Source: Post- Courier January 31st 2025

Joseph Ketan, Anthropologist ad Social Scientist

THE Year 2025 marks the 50 Anniversary of Constitutional Independence for Papua New Guinea. No doubt, many of you are thinking of ways to celebrate this significant milestone in the history of our country.

Civil society organisations and community representatives have demanded government action on the widespread abuse of Forest Clearing Authorities (FCA).

Raggian Bird-of-Paradise in Varirata Park, PNG

Shimali Chauhan | Down to Earth 

PHOTO: This area in Bewani, north-west PNG, was logged under a Special Agricultural Business Lease. (ABC: Eric Tlozek)

Reprinted from The National, 17 October 2024

WE, the landowners of Portion 199 of Bewani in Vanimo-Green, West Sepik, want the provincial and national authorities to investigate what we see as illegal land-grabbing by a palm oil developer.

PSB News Hour, 19 Sept 2024

PBS News Hour - 18 Sept 2024

Video: 'No Limestone' is the chant as young people protest against the proposed commercial limestone and cement project on their island.

Three recent case studies published by ACT NOW, Ten Years Without A Crop, A New Forest Grab, and Where is the Beef? illustrate how logging companies use false or inflated claims of agriculture planting to obtain Forest Clearing Authorities which are then used as c

A Forest Clearance Authority license is a type of logging licence issued by Papua New Guinea Forest Authority, based on the recommendation of the PNG Forest Management Committee with the consent of the National Forest Board that allows individuals or companies for large scale conversion of a specific areas of forest to agriculture or other land use activities.

The Wasu Cattle Farm Project in Morobe Province has been the subject of investigation due to concerns about its legality. This project, also known as the Wasu Integrated Agriculture Project, received a Forest Clearing Authority (FCA) in 2019. It was ostensibly granted for a cattle farming project, but there have been no signs of either cattle or agriculture.