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PAPUA
NEW GUINEA RAINFOREST CAMPAIGN NEWS
Papua
New Guinea Logging Criticized
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Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
http://forests.org/
4/9/99
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Title: Papua New Guinea Logging Criticized
Source: Environmental News Network
Status: Copyright, contact source for permission to
reprint
Date: April 6, 1999
In merely
one percent of the world's land mass, it is estimated that
Papua
New Guinea contains five to eight percent of global
biodiversity,
according to WWF.
Papua
New Guinea's relaxation of the rules that govern rain forest
logging
threatens the future development potential of the country,
according
to the World Wide Fund for Nature.
The
international conservation group claims that the PNG government,
faced
with economic crisis, is liquidating its forest resources in a
desperate
attempt to stabilize its economy. According to WWF, this
comes
at a high cost, as valuable, irreplaceable forest resources will
be lost
under the new policies.
Papua
New Guinea's rain forests comprise one of the last major
tropical
rain forest wildernesses in the world. This forest ecosystem
is
responsible for storing massive amounts of carbon and regulating
global
climate. In merely one percent of the world's land mass, it is
estimated
that PNG contains five to eight percent of global
biodiversity,
according to WWF.
In the
late 1980s, the PNG government instituted legislation to
regulate
the timber industry there. However, logging exportation has
become
more attractive to current government officials who feel it may
help
the country maintain the value of its flagging currency.
According
to WWF, the PNG government has adopted the following
policies,
all threatening the nation's forests:
* Log export tax eliminated. The rate of log
export taxation was
reduced in late 1998 from an average rate
of 33 percent to 0-5
percent today. PNG log exporters are
paying virtually no log
export tax, and thus government revenues
have plunged.
* 800,000 hectare give away. The Forestry Board
has decided to grant
800,000 hectares in Western Province,
known as Kumula Doso, as an
"extension" to an existing
600,000 hectare logging area held by
the Malaysian logging company. The Forest
Authority and provincial
government all were opposed -- but the
Forest Board acted
unilaterally.
* Illegal logging area allocation. At least
12 new industrial
logging operations, and perhaps as many as
17, are being "fast-
tracked". This means that on the
instructions of the current
government, millions of hectares of
priceless rain forest -- most
of the country's remaining rainforest
resources -- are to be
allocated with great haste, and outside of
forest legislation and
regulations.
* No export log monitoring. For the past
several years, log exports
have been independently monitored by SGS,
the Swiss inspection and
monitoring firm. This had proven to be one
of the most successful
efforts to reform an out-of-control timber
industry. The
government has chosen to not renew the
contract. As of April 1,
there will be no monitoring of log
exports.
* Dismantling of professional forest
service. Those within the
forest service that insist upon proper
forest allocation
procedures are being demoted or otherwise
silenced, according to
WWF. The widely respected general manager
of the Forest Authority,
who has insisted upon adherence to correct
procedures and has
worked hard to maintain a log export
monitoring capability, has
been demoted within the past week -- it
appears without proper due
process.
WWF has
urged the PNG government to make significant changes in its
forest
policies before valuable resources are forever lost.
Copyright
1999, Environmental News Network, All Rights Reserved
1.
http://www.enn.com/index.asp
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