It’s the same story shared by many landowners where logging activities are rampant. Landowners claiming to be spectators in their own land while their forest is being stripped off tropical logs in the name of development.
The major setback for most of these landowners is that Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) is nonexistence.
It was shared during a public seminar that not all landowners give their Free Prior and Informed Consent to companies but are shocked later on when logging trucks entre their village.
Most times, attempts to stop the company from cutting down logs are met with police resistance.
Sam Vegogo from Wanigela in Oro Province says his community was devasted to learn a foreign logging company has been given permission to log their forests without informing his people or obtaining their consent.
“The people of Collingwood Bay have been fighting against illegal logging for decades. But despite numerous court victories we see the PNG Forest Authority continually siding with Asian companies to try and steal our forests.”
David Mitchel from Eco-Custodian Advocates in Alotau, Milne Bay Province shared similar views and questioned why government agencies responsible for monitoring and compliance and are not diligently doing their jobs.
Eddie Tanago from Act Now! echoed concerns adding that monitoring and compliance by government authorities does not end after the license has been issued. It continues all through the project’s life.
Act Now! who hosted the seminar to demand a stop for Forest Clearing Authorities (FCA) licenses are calling out all these agencies to take action. Among the demands are;
· The National Forest Board to impose a moratorium on new FCA licenses until a full government inquiry has been conducted and any recommendations have been implemented
· The government to suspend all log exports from FCA’s areas until an independent, transparent and public inquiry into the legality of all existing FAC’s
· The Fraud Squad, UNODC and Interpol to identify what criminal laws may have been broken in the submission and approval of fraudulent FCA’s applications and the removal of timber without the consent of forest owners
· Commercial Banks to identify any customers linked to FCA logging operations and ensure full compliance with all AML regulations and bank ESR policies.
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