ACT NOW! is today launching a new multi-media campaign 'Celebrating and Defending Customary Land’.

Why? Well, customary land is the most valuable and important asset available to most Papua New Guineans but its critical role is often misunderstood or misrepresented, particularly by outsiders.

Too few people realise customary land supports an economy estimated to be worth K40 billion a year, provides jobs and incomes for 3 million farmers and provides housing and a sense of community for more than 7 million people.

Source: Scott Waide, My Land My Country

A group of  customary landowners in Papua New Guinea have regained access to their land following a significant legal victory against supporters of a logging company.

Image: Samuel Kuku, a beekeeper in the Eastern Highlands.

Source: Scott Waide / EMTV news

For more than 30 years, Tella Loie, worked in the public service as a honeybee specialist.

Lester Seri speaking at the SABL petition presentation in 2017

Two customary landowners have been served with a defamation lawsuit and a gagging order application by Malaysian owned logging company, Northern Forest Products Limited.

Commentary by By Aloysius Otmar on PNG Today

PM Peter O'Neill and Treasury Minister Charles Abel are saying PNG will benefit from the APEC 2018. Like many right thinking and concerned PNGeans, I doubt it very much. This event will only be a major gain for many politically-aligned individuals and not the country as a whole. Why do I need to boast about the APEC 2018 when;

Police action squad dealing to illegal loggers in Oro Province. Image: Gary Juffa/FB

OPINION: By Gary Juffa

In the ongoing saga of stopping illegal logging in Papua New Guinea’s Oro province, our facts reveal that the PNG Forest Authority is failing our people.

Source: Martyn Namarong / Namarong Report

The International Justice and Human Rights (IJHR) Clinic at the Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia has released a manual that explores the novel idea of prosecuting land grabbing as a crime against humanity.

Photo: MCC dumps waste from the Ramu mine into Basamuk Bay 

Ditch Ocean Dumping coalition calls on Citigroup to divest from mines tied to the practice

IMAGE: Map showing new logging roads and tree cover loss in 2017

SOURCE: Global Witness

February 21st is the first anniversary of the presentation of a 10,000 signature petition to the Department of Lands demanding the cancellation of the SABL leases. 2018, also marks five-years since the SABL Commission of Inquiry exposed the full extent of the illegal land grab, which affects more than 10% of the whole country.