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PAPUA
NEW GUINEA RAINFOREST CAMPAIGN NEWS
Sustaining
Papua New Guinea's Natural Heritage-National Forest Plan Critique
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Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
http://forests.org/
10/12/98
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RELAYED
TEXT STARTS HERE:
SUSTAINING
PAPUA
NEW
GUINEA'S NATURAL
HERITAGE
an
analysis of the papua new guinea
national
forest plan
Advance
Copy - Do Not Quote
DRAFT
8/98
WORLD
WIDE FUND FOR NATURE
GREENPEACE
PACIFIC
Contributing
Authors:
Frans
Arentz
Brian
Brunton
Andre
Carothers
Lafcadio
Cortesi
Hartmut
Holzknecht
Christopher
LaFranchi
CONTENTS
I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1.1 Areas of Concern
1.2 Short-term and Long-Term Recommendations
II. INTRODUCTION
2.1 Overview
2.2 History of the Forest Sector
III.
THE NATIONAL FOREST PLAN AND PNG LAW
3.1 Legal Dilemmas
3.2 Conclusion
IV. THE
NATIONAL FOREST PLAN AND PNG'S CUSTOMARY RESOURCE OWNERS
4.1 Overview
4.2 Ambitious Legislation
4.3 The Reality of Customary Ownership
4.4 Conclusion
V. THE NATIONAL FOREST PLAN AND FORESTRY IN PNG
5.1 Overview
5.2 Ensuring Future Harvests
5.3 The Role of the Government
5.4 Conclusion
VI. THE
NATIONAL FOREST PLAN AND PNG'S BIODIVERSITY
6.1 Overview
6.2 Ensuring Set-asides
6.3 Conclusion
VII.
THE NATIONAL FOREST PLAN AND THE PNG ECONOMY
7.1 Overview
7.2 The Economics of Forests
7.3 Incentives for Industry
7.4 Assessing Cutting Levels
7.5 The Raw Log Ban and Value-Added Processing
7.6 Small-scale Enterprises
7.7 Conclusion
7.8 Ensuring Rural Livelihoods
I) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
One of
the goals of Papua New Guinea's National Constitution is to ensure
that
the country's natural resources are "conserved and used for the
collective
benefit of all, and replenished for future generations". The
experience
of the last quarter-century suggests that the manner in which
successive
PNG governments have managed the country's natural wealth,
particularly
its forest resources, has fallen short of that mandate.
In the
early 90's, the government undertook a major forestry reform program
under
the auspices of the National Forest Conservation and Action Program
(NFCAP)
to address forest management problems in PNG. The international
community;
bilateral, multilateral and the NGO community played a major role
in
supporting the government initiative by providing financial and technical
assistance.
As part of this reform effort, a new forestry Act and Forest
Policy
was developed, and the PNG Forest Authority (PNGFA) was reconstituted
and
given the mission "to promote the management and wise utilization of
the
forest resources of Papua New Guinea as a renewable asset for the well-
being
of present and future generations." As part of its new mandate, the
PNGFA
was charged in the 1991 Forestry Act with producing "a detailed
statement
of how the national and provincial governments intend to manage and
utilize
the country's forest resources." In response to this law, the PNGFA
released
the National Forest Plan (the Plan) in June of 1996.
Before
its endorsement by the National Forest Board and subsequently by the
National
Executive Council, the Plan was not widely circulated for review and
comment
by relevant agencies, interested individuals and organizations and
the
public at large. In addition, the Provincial Forest Management Committees
were
not given sufficient time to comment on the Plan. These circumstances
have
left the impression that the development of the Plan was largely a "top
down"
exercise with little input by the landholders of Papua New Guinea.
As non
government organizations (NGOs) concerned with the sustainable
utilization
and conservation of forests in PNG, the WWF Pacific and
Greenpeace
Pacific have endeavored to review the Plan and with this report,
offer
an analysis its implications for the people and environment of PNG.
The
report explores the social, economic and environmental implications of
the
Plan and suggests options for a revised approach that could help the PNG
government
fulfill its Constitutional mandate of ensuring that the nation's
natural
resources are managed in a sustainable and equitable manner. The
report
concludes that industrial logging as currently practiced in PNG and as
proposed
in the Plan is not an environmentally or economically sustainable
development
option in the long term.
