The decision by the New Zealand government to reject an experimental seabed mining proposal should prompt a review of similar plans in PNG says community campaign group, ACT NOW!

"The New Zealand decision to rejected seabed mining in its exclusive economic zone is highly relevant to the proposed mining activity by Nautilus Minerals in the Bismarck Sea", says ACT NOW! Program Manager, Effrey Dademo.

Effrey Dademo

Moves by the government to review the Lands Act and introduce revised legislation* are premature and focus attention away from the real problem - corruption, says community activist group, ACT NOW!

Changes to the law ignore the corruption which is at the root of most of the current problems with land administration and any changes will do nothing to stop the ongoing abuses.

The Papua New Guinea Forest Authority (PNG FA) will not cancel the Forest Clearance Authorities it has granted allowing logging inside Special Agriculture and Business Lease areas and thus is not defending the rights and interests of customary landowners.

This was made clear in a recent meeting of NGOs with the PNGFA. 

On 26 September ACT NOW! led a delegation to meet with the Managing Director of the PNG Forest Authority and his senior managers to explain to them why the Forest Clearance Authorities issued by the Authority are null and void and should be cancelled.

The Forest Clearance Authorities have been issued to allow clear felling of forests in areas leased from customary landowners under Special Agriculture and Business Leases.

POST COURIER, June 20, 2014

BY MELISSA MARTIN, Post Courier, 11th June 2014

THE National Research Institute is of the view that the special agriculture business leases has leakages and need to be changed. The National Research Institute’s property sector development program leader Dr Charles Yala said this last week during the launching of a draft policy on issues and lessons drawn from laws relating to SABLs.

He said the policy needs to be changed into the new volun-tary customary land registration (ILG)’s process and that will provide a framework for a way forward.

By PNG Loop, June 2014

The nation’s top Lutherans are calling on Prime Minister Peter O’Neill to stop the Canadian company which is planning to mine for valuable minerals in PNG waters.

Congratulations to the Unitech Student Representative Council and Student Body for consistently pushing your demand to the PNG Government in the most mature, orderly and persistent manner. You have INSISTED, PERSISTED and RESISTED until your good Vice Chancellor has returned to you. Well done! Papua New Guinea is proud of your unity, maturity and perseverance. The Government must now realize that “the people (students) have spoken” and respect that it is for the better. Onward!

By Nalau Bingeding

I, just like everyone else who has an interest in Special Purpose Agriculture Business Leases (SABLs), want to see SABLs outlawed in this country.  However, when it comes to the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) on SABLs, I do not have any high expectations about the outcome of that inquiry.

This is simply because the SABL concept is well embedded in several legislations and involves some highly technical issues, thus the removal of SABLs may not be that easy as some people would like to think.

By Joey Tau, Freelance Journalist, Pacific Media

The following is a brief sourced from the executive summary and recommendations of the report dated 24th June 2013.