The government has yet to cancel all the illegal SABL leases, used to defraud communities of more than 5 million hectares of land but they are already pressing ahead with plans for another land grab; this time with the commercial banks as the beneficiaries.
A bulldozer flattens the earth after forests have been cleared in West Pomio. Local landowners are protesting against the biggest land grab in PNG history. Under a lease system called SABLs (special agricultural and business leases) forests are being destroyed and customary land is being stolen. Credit: Paul Hilton/Greenpeace.
The Silverbacks rugby sevens team has been presented with training tops and t-shirts bearing the ACT NOW! name and logo in recognition of their successful run through several Port Moresby tournaments.
The team will be wearing the tops at training and in their pre-game warm ups to promote ACT NOW! and it campaigns to the rugby crazy community in the Nation’s capital.
Photo shows an earlier (December 2016) protest by people in Pomata against logging
Malaysian logging giant Rimbunan Hijau (RH) is continuing it's efforts to log in the Pomata SABL area in the Pomio District. Local people say this is despite a court decision ordering all logging operations to stop pending the outcome of a court challenge to the logging permit.
Rural Farmers Need Govt Support - Not Foreign Owned Agri-businesses
Community advocacy group ACT NOW! wants Papua New Guinea's first ever National Agriculture Summit to be focused on helping Papua New Guinea’s 3 million rural farmers and not on assisting large foreign owned industries to grab more customary land.
Rural Farmers Need Support - Not Foreign Owned Agri-businesses. Photo: Oxfam
Author: Eddie Tanago
Papua New Guinea's first ever National Agriculture Summit should be focused on helping Papua New Guinea’s 3 million rural farmers and not on assisting large foreign owned industries to grab more customary land.
By D. Amari Jackson - Atlanta Black Star
With the country's outcry to claims of brutal Domestic Violence leading to the death of a prominent PNG Journalist, it is clear that PNG men and women by heart know that 'Our PNG Ways' is not one of domestice violence or any kind of violence for that matter. The 5th National Goal and Directive Principle in our Constitution promotes our 'PNG WAYS'. Stop the violence, that is not 'Our Model of Development'.
Source: The Guardian