The
report argues that the purported benefits of industrial logging, in the
form of
infrastructure development, job training, national revenue and
technology
transfer, are overblown and, in fact, outweighed by the cost to
the
ecological and social integrity of the country. It recommends a
realignment
of the government's role in development planning, and a rapid
transition
to other forms of resource use that can better provide such
benefits
over the long term, while, at the same time, fulfill the nation's
economic,
environmental and social goals.
1.1)
Areas of Concern in the National Forest Plan
The
National Forest Plan falls short of the mandate of the PNGFA because it:
a) Portrays PNG's forest resource, or some 70%
of the country's land area,
solely
in terms of its potential for industrial logging. As a result, no
consideration
is given to existing and potential alternative development
opportunities
in the forest, particularly those uses which would provide
economic
and other benefits at a lower environmental and social cost than
industrial
logging. The immediate and future costs of this approach are
detailed
in the body of this report.
b) Suggests allocating the nation's forest
resource to industrial logging
prior
to any agreement with resource owners, ignoring the Constitutional
reality
of customary ownership of PNG's natural resources. While the
intention
to "acquire" rights to forest resources is reiterated in the Plan,
its
designation of forest areas and projections for timber production in
areas
where local communities have yet to articulate their own management
preferences,
undermines the reality of customary ownership, and, in many
cases,
precludes the consideration of other options.
c) Does not incorporate existing conservation
areas or landowner petitions
for
development options other than industrial logging. There is a persistent
lack of
governmental capacity to process and assist in the establishment and
implementation
of community requests for development alternatives or
conservation
initiatives such as Integrated Conservation and Development
Areas
or Wildlife Management Areas. As a result, there is an emphasis in the
allocation
of governmental assistance toward unsustainable, short-term uses
of the
forest.
d) Ignores the analysis of the Conservation
Needs Assessment and the GEF-
sponsored
BIORAP process, which identify areas of primary biological
importance.
These analyses of PNG's ecological conditions should be included
in any
land-use planning exercise, as they represent a significant asset to
the
country that is incompatible with industrial logging.
e) Underestimates the effects of industrial
logging on the sensitive and
complex
forest ecosystems found in PNG. The negative silvicultural impact of
industrial
logging on PNG's forests, partly documented in this report, draws
into
question the basis for asserting levels of cut and regrowth that form
the
basis of the Plan's projections. The 35-year cutting cycle used to make
these
projections does not reflect the latest scientific consensus on forest
management
and regrowth.
f) Does not comply with the Forestry Act. The
requirements of the Act are
that
the Plan "be consistent with the National Forest Policy and relevant
government
policies." In presenting an unsustainable management regime for
PNG's
forests, the Plan clearly violates the Fourth Goal of the Constitution
and the
goals of the National Forest Policy (i.e. "protection of the nation's
forest
resources as a renewable natural asset"). In addition, the Plan has
been
altered between first and second printings, despite the legal
requirement
that the Plan be approved by Parliament.
1.2)
Short and Long-Term Recommendations
The
report's recommendations are based on the fact that the landholding
communities
are the owners of the country's natural resources and are
recognized
as such in the National Constitution. Therefore, the sustainable
development
and management of natural resources must begin with the informed
decisions
of these communities, and then proceed based on their capacity to
effectively
manage and implement those decisions. It suggests that the most
appropriate
role for government is as facilitator of the educational, legal,
scientific
and procedural components of the process that develops the
capacity
of communities to perform this function.
The
report also highlights the need for a comprehensive analysis of the
natural
and human resource context in any area of the country prior to
suggesting
allocation of areas for industrial
logging. Without this it is
impossible
to adequately consider the range of management options available
in a
particular area.
The
report makes two sets of recommendations. The first set is considered
"short-term"
and can be implemented now by existing agencies. If followed,
they
would help rectify some long-standing problems in the agencies that
administer
PNG's natural resources, and would put "on hold" some processes
that would
benefit from examination and reform. In addition, they would bring
the
forest sector up to basic scientific and industrial standards. Finally,
they
would refocus current provincial and national level planning toward
delineating
those areas where industrial logging should not take place based
on
existing laws, regulations and provincial/national interests (e.g.
protecting
watersheds or biological values). This approach avoids the
presumption
that government should dictate what happens in a particular area,
and
instead acknowledges the fundamental right of PNG's resource owners to
manage
their resources as they see fit, so long as their decisions are within
the
bounds of the law.
