A major scandal involving
the destruction of forests and the abuse
of human rights is rapidly unfolding in
my country. Right now, I am on the Greenpeace
ship Esperanza, at the heart of it.
This morning, activists
painted "stop the land grab" on
the side of a ship loading timber from land
that has been taken from the local communities,
and bound for China. The activity was met
with hostility from the logging company
but welcomed by local communities who want
to see an end to a new lease system called
'Special-purpose Agriculture and Business
leases' or SABLs.
Before sunbreak yesterday,
the Esperanza arrived in a remote and beautiful
part of PNG called Pomio district. I’m grateful
to finally be here but see many challenges
in store over the next few days. Behind
this scenic paradise is a community in despair.
The local landowners of Pomio have had their
land taken away by a logging company frequently
accused of corruption, and their government
is letting it happen.
When we arrived, were
greeted by taskforce police who requested
to board the ship. We said no thanks and
sent our chopper out to meet the landowners
we had come here to support.
When we landed on shore
we were met by over 200 landowners and their
families who had converged from ten local
villages to hold a peaceful protest on the
logging road. They held up banners reading
‘save our customary land’ and ‘stop the
land grab’. Some had walked miles through
the forest to share their concerns.
The Pomio story is not
unique today in PNG.
We also met some local
kids – they were three and four years old.
Their names had allegedly been falsely used
by the logging company to gain a logging
lease. The lease signs over their community’s
land for 99 years and their forests forever.
A new lease system –
known as special-purpose agriculture and
business leases or SABLs – will destroy
over 5 million hectares of PNG’s remaining
forests and, along with it, the homes and
livelihoods of hundreds of traditional communities.
Already over 60% of PNG’s diverse rainforests
have been destroyed by industrial logging
and agriculture. With the SABL system, the
situation has become even more critical.
How do SABLs work?
Most of the land in Papua New Guinea is
held under customary ownership by communities.
The government leases the land from these
communities and then lends it to corporate
entities, often foreign-owned logging and
agriculture corporations. Most SABLs run
for 99 years and alienate customary owners
who can only remain on their land at the
discretion of the leaseholder.
“Our land has been stolen
and our forests are being destroyed and
no one asked our permission. These SABL
leases must be stopped or my people will
lose our livelihoods for 99 years and our
forests forever,” said Paul Palosualrea,
a landowner leading today’s protests in
Pomio.
A web of scandal
Two weeks ago, the notorious Malaysia logging
company, Rimbunan Hijau, is reported to
have paid police to fly into Pomio villages
and silence the protesters. They are alleged
to have abused people with fan belts and
sticks and locked young men in shipping
containers.
Like many leases, there
are allegations that the Pomio SABL was
obtained through fraud and many of the names
said to have approved the lease were of
local children - one was as young as three.
Greenpeace is working
with a coalition of landowners, NGOs, civil
society groups and a local timber union
in PNG. Together we’re calling for an end
to all destructive and fraudulent SABLs
and the protection of PNG’s forests and
landowners’ rights. The action today will
place further pressure on the new PNG Prime
Minister, Peter O’Neil, to end this devastating
land grab.
The
logging companies promise much needed roads
and health services but all they deliver
are dirty rivers and destroyed forests.
The new PNG government must choose the rights
of its people over company profits. This
massive land grab has to stop.
