A new case study by ACT NOW! and Jubilee Australia Research Centre has revealed serious concerns about ongoing logging operations under a Forest Clearing Authority (FCA) in Wanigela, Oro Province.

The report details how the logging has been allowed to proceed despite strong local opposition, evidence the FCA is not being used for forest clearance and agriculture, and concerns over legal compliance.

The case study examines Northern Forest Products Limited, the license owner, operating under an FCA first granted in 2017. 

The FCA was for a supposed tree plantation project that involved chopping down tropical rainforest across approximately 42,600 hectares. Despite a temporary halt in 2019 - when the FCA was successfully challenged by local landowners with support from the Oro Provincial Governor - a new FCA was granted in July that same year. Logging and timber exports resumed shortly after.

After eight years, there is no evidence of a tree plantation being established, confirming serious concerns that the agricultural project was a pretext for selective large-scale native forest logging. This is supported by satellite image analysis that shows no clearing of land for agricultural purposes - indicating that the FCA’s terms are not being met - and considerable logging outside the FCA boundaries. By the end of 2023, 150,000 cubic metres of round logs had already been shipped from the area, with a declared value of around USD 15 million (PGK 60 million).

The study also highlights persistent community opposition to the logging, alongside ongoing concerns about resource owner consent and the project’s environmental and social impacts - concerns that remain unaddressed.

This is the fifth publication exposing the abuse of FCAs to facilitate large-scale tropical forest logging in PNG, and the fourth in this case study series. Yet, despite mounting evidence, there has been no public response from the PNG Forest Authority (PNGFA) regarding the current FCA for the Wanigela Tree Plantation Project or any of the other FCA projects exposed in the reports.

There is now a solid body of published evidence that FCA licences are being routinely abused, yet the PNG Forest Authority has repeatedly failed to respond to the allegations. Therefore the Prime Minister needs to step in and stop the ongoing illegal logging in-line with his promises to the international community that PNG will protect its forests.

Logging occurring under FCAs is undermining the third largest intact rainforest on the planet, and yet it is being systematically destroyed not for the benefit of local people but for the profit of foreign companies. The Prime Minister and the PNG Government need to step in and act.

Wanigela is one of 2 active logging concessions that were operating under FCAs across nine provinces at the end of 2023. These actively exporting FCAs each span an average area of 61,849 hectares - equivalent to more than 11,000 football fields.

Summary of Recommendations

• Northern Forest Products Ltd should halt logging, rehabilitate damaged areas, and compensate landowners if activities are found to be illegal.
• PNGFA should investigate the Wanigela FCA, suspend or cancel it if consent or compliance is lacking, penalise breaches, and provide compensation where due.
• PNG’s Department of Agriculture and Livestock should assess whether the project aligns with its agricultural claims.
• Financial institutions providing services to Northern Forest Products Limited should review risks and ensure due diligence on any funds linked to the project.
• To address wider FCA misuse, PNGFA should publish review findings, conduct an independent audit, suspend log exports, extend the moratorium on new FCAs, and establish a public register.

DOWNLOAD THE CASE STUDY

https://actnowpng.org/sites/default/files/publications/Wanigela%20FCA%20Report.pdf