Short
term Recommendations:
1) Withdraw the existing National Forest Plan,
and begin the process for a
revised
approach to forest planning, as outlined in the long-term
recommendations.
2) Redraw existing maps to identify areas where
industrial logging would be
inappropriate
in terms of biodiversity and/or the sensitivity of the
landscape
(karst substrate, steep slopes, etcetera), the Logging Code of
Practice,
community requests for alternative uses and other relevant factors,
using
the CNA, PNGRIS and BIORAP data, with additional field studies as
appropriate.
3) Impose a moratorium on new Forest Management
Agreements and extensions of
existing
agreements, until the capacity to manage PNG's natural resources
effectively
is developed (as outlined in this report's long-term
recommendations);
4) Develop new standards for socially
responsible and environmentally
sustainable
forestry which will apply to all logging plans and which are
consistent
with internationally recognized principles for independent,
performance-based
certification;
5) Ensure compliance of existing concessions
with the Logging Code of
Practice
and existing calculations of sustainability. In particular,
permitted
harvest rates must be reduced in regions, such as the Gulf and
Western
Provinces, and East and West New Britain, where they exceed what can
be
sustained even under the existing 35-year cycle;
6) Process the backlog of community based
applications for Conservation
Areas
or Wildlife Management Areas and alter
existing maps to include
approved
protected areas.
7) Establish an independent, third-party
forestry operations inspection
capacity
designed to ensure that industrial logging operations are complying
with
PNG law and the new standards for socially responsible and
environmentally
sustainable forestry. Rank and make public the environmental
and
social performance of industrial logging companies in order to assist in
decision-making
regarding requests for logging concessions.
8) Where industrial logging is the landholders'
chosen development option,
the
government should ensure that it meets new forest management standards
(rec.
#4) and try to encourage higher bidding, greater extraction efficiency
and
better compliance with laws and regulations, by fostering a more
competitive
atmosphere for logging concessions, perhaps through auctioning
harvest
concessions in association with the communities which choose the
industrial
logging option. The PNGFA should consider taking full advantage of
the
option to require performance bonds guaranteed by a third party. The
PNGFA
should also investigate opportunities to increase competition within
the
industry.
Long-Term
Recommendations:
These
long-term objectives require a more fundamental change in how the
forests
are being managed. The Report finds that sustainable management of
PNG's
natural resources depends in large part on the government's ability to:
1) Coordinate resource-related activities in
PNG;
2) Coordinate the definition and mapping of
appropriate uses for PNG's
natural
resources;
3) Facilitate the analysis and articulation of
development options by
stakeholders
particularly at the community, and occasionally at the
provincial
and national level;
4) Coordinate the establishment of venues or
processes in which such options
can be
discussed, disputes can be resolved and agreements can be achieved;
5) Promulgate and ensure the enforcement of
effective regulations governing
resource
extraction (such as new standards for socially responsible and
environmentally
sustainable forestry), the accurate identification of
landowners,
and the protection of sensitive areas.
For
PNG's resource-owning communities, the sustainable management of their
natural
resources depends on their ability to:
1) Successfully identify and evaluate
development options, including
identifying
and accessing markets for products, evaluating and entering into
effective,
enforceable agreements, and
2) Successfully implement and manage those
decisions, including monitoring
the
performance of contractors, enforcing regulations where appropriate,
managing
conservation areas, and ;
3) Secure financing for those options which do
not necessarily offer
immediate
material benefits, but are consistent with determinations of areas
of high
biological interest and/or other national, provincial or local goals.
Increased
government support for landowners to perform these functions is
thus a
fundamental component of this reform. This support could be provided
at the
district and provincial level as part of the reforms under the
"Organic
Law," and it could be instituted at the national level as
appropriate.
Wherever
this capability is administered from, it will be most effective if
it can:
a) use, to the degree possible, contemporary
methodologies for integrating
economic
and environmental accounting to reflect non-timber land values
("ecosystem
services");
b) include the variations in PNG's terrestrial
ecology, and the impact of
each
development option on that particular ecosystem, to inform negotiations
determining
appropriate land uses;
c) identify areas which are essential for
maintaining local ecosystem
services,
representative viable ecosystems and areas of greatest
biodiversity,
using information contained in studies such as the CNA, PINGRIS
and the
GEF-sponsored BIORAP analysis;
d) include an effective and comprehensive
representative landowner
identification
process, such as an upgraded and modified Incorporated Land
Group
process;
This
set of criteria will require a government structure which balances
provincial
and national authority with effective delegation of powers and
responsibilities
to communities. One way to implement this structure could be
through
a comprehensive legal, environmental and commercial "extension
service"
or "development options service." Management of the service could be
done by
government while the on the ground work could be done by inter-
disciplinary
teams drawn from pools of qualified persons hired on a contract
basis.
