The Commission of Inquiry into the Special Agriculture and Business Lease will not be stopped, says the government.

Minister for Lands and Physical Planning Lucas Dekena told Parliament last Friday, in response to questions from Maprik MP Gabriel Kapris, that the inquiry was initiated by the former regime and the government had extended it for another three months to allow the commission to complete its work in the selected provinces.

He said the government would not stop the Commission but allow it time to submit its report to Parliament by March.

This short video documents the broken promises of oil plam company Sylvania Limited which has deserted the people of Marova leaving them with only broken promises after logging out their forests; mirroring the experiences of communities in Papua New Guinea who have suffered the loss of their forests under Special Agriculture Purpose Business Leases.  You can view further episodes from this documentary here vimeo.com/album/1806605

By Len Garae

A person has to be so desperate that he is prepared to sell his or someone’s island for a mere Vt38 million or $AU400,000, says the Vanuatu Daily Post.

The amount is the price tag for the beautiful Turtle Island, approximately the size of Iiriki Island, which is located between Aore Island and Malo Island and is known as a popular picnic spot.

The Vanuatu SDA Mission has alerted Daily Post to the "For Sale" Notice for Turtle Island for $400,000.

Sausi village in Madang Province, Papua New Guinea, is a community which resisted oil palm monoculture and has instead developed its own forms of co-finance and development. Relying on small-scale cocoa production, rice farming, fish breeding, peanut production and other cash crops, village cooperation is showing how communities can keep control of their land and use their own resources to build a better future.

By Simon Eroro

FORMER PNG Customs Commissioner Gary Juffa is seeking legal advice from his lawyers to stop a rice project promoted by Eliana Tjandra from the Papindo Group of companies, a naturalised citizen, reports the Post Courier.

Kayu Mas (PNG) Ltd, which has a timber concession in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and is being acquired by Takaso Resources Bhd, has projected a net profit of US$72 million over nine years, reports the Sun Daily in Kuala Lumpur.

By Luana Paniu

A K3 million agriculture and business project in Drekirkir, East Sepik Province has not been recognized by the Government as a Special Agriculture and Business Lease (SABL) despite functioning as one.

Under an agreement signed between a Malaysian Logging Company (named) and a prominent Leader, a least 56,000 hectares of land was leased in 1998 under lease-lease back arrangement for the planting of Oil Palm.

By Jacob Pok

THE Commission of Inquiry into the Special Agriculture Business Lease (SABL) is investigating a foreign-owned company over the acquisition of more than two million hectares of land in Western.

The Independent Timber and Stevedoring Company, a subsidiary of a US-based company, was engaged by the government to construct a 600km Trans-Papua Highway from Kiunga into Central’s Hiritano  and through three other provinces.

Gadaisu village is in Milne Bay province near the Central province border. The village is on state land which is being developed by Tamoua Estates Ltd under a 99-year leasehold. For the past 10 years villagers had been petitioning the government to return the land to them but have not received a favourable response from the Lands Department.

Malaysia's leading English language newspaper, The Star, is reporting that a Malaysian company, Takaso Resources, is buying the rights to log 40,000 hectares of forest in the Inland Pomio District of New Britain Island. There is no mention of how local people have been consulted about the sale or how they will benefit from the trade in their land rights.

Takaso into timber ops in Papua New Guinea

By Yvonne Tan