The Forest Minister has taken out full page adverts in the media this month [see below] trying to refute allegations of illegal logging and financial misreporting by the logging industry. But his lengthy explanations fail to answer the central allegations and many of his admissions actually add weight to the arguments he is trying to dispute!

A new report published by the United Nations Human Rights Council is critical of the SABL land grab and the PNG government’s response. The UN says the land grab has been especially harmful to minorities and indigenous peoples.

The SABL land grab has resulted in over 5 million hectares of land being unlawfully taken from indigenous rural people and given to foreign corporations.

Adam Smith staff celebrate

Source: PNG Exposed

Who is Adam Smith International working for when it writes laws and policies in PNG - the people of PNG or its foreign paymasters? And how much do it's staff and owners benefit personally?

Source: PNG Mine Watch

During the recent Melanesian Indigenous Land Defence Alliance Youth Workshop which took place in the Solomon Islands, on the island of Ysabel, the participants updated and added to the Lelepa declaration of 2014.

The Buala Declaration 2016

Trouble in Haiti: Scene from Disaster Capitalism. Photo: Antony Loewenstein.

Source: Garry Maddox, Sydney Morning Herald, April 5, 2016

The government is to ignore the SABL Commission of Inquiry and endorse the SABL land grab by converting the unlawful leases into registered land and issuing new leases to the logging companies.

Summary of paper given at the 2015 Waigani Seminar, by Tim Anderson

The government’s human rights record and its failure to protect the interests of customary landowners is under the spotlight in Switzerland this week.

Community advocacy group ACT NOW! is in Geneva briefing diplomats at the United Nations on the SABL land grab, illegal logging and experimental seabed mining.

Source: DevPolicy Blog

Source: Radio NZ

The Pacific Community says it is still not clear whether the potential economic benefits of sea bed mining will outweigh the negative effects on the environment and on local livelihoods.

The comments come after the SPC's proposed legal and regulatory framework on sea bed mining was accused of neglecting indigenous and environmental safeguards.