These extension teams could be organized and managed by independent
firms
or NGOs responding to tenders developed and managed by government, and
serve
two separate functions:
a) to help communities determine, through an
analysis of options, the most
beneficial
uses of their natural resources. This process should align with
the
determination made at the national level of areas of biological
importance.
Such consultations and information exchange would occur prior to
designation
of a given area for any particular land-use. This support
capacity
would include legal, forestry, education, organizing, business and
other
expertise which would work with resource owners to identify and
assess
their development options in accordance with the national-level
resource
utilization planning process;
b) to assist communities, after the appropriate
use and the resulting level
of
government support are determined, to establish the land use options they
have
chosen. This function could include the capacity to train community
members
to establish their own businesses, manage conservation areas or
monitor
and enforce agreements and extraction practices according to local
needs
and national law. In addition, the function of monitoring the
environmental
performance of contractors can and should be placed in the
hands
of landowners.
Without
financial support, however, the process outlined above will remain
biased
in favor of less sustainable options. In order for national goals for
socially
responsible and environmentally sustainable development to be
attained,
assistance will have to be provided as a priority to communities
which
have chosen more environmentally benign and socially beneficial land
use
options. Therefore, a substantial fund should be established to finance
the
investigation and establishment of ecosystem-based and community-based
uses of
the forest, including tourism, small scale agriculture, the
production
of non-timber forest products, and Conservation and Wildlife
Management
Areas.
II. INTRODUCTION
2.1 Overview
Papua
New Guinea is blessed with great wealth in natural resources, preserved
over
the millennia in part because of the country's vast and mountainous
terrain,
and in part because of the long history of community land tenure.
The
country is now embarked on the road to development. This path has in part
taken
the form of exploitation of the country's natural resources to promote
economic
growth. The question that faces Papua New Guinea as it enters the
21st
century is how to successfully take advantage of the country's natural
wealth
without compromising the long-term health of the nation's communities
and
environment. If care is not taken, the country may make the mistake of
sacrificing
the natural wealth of a nation for short-term economic return and
the
enrichment of a few.
Papua
New Guinea is at a critical juncture in its history. Some natural
resources,
particularly large tracts of forests, are rapidly disappearing
from
the face of the earth. PNG's forest wealth is enormous, thanks to its
size
and the slower pace of exploitation. But the demand for wood products is
uneven
and subject to considerable price fluctuations and trends that are
difficult
to predict. This places the country at the mercy of volatile
international
demand and structural changes in the timber industry.
Sustainable
stewardship of this natural wealth can offer the greatest long-
term
benefits for all Papua New Guineans. But this approach requires an
immediate
and sustained investment of resources and political will in order
to
ensure the perpetual stream of benefits that a well-managed renewable
resource
can provide. At the moment, due in part to the setbacks to many of
the
Asian economies, the demand for Papua New Guinea logs is at its lowest in
a
decade, presenting PNG with the opportunity to evaluate other courses of
action
regarding its natural wealth.
2.2
History of the Forest Sector
Ten
years ago, Papua New Guinea began a comprehensive reform of its forest
sector.
The Commission of Inquiry into the Papua New Guinea Forest Sector,
under
Justice Barnett, was set up in 1987. The inquiry found widespread
corruption
and mismanagement in the logging industry, including transfer
pricing
and under-reporting of log volumes (which dramatically reduce
government
revenues), environmental destruction through poor logging
practices,
inadequate inspection and monitoring procedures, the flagrant
breach
of agreements and contracts, and graft and collusion among industry
and
government officials. In addition, a wholly inadequate proportion of
logging
revenue was reaching the resource owners. It was clear that the
nation
had no clear national forest policy or plan, nor sufficient
understanding
of the resource base, to ensure a balanced approach to resource
use.
The
Barnett Report, along with subsequent efforts to examine the industry
through
the government of PNG's participation in the Tropical Forestry Action
Plan,
led to significant changes in the government's natural resource
policies.
