Forest Minister Douglas Tomuriesa seems to be living in the past and to be unaware of all the current problems in the forestry sector in PNG

The Minister has gone public, see below, claiming all the issues of illegal and unsustainable logging in PNG have been dealt with starting in 1991 with the passing of the Forestry Act and establishment of the PNG Forest Authority.

The poor Minister seems oblivious to the volumes of more recent research, some of it commissioned by the government, that shows the problems of illegal and unsustainable logging were not effectively addressed by the 1991 reforms and are still continuing.

Has the Minister not read the 2014 SGS report that shows one-third of log exports come from SABL areas - logging operations both the Prime Minister and Chief Secretary have declared "a scam" and which are clearly illegal?

Has the Minister not read the 2007 International Tropical Timber Organiisation Diagnostic Mission report that said government agencies are failing to properly apply and enforce the law, failing to ensure even basic standards of legality andcompletely failing 'to achieve any semblance of sustainability in its forest management'?

Has the Minister not read the 2004 Forestry and Conservation project reviews of current logging operations and its review of disputed permits that uncovered widespread illegality? These were the findings of Wold Bank consultants working inside the PNG Forest Authority, not Greenpeace or WWF.

Has the Minister not read the assessments from Forest Trends and Chatham House that found at least 70% of logging in PNG is illegal?

For the Minister to suggest all these problems have somehow been miracuously addressed over the past five or ten years, with no reforms, no new resources and nobody noticing is palpable nonsense.

The Minister seriously needs to do some background reading...

And perhaps he should also reflect on the fact his comments were reported in The National - which is owned by Malaysian logging giant Rimbunan Hijau!

‘Govt dealt with illegal logging issues’

Source: 

The National, Monday October 26th, 2015

 THE PNG Forest Authority has in the past five to 10 years worked towards addressing issues of illegal logging in the country, says Forestry Minister Douglas Tomuriesa.
Tomuriesa told The National that a lot of the issues that have been raised with the 1991 Barnett Inquiry had been addressed.
“Most of these issues were raised especially by some of the non-governmental organisation groups. Forestry has worked towards addressing some of those issues and so what we are doing is we are talking to the NGOs to work closely,” the minister said.
“Most of them don’t understand that we’ve addressed a lot of issues here in forestry. The directors and heads of our forest sector here have addressed most of the issues. 
“One of the major issues is the word illegal logging in the country. Illegal logging is just a vocabulary, a word that a lot of people would like to use to tarnish the name of forestry and the Government. 
“When you look at the issues that have been raised in the Barnett Inquiry, we have started to work around the clock to address those issues -  illegal logging in the country.
In the 1980s, persistent reports about malpractices in PNG’s forest industry resulted in the Barnett Forest Industry Inquiry of 1989 and the World Bank Review of 1990. 
Following these inquiries, the PNG Government developed the new Forestry Act in 1991. It developed a new forestry policy to address the shortcomings of the previous forest policy, which was developed in 1979. 
As part of the implementation of the recommendations of the Barnett Inquiry, the PNG Government created the Papua New Guinea Forest Authority (PNGFA). 
The PNGFA is therefore the mandated authority with the responsibility for implementing the Forestry Act 1991 and the Forest Policy 1991. 
The Government contracted Societé Generate de Surveillance (SGS) in May 1994 to provide an independent, arms-length monitoring of all log exports from PNG to ensure that logs exported are sold at prevailing market prices. 
SGS monitoring was to ensure that export shipments were correctly declared with respect to log volumes and species. 
SGS is the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company.