The 2025 National Government budget has seen an increased of budget allocation for district support improvement program (DSIP).

This is despite the fact that DDAs are lacking transparency and accountability in their operations and expenditure.

ACT NOW! analysis has shown that there is lack of DDA contact details, DDAs lack proper development plans and bad records of acquitting funds.

While the government has been dramatically increasing the amount of funding pumped directly into each District, there is an appalling lack of transparency about how those public funds are being used.

Anti-money laundering laws don't just apply to the financial proceeds of crime; the laws apply equally to any property that is generated through criminal behaviour, including illegally felled timber.

ACT NOW! i raitim na Wantok Niuspepa i pablisim lo Tok Pisin 25th Julai 2024

Long taim i no gat gutpela plen long Distrik level, bai i no gat kwaliti helt na edukesen sevis long Papua Niugini.

Risets bilong ACT NOW i soim olsem tupela yia bihain long las nesenel ileksen, wanpela kwata tasol o 25 % bilong ol Distrik i tokaut long faiv-yia divelopmen plen bilong 2023 – 2027.

Ol Distrik Divelopmen Plen 2023 -2027

Lonsim plen tasol i no kamap yet - 17 %

I gat Plen – 7%

No gat Faiv Yia Plen – 75%

 A lack of proper planning at the District level is a critical failure that is undermining the delivery of quality health and education services across Papua New Guinea.

ACT NOW! is excited to announced it’s partnership with Wantok niuspepa. 

The only “Tokpisin” newspaper in the country will be featuring stories based on the District Development Authority Watch or DDA Watch website for the next 6 months. 

The first issue featuring DDA Watch website was published on Thursday the 30th of May 2024. Copies of the Wantok Newspaper are circulated nationwide through the Catholic Church and it’s partners. 

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

Image: Greenpeace

The Forestry Act and other parts of the forestry law framework in Papua New Guinea are insufficient to combat widespread illegal logging and forest crime. 

Therefore, greater emphasis needs to be placed on using criminal law sanctions, both in PNG and internationally, to tackle the illegal destruction of forest resources and the economic, social and environmental harm it causes.

The government must act to stop the ongoing abuse of agricultural clearing permits which are being used as a cover for large-scale selective logging.

Forest Clearing Authorities are being routinely misused to facilitate large-scale illegal and unsustainable logging. They are supposed to be used to authorise the clearing of small discrete areas of forest for agriculture planting but this concession type is now responsible for the largest share of PNG’s log exports, according to government statistics.