Model of Development

New Forest Minister must address legality and sustainability issues

Submitted by ACTNOW on Wed, 07/09/2022 - 08:52

Community advocacy organisation ACT NOW! says there are a lot of important issues for the new Forest Minister, Salio Waipo, to address, especially rampant illegal and unsustainable logging.

Campaign Manager Eddie Tanago says that it is shameful that more than 30 years after the Forest Act 1991 introduced a raft of reforms aimed at stopping the unsustainable logging and corruption exposed by the Barnett Commission of Inquiry, the situation today is no better.

Service Improvement Program Theft?

Submitted by ACTNOW on Fri, 02/09/2022 - 10:51

Payroll taxes and Goods and Services Tax (GST) make up a large proportion of the government revenue which is used to fund its Service Improvement Programs.

K10 million each year is paid to every District across the country and another K5 million per District goes to Provincial governments. Then there is a further K500,000 for every Local Level government.

Billions of Kina are distributed every year through the Service Improvement Program (SIP) and every Tax Payer in PNG has the right to know how their money is being spent.

Effective Action to Stop Corruption Essential for Economic Growth

Submitted by ACTNOW on Wed, 31/08/2022 - 13:31

Effective action against corruption is essential for economic growth and it should be the number one priority for the new Marape government says community advocacy organization ACT NOW! 

Recent findings published by the National Research Institute has reaffirmed the importance of good governance and the rule of law in attracting new investment, increasing employment opportunities and boosting government revenues.[i]

Unrecognised Wealth of Customary Land

Submitted by Cathy Tukne on Fri, 10/06/2022 - 11:13

PC: PNG DEV BLOG

Papua New Guinea’s Constitution is unique as it gives the people rights to be custodians over their land, 95% of which is still under customary control.  For thousands of years, over 800 cultures have allowed our land to sustain every generation till the idea of registering customary land was introduced from outside our shores and clouded the real value and importance of that land.

Will the next government finally ban round log exports?

Submitted by Cathy Tukne on Thu, 02/06/2022 - 16:48

FIGURE 1: Round Log Export Timeline

The aspiration to ban round log exports is now at least 15 years old, but consecutive governments have failed to meet their own deadlines. After putting aside the agenda for over a decade they now say a ban will be imposed in 2025 and the country will move finally to fully downstream processing.

Maximising Value: Can PNG finally end the export of unprocessed tropical logs?

Submitted by ACTNOW on Mon, 09/05/2022 - 13:55

Papua New Guinea’s tropical rainforests have enormous local, national and international importance but are under threat from a variety of sources including commercial logging.

The government has committed to drastically reduce the rate of commercial logging and increase financial returns from downstream processing by ending the export of unprocessed round logs by 2025, but a new research paper by ACT NOW shows there are serious questions over whether this target will be achieved.