By Eddie Tanago

The National Forest Board’s failure to stop the illegal FCA forest grab is undermining the Prime Minister’s commitment to protecting Papua New Guinea’s tropical forests.

Speaking at the United Nations in New York the Prime Minister has reminded the world of the fragile state of the environment and the need for everyone to act as stewards not destroyers of God’s creation. 

The Prime Minister’s emphasis on Papua New Guinea’s critical role as custodian of one of the world’s largest remaining rainforests stands in stark contrast to the Forest Board’s failure to stop the illegal abuse of FCA licences.

This failure in leadership is yet further evidence of a complete breakdown in governance in the forestry sector. 

The Forest Board imposed a moratorium on new FCA licences in November 2022 in response to widespread evidence of abuse, but nearly three years later nothing has been done to stop the logging and new projects continue to emerge.

In 2024, there were 18 operational FCA logging projects that produced over 500,000 cubic metres of timber for export to China. The logs were valued at over K200 million (US$50 million). Five of the FCA projects operating in 2024 only started operations after the NFB imposed its moratorium.

ACT NOW! has been documenting the abuse of Forest Clearing Authority logging licences by Malaysian owned logging companies and has published five reports on the abuses in individual FCA projects. 

Despite the clearly documented evidence in the reports, the National Forest Board and PNG Forest Authority have failed to respond to any of the allegations and ignored correspondence from ACT NOW!

The Forest Board ordered an audit of all FCA logging projects in 2022, but no audit reports have been released and there is no evidence that any action has been taken to shut down any illegal FCA projects.

Some FCA logging projects have been operating for more than 10-years with no signs of promised agriculture projects being developed.

In all, there have been more than 50 FCA logging licences, covering more than 3 million hectares of forest, issued since the first FCA was issued in 2006.

ACT NOW! is calling on the National Forest Board to release the findings from all the FCA audits that have been completed; immediately suspend all logging operations and log exports from unaudited FCA projects; and publicly respond to the allegations of illegality detailed in ACT NOW reports.

ACT NOW! Is also calling on donor countries like UK, Japan, EU and Australia that have partnership agreements and projects with PNGFA to publicly declare what action they are taking to ensure illegal and unsustainable logging is stopped.