Vote to save Paradise Forests

To most of us, PNG is paradise and sure enough, this is the home of one of the world’s most beautiful birds, the bird of paradise. The sad truth is that the home of this beautiful bird is under enormous threat of destruction by unscrupulous industrial logging, it is a national development problem left to grow out of proportion.

Our governments over the years have been responsible for poor management of our forest resources. The current government has failed to get logging companies to comply with the law.  It also allocated 10 “high impact” projects that will wipe out much of PNG’s pristine intact rainforests and cause the demise of much of our rich biodiversity without considering the environmental concerns raised by a wide section of the community here and internationally.

Over the last five years the government has failed to take control of the industry and allowed large foreign owned logging companies to continue to illegally and destructively log our natural heritage. Enforcement of PNG’s forestry laws have been lax to say the least.  This is something that the logging industry has exploited to the detriment of landowners and the more than 80% of our people who are dependent on the forest for their survival.

Meanwhile the government has consistently denied that there is a problem. Instead it and the forest industry went on the defensive.  Rimbunan Hijau hired international consultancy firms like ITS Global with spokesmen like Alan Oxley to discredit NGO’s that called for the logging sector to be cleaned up.  

However, a recent report by the International Tropical Timber Organsation (ITTO) has put that argument to rest.  It found that there is no sustainable forest management in PNG and that the Papua New Guinea Forest Authority (PNGFA) is more concerned with logging for the financial benefit of the government than it is with sustainably managing our forest resource.  

And yet the problems continue.  Only last week another allegation of human rights abuse within the logging sector appeared in the Post Courier (14th June 2007).  Landowners from Vanimo were reportedly bashed and abused by police officers and a court order directing loggers to stop operations was also torn up.

No wonder the forestry sector has been described as the “most corrupt” (B. Philemon. PC. 22 Dec. 06), yet our leaders continue to turn a blind eye to a crisis that is not only affecting us but many generations of Papua New Guineans to come.

Since successive governments have failed to stamp out corruption in forestry and other sectors it is up to the PNG people as voters to make a difference. The race towards the election of our representatives and our new Government is on and our ears are being deafened by the voices of political party leaders and candidates bombarding us with promises, which they may not be able to keep.

Many politicians and candidates have no clear vision of how to manage sustainable harvesting of our forest resources and, sadly, we don’t hear many promoting conservation or the rights of future generations to our natural resources.

Many candidates will say things they know we voters want to hear without any real genuine understanding of the consequences of empty promises or the impact of development on a population ill prepared to absorb massive influxes of money and other political and social influences.

The challenge for voters is to ensure they are not marginalised in the process of the development of our natural resources.  We must choose political parties and candidates who we know will genuinely make a difference for the people.

Community and church leaders must take the initiative to inform their people of the qualities of good leadership and guide them in the process of ensuring our next government is a good and responsible one. Corruption, mismanagement and illegal activities in the forestry sector is one of the concerns that people everywhere should be aware of.

Voters must get political parties to tell inform them of their party platforms and policies. They must also look at the track records of candidates and look for political parties that have well developed environmental policies.

The onus is now on us as voters to make a difference, the power is in your vote to save the Paradise Forests of PNG.


Dorothy Tekwie
Greenpeace Australia Pacific
Forests Campaigner

This article appeared in the PNG based  Post Courier as a Focus Column on the June 25, 2007