Source: The National

THE National Court in Waigani has issued an interim order restraining an oil palm company operating in Northern from transporting any equipment, material or property into the Collingwood Bay area. 

Landowners successfully obtained the restraining order last week.

Governor Gary Juffa yesterday congratulated the landowners for their persistence in pursuing what he suspected was an illegal Special Agriculture Business Lease in the province. 

From Radio New Zealand

The managing director of one of Papua New Guinea’s main coffee exporters says the industry needs more famers.

Monpi Coffee operates out of Goroka, the capital of Eastern Highlands province and one of PNG’s largest coffee-growing regions.

Chris Anders has lived in Goroka for 30 years and says coffee from the region is very good quality.

He says that was proved recently when a supplier won third place at awards held by the Specialty Coffee Association of America.

By Nina Wegner in The Huffington Post

Sad but true: the mahogany desk in your study or the merbau flooring in your living room probably came from illegal timber logged on tropical lands. It's a dirty trade that's been happening for decades, but a new report finds that Papua New Guinea, one of the main exporters of illegal timber in the world, is now leasing out its ancestral lands to foreign loggers and investors in one of the fastest and largest land grabs in recent history.

From PNGexposed blog

SABL Commission of Inquiry Report 1: Pages 143 – 166

Gerrard Kassman and his sons Charles and John are the beneficiaries of two illegal and fraudulent SABL land deals close to Port Moresby that seek to cash in on the Exxon-Mobil LNG project.

”There was misrepresentation and fraud involved in the whole process” [p164]

The forging of landowner signatures “borders on fraud and is a criminal act” [p151]

SABL Commission of Inquiry Report 2: Pages 390 – 530

There were “serious defects in the process that we observe are fraudulent and corruptible” [p505]

On the increase in the forest clearance corridor from 40m to 10,000m: ”The C.O.I finds this to be erroneous, misleading and mischievous.. [it also] contradicts the statutory requirements” [p397]

It was “illegal or fraudulent” [p405]

How familiar does this sound... Malaysian logging companies offering promises of oil palm to get access to vast areas of forest for logging.

PNG is not alone in suffering from a huge illegal land grab by foreign companies...

From PNGexposed Blog

SABL Commission of Inquiry Report 2: Pages 867-899

Continental Ventures Limited “failed completely to ensure transparency and good governance in its dealings with the landowners of the SABL project area.” [p875].

From EMTV news

Failure to produce and implement a full Commission of Inquiry recommendation over the controversial Special Agricultural Business Leases (SABL’s) is causing distress for innocent landowning communities in rural areas.

The people of West Pomio in the East New Britain Province, are one among those facing the plight of losing their land and suffering ill treatment to their forests by foreign developers under SABL agreements.

By Colin Filer* on DevPolicy Blog