A review of the forest sector was performed by the Government in
1989,
with the technical assistance of the World Bank, and the report
presented
in April 1990. In early 1991, it was broadened into the National
Forestry
and Conservation Action Programme (NFCAP).
Out of
this process emerged a White Paper on National Forest Policy which was
approved
by the PNG National Executive Council in 1991. The Paper called for
a
reinvigorated forest authority as the institutional mechanism for achieving
the
goals of increased sustainability of extraction and more equitable
distribution
of income. The National Forestry Act was passed in October of
1991.
This legislation established the PNG Forest Authority (PNGFA) under the
direction
of a National Forest Board.
The
newly-constituted PNGFA drafted a paper, the National Forestry
Development
Guidelines, which was approved by the National Executive Council
in
1993. Since then, the PNGFA has written a Logging Code of Practice,
beginning
with "Key Standards" published in 1995, which establishes standards
for
sustained yield logging techniques. These two documents form the basis of
government
forest policy, and are discussed together in this critique.
Taken
together, these reforms were designed to address the problems raised in
the
Barnett Report and other reviews of the sector. The six critical
components
of reform, for the sustainability of
PNG's forest resources, are:
a) the creation of a National Forest Board,
consisting of representatives
from
the National Forest Service, the Forest Industries Association, the
National
Alliance of NGOs, and the Secretaries of the Department of Personnel
Management
and the Department of Environment and Conservation. The new
structure
was intended to depoliticize and depersonalize the granting of
concessions
and create an open and accountable process for negotiating with
the
industry;
b) the creation of the Forest Management
Agreement, a formal process which
includes,
among other things, a "resource owner awareness" component
(designed
to increase local understanding of rights and options regarding
development
of resources). The FMA process, in conjunction with other aspects
of the
reform, was intended to ensure the adherence, by all parties, to
agreements
that allowed for the sustainable extraction of timber and the
equitable
and timely distribution of revenue to both resource owners and the
federal
government;
c) the establishment of the Incorporated Land
Group as the legislated
configuration
of community resource owners, with the accurate identification
of that
entity as the cornerstone of an effective legal prerequisite to
successful
community resource management.
d) the logging code of practice, designed to
regulate and reduce the impact
of
logging activities on the environment;
e) the recrafted revenue system, designed to
increase income to both
resource
owners and the government, and also to ensure that the risks
associated
with price fluctuations are shifted more to the industry, while
permitting
resource owners and the government to share in income from
international
log price increases;
f) the creation of Provincial Forest Management
Boards, and the subsequent
drafting
of Provincial Forest Plans, to be collected and published as a
National
Forest Plan.
This
final component, the National Forest Plan, was intended to provide a
blueprint
for the sustainable management of PNG's forests. The mandate of the
committee
charged with creating the plan was to establish a methodology for
the
development of Provincial Forest plans, to help the Provinces identify
and
analyze the forest resource in a manner which would facilitate rational
planning
that the sustainable development of the resource, and to coordinate
and
incorporate those Provincial plans into a comprehensive national plan.
According
to Ruth Teria of the PNGFA, the PNG Logging Code of Practice and
the
National Forest Plan are intended to "set this nation on the road to
responsible
and sustainable forest development and management." This report
finds
the Plan flawed both in the process thorough which it was developed,
and in
the scope and type of management it sets out for PNG's forests. This
report
makes recommendations that may assist in reaching the original goals
and
policies set forth in the Act.
III. THE NATIONAL FOREST PLAN: LEGAL IMPLICATIONS
(draft)
3.1
Overview
Unlike
almost all other countries, the government of PNG recognizes that
local
people, based on undocumented customary property rights, own some 97
percent
of PNG's land area, including all forests. This enduring principle
pervades
all aspects of the country's political, legal and social structures.
Papua
New Guinea has an impressive and comprehensive system of laws and
regulations
governing the environment and natural resource extraction. It is
also
widely recognized, however, that the capacity and inclination of the
state
to implement and enforce this collection of laws is uneven at best. As
James
Fingleton points out, (1992) "Having the right laws on the books and
seeing
them implemented can be.two quite different matters."
