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More Evidence of Logging Crime in Forest Sector

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Round logs facing upward

Act Now! PNG has released a third report, highlighting yet again, one of the many logging abuses in Papua New Guinea.

Titled “Where is the Beef? The Wasu Cattle Farm Project”, the report points out the abuse of the Forest Clearing Authority (FCA) concession.

This new report is a case study out OF Wasu in the Tewai-Siassi District of Morobe Province.

The report is a third of a series and focuses on a project that is referred to alternatively as a cattle project or an integrated agriculture project, but to date, there hasn’t been any cattle on ground or any agriculture project.

The Morobe based Wasu Integrated Agriculture Project, received an FCA in 2019 and began exporting logs in 2021.

To date, it has generated over K15.6 (US$4.5 million) in log export revenue for Malaysian owned Wasu Resource Limited.

The new report highlights:
• Allegations by customary landowners that they did not give their legally-required consent to the project;
• The absence of any evidence that the logging company has established a cattle farm in the area, despite exporting logs valued at over K15 million since 2021; and
• Evidence from satellite imagery showing a logging pattern more consistent with commercial selective logging than forest clearance for agriculture.

In a statement released yesterday following the release of the report, Act Now! calls on the Government to act now and address the abuse of the Forest Clearing Authority (FCA).

An FCA is a type of logging license intended to allow forest clearing to promote use of land for the economic development. However, previous reports by ACT NOW! and others have discussed cases in which FCA licenses have been misused to facilitate large-scale selective commercial logging activities.

ACT NOW! is calling on the government to undertake an independent, public and transparent audit of all existing FCAs’.

Act Now! Campaign Manager, Eddie Tanago says, until this is done, log exports from FCAs should be suspended.

He said an urgent review should also be conducted to see if the Wasu Cattle Farm project is operating legally.

The full report can be accessed through the Act Now! website.

The other related reports are “Ten Years Without A Crop- The Wammy Rural Development Project” and “A New Forest Grab – The Mengen Integrated Agriculture Project“.

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ACT NOW! reveals evidence of illegal logging in ENB

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ACT NOW! reveals evidence of more illegal logging in new case study

ACT NOW! has released another case study report that reveals more illegal logging under the pretext of agriculture development.

This new report titled “A New Forest Grab” focuses on the Mengen agriculture project in East New Britain Province.

ACT NOW! says the report reveals how a Malaysian owned logging company, KK Connections, has used highly suspicious claims that will establish a forest plantation and agriculture projects to obtain a Forest Clearing Authority (FCA), which it is now using as cover to export thousands of cubic meters of round logs.

An FCA is only supposed to be used to allow the clearing of small, discrete areas of forest for agriculture or other land use changes, but satellite images analyzed by ACT NOW reveal the logging company in the Mengen area is roaming over a large area, selectively felling and extracting valuable timber with no forest clearance or agriculture planting.

The second report follows its first report, Ten Years Without a Crop, published last month in conjunction with Jubilee Australia.

The first report according to ACT NOW! revealed how another Malaysian-owned logging company, Global Elite Limited who has already sold US$31 million (115 million kina) worth of round logs from the Wammy FCA in West Sepik Province, but has not established promised palm oil or rubber plantations.

ACT NOW!’s Campaign Manager Eddie Tanago said to make matters worse, both reports highlight how the FCA logging operations have been approved by the PNG Forest Authority without the informed consent of a significant proportion of customary landowners.

He said just last week, Prime Minister Marape again reaffirmed his government’s commitment to the protection and sustainable management of our forest resources, yet the PNG Forest Authority is continuing to allow illegal logging across the entire country.

ACT NOW! Is calling on the PNG Forest Authority to cancel the Forest Clearing Authorities for both the Mengen and Wammy projects and to impose a moratorium on logging in all FCA areas.

In total there are 24 active FCA logging operations across nine Provinces which cover an average area of 61,849 hectares, the equivalent of more than 11,000 rugby fields.

Eddie Tanago, said: “FCAs are routinely being used as a loophole to authorize the theft of PNG’s forests. We call on the National Forest Board and PNG Forest Authority to extend the current moratorium on new FCAs, suspend logging in all existing FCAs and conduct a comprehensive public review of the projects”.

ACT NOW says it is also calling on the Independent Commission Against Corruption and the Fraud squad to open investigations into these illegal logging operations as they are continuing under the supervision of Forest Authority officers.

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