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FOREST
CONSERVATION NEWS TODAY - PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Eco-Forestry
Forum Calls for Strong Leadership, Releases Major Report
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Forest
Networking a Project of Forests.org, Inc.
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Portal
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Conservation Links
06/09/01
MAJOR
NEW PNG RAINFOREST CONSERVATION RESOURCE:
Summary
and Analysis of the Review Team Reports on New Forest
Concessions
Currently in Process
http://forests.org/pdf/Rtreports.pdf
By the
Papua New Guinea Eco-Forestry Forum
http://www.ecoforestry.org.pg/
OVERVIEW
& COMMENTARY by Forests.org
The
past week has witnessed a flurry of activity in Papua New Guinea
rainforest
conservation policy-making (see end of commentary for
information
on World Bank finally making public their position on the
moratorium
and eco-forestry). As you may be aware,
while the
moratorium
on new logging approvals has been in place, the PNG
government
commenced a review of proposed new forestry concessions.
A
Review Team appointed by the World Bank and paid for by the
Australian
Government has carried out this limited independent study
whereby
32 new proposed logging concessions were examined. If all
were
approved, this represents allocation of the majority of
remaining
large and contiguous rainforests in the World's third
largest
rainforest expanse to industrial logging.
The Review Team
commenced
work in November 2000 and presented their initial reports
in
March 2001. Their findings are presented in 33 individual reports
totaling
some 500 pages. Despite the review
being limited in its
focus
and scope, the findings provide a "damning indictment of the
current
state of forest management in PNG".
A
top-notch local group, the Papua New Guinea Eco-Forestry Forum, has
collaborated
with its member organizations to produce a major new
publication
that reviews the findings, and makes important
recommendations
on their basis. It is entitled
"Summary and Analysis
of the
Review Team Reports on New Forest Concessions Currently in
Process." Rather than email this 31-page document, we
have made it
available
on our "Papua New Guinea Rainforest & Sustainable
Development
Portal" at http://forests.org/pngforest.html. The 169kb
.pdf
file can be viewed at: http://forests.org/pdf/Rtreports.pdf.
This
document and the review it synopsizes is the most substantive
assessment
and critique of the PNG logging industry to be released
since
the Barnett inquiry in the late 1980s.
The damning and
rigorously
researched summary expose' highlights the complete failure
of the
PNG logging industry to provide equitable and environmentally
sensitive
development. The following excerpts
characterize the
review
findings:
"The
Review Team reports confirm once again that landowners wishes
are
being ignored and they are being cheated of their heritage. There
is
corruption, fraud and political interference. Due processes are
not
being followed and the quality of decision making is very poor.
As a
consequence, our forests are being destroyed, community
livelihoods
are the lowest in the region, there is no coordinated
land
use planning and conservation needs and future development
opportunities
are being ignored."
More
specifically, the following problems plague the industry:
* Still
virtually no sustainable forestry projects
* Poor
logging practices and Logging Code not being adhered to
*
Widespread environmental damage
*
Projects provide ... few long-term benefits, causing social
upheaval
*
Corruption a persistent problem at all levels of the industry
*
Minimal domestic processing investment
* Many
proposed projects too small to be viable
After
their exhaustive review of the Review Team findings, PNG NGOs
have
further developed sixteen specific recommendations for reform.
These
include an emphasis upon transparency, improved procedures for
working
with landowners, opening the policy to more divergent types
of
forest management, paying more attention to conservation issues,
removing
conflict of interest from granting of commercial contracts
and a
wide range of further important recommendations. Critically,
they
recommend maintaining the current Moratorium on the issuance of
new
timber permits, because it provides "the operating space for the
findings
of the Review Team to be properly analysed and for the
recommendations
that have been made to be implemented."
And lastly,
they
make specific recommendations for each of the individual
proposed
timber concessions given the irregularities and failings
identified
in the brief review that has been carried out.
All one
can say is WOW. And thank you to the
PNG Eco-Forestry Forum
for the
tremendous amount of work that must have been required for
such an
exhaustive and thorough review. Please
contact them (contact
information
below) for additional information and to support their
important
work.