The
history of PNG's natural resource legal structure, derived from the
Australian
land and resource management philosophy, is incompatible in
significant
ways with customary land ownership. PNG recognizes three levels
of
legal obligation: legislated, contract and traditional law. In the case of
natural
resources, the three levels are poorly integrated. These two facts-
the
poor record of enforcement and the tension between these competing legal
orientations-has
allowed a destructive form of development to emerge and has
often
strained the relationship between resource owners and the government.
"Indeed,"
as Kathy Whimp (1997) points out, "the history of state
intervention
in PNG may give many resource owners cause to doubt whether the
state
is really acting in their interests."
3.2 The
Legal Dilemmas of the National Forest Plan
Some of
the legal tensions created by this history have emerged in the
context
of the creation of the National Forest Plan. The responsibility for
drawing
up a National Forest Plan, as stated in section 47 of the National
Forestry
Act, rests with the PNG Forest Authority. The statutory objectives,
set out
in Section 6, include the primary mandate that the forest resources
be
managed "to conserve and renew them as an asset for succeeding
generations."
It is
clear from that broad mandate that the National Forest Plan must
reflect
a commitment to sustainability, both environmentally, and in terms of
sustained
yield, of the forest resource. The sustainability of the current
forest
management regime rests primarily on the size, rate of harvest and the
pace of
concessions being granted (and in turn the lawful cutting cycle), and
the
forest extraction practices employed.
In
fact, as noted in the forestry section of this report, the cutting
practices
of the industries operating in PNG are not adequately monitored,
falling
far below international standards and often in violation of the
existing
PNG laws and regulations governing forest practices. Moreover, as
PNG's
Department of Environment and Conservation notes in a recent
publication
(Petasi, Saulei and Parsons, DEC/UNDP, Waigani, PNG, 1997), the
35-year
cutting cycle is likely to be fundamentally incompatible with the
goal of
sustainability, either economically or environmentally, as the
regeneration
cycle of high-value hardwoods is likely to be as much as twice
the
mandated period, or from 70 to 200 years. Finally, some of the
concessions
already granted, particularly in East and West New Britain add up
to a
pace of cutting that exceeds even the PNGFA's calculation of
"sustainable"
exploitation. It would seem, then, that according to the
requirements
of the Act, the country's own forest practices guidelines, and
the PNG
Constitution, industrial logging as it is practiced in PNG is on
shaky
legal ground.
The
statutory requirement for the plan merged from an understanding that
forest
concessions were being granted in the absence of a national level
framework
for understanding the potential, and the limits, of the nation's
forest
resource. As the law is written, the existence of a National Forest
Plan is
a prerequisite to the development of PNG's forest resource. The Plan
itself
must take account of the provincial forest plans (47(1)) which cannot
be at
variance with the National Forest Development Guidelines. ("In
conformity
with" Section 49(1)). And the NFP must be tabled in Parliament.
The
original NFP planning body, consisting of government officials, NGOs and
consultants,
was organized inside the PNGFA in 1993 and began a deliberative
process
that was attempting to resolve various ambiguities in the
interpretation
of the law, and questions relating to the calculation of
sustainability
and appropriate levels of cut. It also set about informing
Provincial
governments and other ministries about their opportunities
and
obligations, a process that took over a year. This group was disbanded
abruptly
by Forestry Minister Andrew Baing in 1995 and the managing director
dismissed,
after which a new "task force" was set up outside the PNGFA, which
combined
the rudimentary Provincial Forest Plans into the current NFP.
This
National Forest Plan, dated May 1996, has been subsequently changed. The
new
plan contains substantial modifications to the map of the Western
Province
and other, not insignificant modifications to the map of the East
Sepik
Province. The alterations to the map of the Western Province are
additions
of eight concessions known as "a-h Fly-Strickland". These
concessions
are marked as "potential areas for future development" on
the
amended Western Province map, and as "projects likely to be
developed" on
MAP 2.
There is no mention of these additional projects in the appropriate
appendices.
Nor is it clear whether the revised plan was tabled in
Parliament.
Therefore, the legal status of the current plan is unsure, and
actions
based on the plan may be open to court challenges.
In
addition, there are several concessions that were granted in the period
when
the plan was being developed, all of which may be in legal jeopardy. For
the
example, timber permits were allocated to the Prime Group in 1995 and in
the
Morobe Province before either the Gulf Province Plan or the National
Forest
Plan were published.
