via The National

SOME landowners want all logging operations in the Turubu log pond area in East Sepik province to stop until the Special Agriculture Business Licences (SABL) report is completed and the government makes its recommendations.

They want to know why the report into SABLs is still pending and logging operations going on in areas not consented to.

They made the calls at a landowners’ forum held in Wewak last Tuesday which involved people from the Turubu local level government and Wewak local and urban areas.

The forum, initiated by the Turubu Eco Forestry Development Programme Inc, was an avenue for local landowners to talk about issues relating to natural resource management.

The forum supported landowners in the Turubu log pond area.

During the forum landowners said if the government was delaying the process, there should be no further logging activities in Turubu.

They said that was a corrupt practice and the authorities must look into it immediately for the sake of the people.

Landowner Gabriel Molok said it seemed the developer of the oil palm and logging in Turubu had created divisions among the landowners, causing them to fight each other while the company went in and extracted natural resources on customary land.

Molok said that was the case for many landowners in Turubu and local people must stand together to oppose any such deals.

He said councillors in the area had failed miserably in taking the lead as some of them were with the company.

The landowners called on the national government to fast-track funding for the commission of inquiry team so that its report was finalised.

The landowner representatives said they wanted the report quickly so that people would be in a better position to make informed decisions on what they wanted to do with their land.

The forum discussed issues relating to REDD and said it was an alternative that many forested communities in the country could engage in to preserve their forests for future use.