Arson at PNG Forest Authority
By Jon Land
Fire on the weekend of June 5 destroyed extensive records of the Papua New Guinea Forest Authority. The PNG police are treating the case as arson. It comes in the midst of attempts by logging interests to weaken the government's legislation on logging.
The minister for forests, Tim Neville, and the head of the Forest Authority, Jean Kekedo, have both received death threats in recent months. The Forest Authority is a new body set up to monitor logging practices, particularly smuggling, corruption and illegal operations, which have plagued the industry for years.
The authority is investigating the illegal export of $K90 million overseas in 1992 and cases of bribery. An employee of a major logging company has been charged with offering Neville a $K20 million bribe.
The logging industry is 97% owned and controlled by foreign interests, mainly Malaysian and Japanese. Half of it is controlled by Rimbunan Hijau, a Malaysian company which supplies Japanese construction firms. Figures from the Japan Lumber Importers Association reported in the Australian show a dramatic increase in the demand for tropical timber. Japanese imports rose 51% in 1993 and an additional 39% in the first two months of this year.
The National Alliance of Non-Government Organisations, in consultation with traditional landowners, has demanded that logging be reduced and reforestation programs implemented. There exists no reforestation program at present. Many areas have been destroyed beyond repair, forcing communities from their traditional lands. The cut of 3 million cubic metres per year has been estimated by the PNG National Research Institute as three times the sustainable level.
Neville has drawn up plans to end the export of logs by the year 2000, in conjunction with establishing value added forestry industries in PNG.