3.3
Conclusion
It is
clear that the NFP as written not only violates the spirit and letter
of its
formal objectives, but it exposes the government to legal action. To
summarize,
the Plan may be in violation of PNG's Constitutional requirement
for the
"sustainable" use of the nation's resource. Particular concessions
may
have been issued, and alterations in existing concessions may have been
made
without proper Parliamentary approval. And the disbanding of the first
commission
designated to fashion the Plan, and the subsequent formulation of
a
"task force" outside the PNGFA to complete the effort, may offer
legal
support
for challenges to any concessions granted since 1995.
As the
sophistication of resource owners increases, the likelihood that the
government
will find itself in legal confrontations increases. To make the
current
regime legal, the government should consider renegotiating existing
concessions
to bring them into conformity with the latest understanding
regarding
economic and environmental sustainability. In particular, those
regions
where concessions already granted exceed even the current calculation
of
sustainability, such as East and West New Britain and New Ireland, should
be
renegotiated.
The
Constitutional mandate for "sustainability" in the sector suggests
that
the
government should redouble its effort to review the cutting cycle and
other
forestry practices and to bring them into conformity with the latest
scientific
understanding of tropical forests. In addition, the capacity to
plan
and monitor concession cutting regimes at the level of the individual
coup is
necessary to ensure sustainability.
Finally,
the NFP would improve and gain credibility as a document if it was
embedded
in a larger multi-stakeholder, integrated land use planning process
that
uses the Provincial Organic Law to function at the local, provincial and
national
level. Such a planning process would conform to the requirements of
the PNG
Constitution by focusing on the fact of traditional resource
ownership
and create conditions for land use options to emerge from
landholders.
Based on national law and common interests, it would establish
the
parameters for what should not take place in an area, rather that
dictating
what should happen there. It would also take into account the
resource
rights of future generations. In areas where forests are managed for
timber
production, it would ensure the sustainability of the resource by
reflecting
the latest scientific knowledge on forest health and regeneration,
and it
would include the capacity to enforce logging regulations and plan
logging
at the level of the coupe.
IV. THE
NATIONAL FOREST PLAN AND PNG'S CUSTOMARY RESOURCE OWNERS
4.1
Overview
The
negative impacts of the last few decades of industrial forestry on PNG's
traditional
communities is well-documented. Among the most obvious effects
are
those associated with poor logging practices, such as stream and river
contamination,
the diminished capacity of the forest to deliver important
non-timber
services (such as building materials, rotating agricultural plots,
plants
and animals for food and medicine), the destruction of sites of
cultural
importance, and the diminished capability of the forest to provide
sound
economic alternatives to industrial logging.
In
addition, these same reports underscore the corrosive effects of
industrial
logging on the social structure of traditional communities.
Unequal
or inadequate compensation, poorly constituted resource owner groups,
poorly
crafted logging contracts, and the chronic failure of contractors to
provide
promised infrastructure services are among the many factors that have
contributed
to the disintegration of traditional forms of community. Coupled
with
the damage to the environment, these social impacts have resulted in
increased
poverty and lawlessness, alienation of the young, migration to
towns
and cities and the failure of traditional forms of social control and
economic
livelihood.
In
particular, industrial logging directly and indirectly affects the lives
of
women, who already are responsible for a large portion of the labor that
provides
for the daily sustenance of rural families. The negative impacts
associated
with forest management regimes that take men away from the home
(for
example, to take temporary jobs at logging camps), and that damage
streams
and reduce the availability of non-timber forest products fall
disproportionately
upon women. Rural communities are exposed to alcohol
consumption,
gambling and other socially destructive habits through the
presence
of logging camps.
As a
result, the stability and predictability of indigenous peoples' lives is
severely
diminished. They lose control over the use of their land, food,
environment-indeed
their entire livelihood. In many cases the timber industry
has
made life harder for resource owners at all levels. Not only do they have
to face
destruction of their environment, but they face the destruction of
their
society.
The
forest sector reforms that slowly have been implemented during the 1990s
were
intended to solve these problems. The Forest Management Agreement
process
was designed to help establish the appropriate resource owner group,
and
help resource owners gain an understanding of the implications of various
development
plans through the Development Options Study, and then monitor and
ensure
their sustainability. Various mechanisms to increase institutional
capacity,
such as the AUSAID-funded program to train and place forest service
personnel
in provincial offices, and the capacity-building program at the
Department
of Environment and Conservation, were designed to increase the
government's
capacity to oversee logging operations.
