SABL

New Ministers called on to confirm
 SABLs cancelled, logging stopped 
and police withdrawn

Submitted by ACTNOW on Wed, 09/08/2017 - 18:56

The newly sworn in Minister for Forests, Douglas Tomuriesa, the new Minister for Lands, Justin Tkatchenko, and new Police Minister, Jelta Wong, are being called on to confirm the cancellation of all SABL leases.

“We congratulate the new Minister’s on their appointments, but we are urging them to immediately address the SABL issue which has been plaguing our country for far too long”, says Eddie Tanago, Campaign Coordinator for the community advocacy group ACT NOW!

Lands claims 'legal issues hindering cancellation of SABLs'

Submitted by ACTNOW on Fri, 23/06/2017 - 00:00

 

The Prime Minister, Peter O'Neill, and the Lands Minister, Benny Allen promised in April that all Special Agriculture Business Leases (SABLs) were being cancelled. Their promises came one after another, seemingly coordinated to placate the public on the eve of elections. But now the Lands Department is claiming 'legal issues' have prevented any cancellations - see report below. It looks like the Prime Minister and the Lands Minister's promises were just empty words...

Source: The National Newspaper

Value of customary land highlighted

Submitted by ACTNOW on Tue, 23/05/2017 - 13:47

The value of customary land when left in local hands and the issue of compensation for the SABL land grab have both been highlighted in a seminar organised by ACT NOW!

The seminar featured Sydney University academic Dr Tim Anderson. Dr Anderson presented his report on assessing compensation for the wrongful loss of customary land.

The event was featured by all the TV networks in their evening news programs - their coverage can be viewed below.

Plenty more work needed to redress SABL injustice

Submitted by ACTNOW on Thu, 20/04/2017 - 07:37

The government still has plenty of work to do to redress the injustice of the SABL land grab and illegal logging, according to community advocacy group ACT NOW!

ACT NOW! says it is cautiously optimistic the government is moving in the right direction by cancelling the SABL leases, but this is only a first step.

“We welcome statements from the Minister for Lands that the government has cancelled all SABL leases; if it is true, it is a significant move”, says Program Manager Effrey Dademo.

End the SABL land grab - Cancel the unlawful leases

Over fifty thousand square kilometers of land has been stolen from indigenous communities in a huge unlawful land grab.

This is both a human rights and an environmental disaster as hundreds of communities rely on the stolen land for their subsistence and incomes, and thousands of hectatres of tropical forest are being cleared by logging and oil plam companies.

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