WORLD
BANK ANNOUNCES POSITION ON MORATORIUM AND ECO-FORESTRY
I
should briefly mention that the World Bank, after nearly half a
year of
stonewalling, has finally replied publicly to local and
international
demands that the moratorium on new logging be
maintained,
and project support given to small and medium scaled
certified
forestry by communities rather than industrial log exports
by
multi-nationals. In a shocking betrayal
to the cause of PNG
rainforest
conservation and logging industry reform, the Bank has
indicated
that they will not require the government to maintain the
moratorium
in order to receive further loan payments.
Nor will their
proposed
forestry project's activities in forest management go beyond
subsidizing
industrial logging through yet another attempt to reform
the
current commercial log export industry.
Indeed, they defend
their
last minute dumping of over 1.5 million dollars in funding for
the
legal framework to recognize community certified forestry, and to
provide
much needed extension services.
After
giving the World Bank the benefit of the doubt for years, while
they
have blocked a log export ban and more substantive reforms; all
forest
conservationists must reappraise the situation and our support
for
their log subsidies and defense of the status quo industry. I
will be
composing additional information on their disappointing
positions
shortly, but thought you should know that the World Bank
has
abandoned the log moratorium and eco-forestry policy-making in
Papua
New Guinea.
g.b.
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RELAYED
TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Strong leaders needed to protect PNG forests
Source:
THE PAPUA NEW GUINEA ECO-FORESTRY FORUM
P.O. Box 590, Kimbe, West New Britain
Province, Papua New Guinea
Tel:
983 5144
Fax:
983 5852
Email:
teff@global.net.pg
Website:
www.ecoforestry.org.pg
Date: June 9, 2001
Press
Release
A
coalition of NGOs has made a series of recommendations to
Government
about the future of the forest sector in the hope that
amongst
our political leaders and our government institutions there
are
individuals with the strength to stand up for what is right.
The
Eco-Forestry Forum says that a number of recommendations dealing
with
transparency, landowner awareness, the National Forest Plan and
other
issues has been submitted to the Inter Agency Review Committee
in
response to the recent review of new forest concessions.
A Forum
spokesperson said, "We've made the submission in the hope
that
amongst our political leaders and our government institutions
there
are individuals with the strength to stand up for what is
right."
"The
review team reports confirm once again that landowners wishes
are
being ignored and they are being cheated of their heritage.
There
is corruption, fraud and political interference."
"As
a consequence, our forests are being destroyed, community
livelihoods
are the lowest in the region, there is no co-ordinated
land use
planning and conservation needs and future development
opportunities
are being ignored," the Forum says.
The
recent review of new forestry concessions has recommended that of
the 30
proposed Forest Management Agreements investigated, 11 should
probably
not be progressed any further because of insufficient
resources
for a sustainable operation.
The
review also revealed that 21 of the 30 proposed FMAs that the
Forest
Authority has been developing as log export operations have
insufficient
resource according to the PNGFA's own guidelines to
sustain
that type of development option.
The NGO
coalition recommends:
* Full
implementation of the recommendations of the review of
proposed
new concessions
*
Review of all existing forest operations
* A new
and effective method of monitoring and enforcement
* An
effective and independent system to ensure socially appropriate
and
economically and environmentally sustainable forest management
* A new
national planning process
* A
change in the focus of the Forest Authority.
The NGO
submission breaks these main recommendations down into a
number
of specific action points relating to issues such as
transparency,
landowners awareness, cutting cycles and monitoring and
enforcement
in current concessions.
"Now
is not the time for sticking plasters when major surgery is
needed. We urge the government and all parties with
interests in the
forests
sector to recognise this, commit to fundamental change,"
Kokino
says.
The
Papua New Guinea Eco-Forestry Forum supports integrated rural
community
development and sustainable resource use through a viable
and
sustainable eco-forestry industry
###RELAYED
TEXT ENDS###
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