The
production of a National Forest Plan is intended to further these aims by
providing
a national planning framework for utilization of PNG's forest
resource,
and by outlining government research programs and development
efforts.
Included in the Plan is funding for improved forest resource
research
and data collection, rural employment promotion through sound forest
management
and plantation development, support for increased wood processing
and
small sawmill operations, as well as opportunities for public education,
such as
resource owner awareness workshops.
4.2 A Failed
Effort
According
to the National Forest Plan ("Specific Objectives", section 2.2),
the PNG
Forest Authority (PNGFA) intends "to acquire and maintain management
rights
for PNG's commercial forest resources" and by doing so "to
effectively
control
and monitor harvesting and export operations," primarily through
Forest
Management Agreements struck with Incorporated Land Groups, "to ensure
the
sustainability of the resource."
These
objectives remain unrealized. Although only a few years have passed
since
the restructuring of PNG's agencies and laws that govern forest
resources,
the program represented by this plan has proven difficult to
accomplish.
This is perhaps not surprising, as the PNG Forest Authority has
been
burdened with a considerable mandate: to acquire secure and long-lived
exploitation
rights to the satisfaction of both resource owners and
extractive
industries while simultaneously overseeing the formation of land
groups
and the contracts between resource owners and private companies. It
must
also analyze the resource base, enforce forestry laws, conduct research
into
economic alternatives, assist in establishing conservation areas,
monitor
revenue from logging, and protect the environment.
Perhaps
the most significant change in forestry law, in terms of the social
structure
of PNG's customary resource owners, is the effort to reform the
methods
used to secure resource owner agreement with logging industry
representatives.
The 1991 Forestry Act (as amended) sets out two methods of
encouraging
the participation of resource owners: through a process involving
the
incorporation of land groups (Incorporated Land Groups, or ILGs, using
the
1974 Land Groups Incorporation Act) or by gaining the approval of at
least
75% of resource owners resident in the resource area.
The ILG
process was included in the 1992 Forestry Act Amendments as the
recommended
approach to involving resource owners because, if properly
managed,
it can solve many of the problems listed above. Ideally, an ILG is
generated
and managed by the resource owners themselves, with assistance from
a
trained facilitator. It sets in place the minimum procedural requirements
for a
customary resource group to be recognized under modern law as a 'land
group'.
These include rigorous consultation, decision-making and decision-
recording
processes, concluding with the delegation of signing authority to
designated
members of the community.
In
practice, unfortunately, the process has been plagued with damaging
shortcuts
and occasional misconduct. As in the past, the most common approach
has
been for logging companies, often in collaboration with forestry
officials
or provincial forest boards, to contract with a small number of
individuals
who claim to be representative of local resource owners. Either
company
representatives or foresters (or both) identify relevant customary
resource
groups (usually clans) and put together the documentation required
to set
up Incorporated Land Groups or to determine, as required by law, that
75
percent of the customary resource owners support the agreement. This
process
is rarely successfully carried through, and the same problems that
plagued
pre-1991 agreements between landowners and foreign logging companies
persist
today.
Part of
the problem, again, is the difficult mandate of the PNGFA, which
includes
acting as supervisor of the ILG process, enforcer of legal
procedures,
and monitor and enforcer of forestry regulations. One of the
difficulties
that faces the often understaffed and poorly trained field
offices
is the fact that they remain heavily dependent on logging companies
for
transport, housing, supplies and other support in the field. Forestry
officials
in the field are subject to inducements and overwhelming pressure
to
overlook improper practices and coercive arrangements. The current PNGFA
policy
of placing two project supervisors with each logging project has been
fulfilled
in only a small number of projects.
These
processes also result in little security to contractors, whose
investments
are often threatened by the community backlash against the
environmental
destruction and unequal distribution of benefits that follows.
As a
result, the industry continues to opt for the crudest "cut and run"
operating
regime rather than risk a significant investment of finances or
time in
any particular forestry project.
At the
same time, the implementation of the new legal structure remains
incomplete,
largely because of industry pressure on the PNG government.
Although
passed by Parliament, regulations and standards for logging
practices,
which could help preserve PNG's forests, are not being put into
practice.
The requirement that organizations representing customary resource
owners
register themselves with the Forest Authority has likewise been
delayed. This regulation, which