A short video warning customary landowners about the government’s intention to use the National Land Summit to spark a new land grab has been viewed more than 13,000 times in less than a fortnight.

Produced by ACT NOW!, the video explains how the Land Summit will lead to commercial banks and foreign companies being given more access to customary land. This is in response to the government being forced to stop the issuing of new SABL leases.

This advert was published in The Wantok newspaper on March 14, 2019 and will be appearing in the lead up to the National Land Summit 2019 at the begining of May. 

By Franklin Kolma / Post Courier

A development researcher has found that land mobilisation and Public-Private Partnership policies renders legitimate traditional land and resource owners mere spectators.

By Madang Maror* and Alliance of Solwara Warriors

We, Madang Maror and Alliance of Solwara Warriors with support from the Sepik Communities hereby announce that the National Land Summit is a scam.

In Papua New Guinea traditional land does not belong to individuals, it is a communal stewardship. Therefore, the Lands Department and organizers of the summit have NO MANDATE to talk about our traditional land.

The government of plotting to grab more customary land and hand it to multi-national companies and the commercial banks.

While it has been forced to stop issuing illegal SABL leases, the government now intends to use the National Land Summit as a cover to find new ways to ‘facilitate access to customary land’.

Source: Oakland Institute

In advance of the release of the World Bank’s 2019 Enabling the Business of Agriculture (EBA) report, the Oakland Institute exposes the Bank’s new scheme to privatize land in the developing world.

It is one of the world’s biggest illegal land grabs, yet more than 5-years after the government promised to cancel the SABL leases and return the land to its customary owners, the people of Papua New Guinea are still waiting to hear which, if any, leases have been cancelled.

Image: Foreign Minister Rimbink Pato, Prime Minister Peter O'Neill and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the APEC leaders summit in Port Moresby last year. PNG's PM has faced criticism for spending on the meeting. Photo: APEC Papua New Guinea Media team

Issues of corruption and land grabbing figure high in Human Rights Watch assessemnt of PNG