Papua New Guinea - Fern

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The Bank has shown a troubling unwillingness to support any type of forest management other than industrial log exports. The World Bank's proposed PNG Forestry and Conservation project initially won support from PNG environmental organizations because it promised to develop and implement much needed alternative forest management practices. The project was to support development of policy, legislation, regulations and guidelines to legitimize forest management of different types, scale, ownership and levels of processing. These essential elements have now been removed from the World Bank project, just prior to final approval. The new forestry project does little to protect biodiversity while entrenching and expanding industrial log exports at a net cost to the country. Barriers to Ecologically Sustainable Use of Biological Resources The voice of Papua New Guineans working for meaningful forest conservation that includes ecologically rigorous community based forest management and protection is not being heard. In contrast to destructive large scale export logging by overseas companies, small and medium scale operations have been shown to provide greater financial returns to local communities, bring new skills and provide a simple means to achieve the sustainable management of forest resources. Forests provide the basis of livelihood and cultural life for 80% of Papua New Guineans. Working with national and international environmental organizations, hundreds of PNG forest communities are developing and implementing creative and sustainable ways of harvesting forest resources without destroying the forest. Known collectively as "eco-forestry," these community-based alternative forestry programs promote viable economic development and forest and biodiversity conservation at the same time. Eco-forestry encompasses a variety of activities that both preserve and sustainably use forest resources, bringing as much economic and social benefit as possible to local communities. Under eco-forestry management plans, communities carry out economic development projects in specific areas, giving strict preservation to surrounding forests. Eco-forestry can include such activities as fruit and butterfly collection, rattan and medicinal plant harvesting, scientific research and eco-tourism. Community-based timber production makes use of small-scale portable sawmills that can be carried through the forest and used to mill timber on-site where a tree is felled. Such low-tech logging can be done with minimal environmental impact, bringing forest communities the benefits of employment and new skills, and serving as a catalyst for other local enterprises. These examples of truly "sustainable forest management" are virtually impossible to pursue in PNG because of sectoral policy weighed towards commercial logging for log export. In spite of their importance for PNG forests and forest peoples, eco-forestry projects are largely ignored in PNG forestry policy, planning and financing. Despite an active and capable civil society working to support biodiversity conservation and promote eco-forestry and other alternatives, the government and World Bank refuse to make these activities as legally valid as industrial resource extraction. The Forestry Act, regulations and guidelines, as well as Forest Authority processes and structures, must be updated to legitimize and make fully accessible small-scale eco-forestry management. Ironically, the World Bank recently supported the production of a document entitled “Forest Strategies for Community-Based Forestry and Conservation in Papua New Guinea”, which 14
ecommends that government revise the National Forest Policy to fully recognize eco-forestry and small-scale and medium-scale logging. The report recommends a wide range of forest conservation measures aimed at upgrading the status of eco-forestry. It calls for the updating of logging maps to clearly show current and planned conservation areas, fragile forest types, areas of threatened or restricted plants and animal species and important water catchments not available for logging. Bank staff should read their report and support it. Immediate Recommendations to Ensure PNG’s Biodiversity Is Not Devastated in the Short- Term Industrial forestry is the greatest threat to PNG’s rainforest biodiversity. The boom is just peaking, and unless addressed immediately, PNG’s biodiversity will be significantly reduced over the next several years. Biodiversity in Papua New Guinea will not be protected in any meaningful way unless commercial logging is restricted quickly. Under such circumstances, local and international NGOs and individuals have been calling upon the PNG government and donor community to immediately pledge to: • Establish a timeline to permanently end industrial log exports from PNG, and a process to transition the industry to small and medium scaled community and certified forest management. • Establish a Commission of Inquiry with broad discretionary power to investigate all aspects of the current logging industry and make necessary recommendations, including possible criminal prosecutions. • The PNG government must develop and implement forest policy, legislation, regulations and guidelines to establish a timber industry based upon ecologically sustainable, small to medium scale, community-based eco-forestry management. • End donor subsidies to industrial log export. Redirect donor funds to transitioning the industry to sustainability and community based production and protection, cushioning the economic impact upon the government and landowners of doing so. The above must occur immediately if PNG’s rainforests are to avoid being fragmented with devastating impacts upon biodiversity, ecosystems and local well-being. In addition, the government and World Bank must make development of the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan a top priority, and ensure that the strategy addresses the following: • Limits all logging in country to small and medium scaled, certified eco-forestry operations whose timbers are locally processed. Commercial scale logging will never be ecologically sustainable in PNG, and as noted above, needs to be immediately discontinued. • Identifies culturally appropriate manners within the clan based land tenure system to develop protected areas. This will require easy and accessible mechanisms for landowner clans to declare their lands protected areas. Such lands must be granted protected status that excludes commercial logging, and makes landowners eligible for trust fund financing. • Financial mechanisms must be implemented – building upon the existing Mama Graun trust fund – to provide incentives to keep most of PNG’s native rainforest intact as either clan based eco-forestry or protected areas. 15
Page 1 and 2: Status of Implementation of Forest-
Page 3 and 4: This report is part of a series of
Page 5 and 6: elieved only a small proportion of
Page 7 and 8: Questionnaire Results Reporting The
Page 9 and 10: maintain, accelerate and subsidize
Page 11 and 12: Logging Boom Threatens Biodiversity
Page 13: During the course of the moratorium

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