From EMTV news

Over four-hundred villagers from Pomata and Ralopal Special Agricultural Lease (SABL) areas marched from Palmalmal District Headquarters to the District Chambers with banners and placards. 

The peaceful demonstration was aimed at the landowner company.

From EMTV

Papua New Guineans have been urged not to sell their land freely. This was a topic of concern raised on land mediation in Buka.

It was discussed that “the selling customary land is the selling of birth right, which in turn creates future problems.”

From today's Post Courier newspaper

The Prime Ministers failure to implement the SABL Commission of Inquiry recommendations by revoking the unlawful SABL leases and stopping the illegal logging of PNG forests was put into stark relief by the visiting head of the United Nations Development Program, Helen Clark, last week.

Last week 400 landowners from Pomio gathered to protest against the delay by the Prime Minister in implementing the recommendations of the SABL Commission of Inquiry Report.

The landowners marched to the District Chamber with banners and placards highlighting the controversial land grabbing that is on going in their area.

The landowners were blocked by the police from staging a peaceful protest at the Drina logging camp.

The Oakland Institute and /The Rules, along with other NGOs, farmer and consumer organizations from around the world have launched a new campaign, Our Land Our Business, to hold the World Bank accountable for its role in the rampant theft of land and resources from some of the world’s poorest people — farmers, pastoralists and indigenous communities, many of whom are essential food producers for the entire planet.

Source: The National

By GABRIEL FITO

THE multi-million kina Turubu oil palm project in East Sepik is working on its central nursery at Nungawa village in the Sausso area.

Landowner company chairman Aron Malijiwi said this 20ha main nursery area would supply planting material to the entire project on the SABL portion 144c in the Sausso and Turubu LLG areas.

From Mongabay blog

Unlike other palm oil giants that have recently made strong commitments to eliminating deforestation and social conflict from their supply chains, Malaysia-based Kuala Lumpur Kepong (KLK) continues to source palm oil associated with forest destruction and community conflict, argues a new report published by the Rainforest Action Network (RAN). 

From Chatham House UK

Illegal logging remains a huge problem in Papua New Guinea according to new research published by the Chatham House research centre in the UK.

The research on PNG is part of six new country studies released today. 

In this latest research, undertaken in 2012-13, the six countries assessed were: Papua New Guinea; the Democratic Republic of Congo; Republic of Congo; India; South Korea; and Thailand.