Source: The National

THE Northern government and the landowners of the Collingwood Bay area have cancelled two Special Agriculture Business Leases (SABL) through the National Court in Waigani.

Governor Gary Juffa announced that at a media conference in Port Moresby yesterday.

He did not elaborate on the court’s ruling but said Northern was the first province to be successful through the court of law in the cancellation of its SABLs.

Source: PNG Mine watch

The operation of the seabed mining at the Bismark Sea, by Nautilus Minerals Inc, has been getting a negative reception from civil society bodies.

Pacific Civil Society (CSO) including churches, non-government organisations (NGOs), women’s groups, customary landowners and community groups are against the mining, saying it will bring more harm than good.

Source: Rainforest Action Network

High court sides with Indigenous communities in battle over controversial Malaysian palm oil giant’s plan to develop large areas of ancestral territory and pristine forest

Source: Jamie Tanguay - Culture Talk

The call for a new metric

In October 2012, 24,000 people signed a petition to the Papua New Guinea Government against experimental seabed mining.

Source: Radio New Zealand

A concerned group of NGOs say deep sea mining in the Pacific is being pushed forward without regard for ethics and moral principles.

The Pacific Civil Society group has issued a statement, signed by the PNG-based Bismarck Ramu Group, the Pacific Conference of Churches and the Pacific Network on Globalisation, saying there is too much emphasis on financial benefits, and too little on the impact on the environment and people.

Cook Islands Sea Bed Mining Briefing ‘Hijacked’ By Activists

Environmentalists ‘making a big noise’ dominate public forum

Source: Ben Chapman-Smith | Cook Islands News

A seabed minerals update meeting held for the public this week was disrupted by certain individuals who "hijacked" the event, says Seabed Minerals Commissioner Paul Lynch.

Commentary from the Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG)

The people of Collingwood Bay in Oro Province are in a real celebratory mood after the Department of Lands conceded to giving back their customary land after 20 years of court battles.

The people have reclaimed their land – a total land area of 38,350 hectares, given away by the Department of Lands in two Special Agriculture Business Leases (SABL) for 50 years.

With the introduced Free Health Service launched by the Government in the Alotau Accord early this year (Stephen Howes NRI, 2014) and in its inception in 2010, it is sad to see that hospitals and health centers in Papua New Guinea lack proper health facilities for treating patients. Nurses in the Eastern Highlands Province (EHP) spoke about some of the issues affecting their work on the International Nurses Day on the 12^th of May 2014.