The recent Log Export report released by the SGS, a general surveillance society that’s globally recognized, showed an increase rather than a reduction despite the PNG Prime Minister’s log ban promises.
This concern was raised by the community advocacy group, ACT NOW! PNG’s Campaign Manager, Eddie Tanago.
Tanago pointed out that the report by SGS, on Log Exports contradicts the Marape Government’s Pledge to reducing unprocessed log export volumes.
Titled as Log Export and Monitoring Report December 2022, the chairman emphasized that the report showed a 10 per cent increase in Log export volume from 2021.
Tanago says contradictory to the Marape Government’s commitment to only allowing landowners, local and provincial companies to acquire licences to cut logs to sell, 9 new foreign log export operations started in 2022.
“…they want all logging on Papua New Guinea to be in a downstream processing mode,” Tanago said.
“But that is clearly not the case as this report reveals,” he added.
An additional point that the report revealed was what the chairman described as a clear defiance of a court order that halted the Timber Rights Purchase (TRP) projects.
This was a form of agreement used to allow harvesting of timber during the colonial era between logging companies, the colonial administration and landowners which was then outlawed and replaced by the Forestry Management Agreement (FMA) through the Forestry Act 1991.
“From the report, 41% of all log exports in 2022 came from TRP areas,” Tanago stressed.
The ACT NOW! PNG chairmen expressed that based on the report, the current government do not seem serious about the local people getting the best benefit of the country’s natural resource.
ACT NOW! is a community advocacy organisation that assists people to make their voices heard in relation to matters of national importance
