Source: Little Green Palai

Just the thought of mining the seafloor in Melanesia is not sitting well with two women from Melanesia.

From Vanuatu, the new president of the Vanuatu National Council of Women, Mrs. Leias Cullwick is still firm on the Vanuatu women’s call to stop exploration and mining on the seafloor in Vanuatu.

“Why do even want to talk about seabed mining?” she asks. “We don’t want to hear about it. We don’t want to talk about it. Some things are meant to be left alone!  And for Vanuatu we will not support this project!

Mrs. Cullwick said the seafloor is God’s footstool. Why are we even going there? God is providing richly for us so why do we want to destroy this richness? She says, as air in some industrialized countries has become thick and heavy and not fit for humans, the Pacific is a place that will save the world because of its rich and clean environment. Mining the seafloor will destroy what’s left of the ecosystem since land based resources are harvested at a very fast rate.

In Papua New Guinea, Karkar Islander Ms. Nenisa Ibak, an ordinary island woman and an active Karkar Island youth leader is still calling on Mining Minister Byron Chan to be a man and to respect the wishes of the people especially the women and children.

Ms Nenisa Ibak with Oro Governor Gary Juffa and civil society groups during the 2012 experimental seabed mining petition presentation in Port Moresby

Ms. Ibak said, in 2012 through ActNow PNG, 9,200 Karkar Islanders petitioned him to stop seabed mining. This call is still standing and more Karkar Islanders are joining this call.

“We are islanders. The sea is our land. It provides food and everything we need for our sustenance. Seabed mining will destroy us even if mining is happening miles away, the impact will still get to us.”

Mrs Cullwick said, our governments have not yet been able to manage well what we already have; our forests, our land, and our resources so our call is for them to get our houses in order first before we even think about projects that will require foreign knowledge and skills.

Starting tomorrow in Sydney the Papua New Guinea Mines and Petroleum Department will be hosting its investment conference in the hope of bringing more investors to mine in Papua New Guinea.