Tropical forest in the Pacific.
Papua New Guinea Prime Minister, Sir Mekere Morauta has joined
Greenpeace in condemning the destructive Kiunga Aiambak logging
project.
Greenpeace activists, supported by the MV Arctic Sunrise, are
maintaining their vigil preventing the loading of illegal timber
off remote Umuda Island in Western PNG.
Yesterday Sir Mekere released an official statement saying, "the
Kiunga-Aiambak project, involving Concord Pacific Ltd and a
landowner company, should never have occurred."
Sir Mekere also said:
- A full court hearing scheduled for the end of the week will
determine whether the Forest Authority can take action against the
Kiunga Aiambak project; - The Acting Attorney-General will join the
case in support of the Forest Authority; Allegationsof human rights
abuses against resource owners would be investigated; and
- The logging project will be one of the first operations to be
examined under the forthcoming independent review of projects;
Furtherextensions to this logging project will neither be
permitted, nor valid.
"We are pleased by these undertakings. But Greenpeace wants the
Kiunga Aiambak logs currently at Umuda Island to be seized by the
government. They should either be returned to their rightful
owners, or the logs sold by the Forest Authority and the monies
received paid into a trust account, pending final court
proceedings" said Greenpeace forest specialist, Brian Brunton.
Overnight Malaysian logging company Concord Pacific towed the
log barge away from the MV Hua Yang after the Prime Minister´s
condemnation of the logging operations. Australian Greenpeace
climbers left the ship´s cranes more than 48 hours after they began
their protest.
Greenpeace volunteers will stand watch over the remaining logs
until the court makes its ruling on the legality of the project on
Friday.
The Greenpeace activity began on Sunday afternoon, when
volunteers boarded the MV Hua Yang, which was loading Kiunga
Aiambak logs to take to China. Most of the logs are exported to
China, Japan and Korea, where they are used to make furniture,
flooring and cheap plywood.
Landowners say the Kiunga Aiambak logging project has caused
them social, environmental and economic problems.