi
Greenpeace
Pacific
568
Howard Street
San
Francisco, CA 94105
TEL: w/
415-512-9025 or h/ 510-527-2858
FAX: w/
415-512-8699 or h/ 510-528-2886
E-Mail:
lafcadio.cortesi@dialb.greenpeace.org
Samantha
Magick
Political/Media
Officer
Greenpeace
Pacific
Level
1, Old Town Hall
Victoria
Parade
Suva,
Fiji
TEL:
679 312861
FAX:
679 312784
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