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Tropical Forest Research Network |
THE DILEMMA OF 21ST CENTURY FOREST MANAGEMENT IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA
By Ruth C.H. Turia
Concerns about tax evasion, transfer pricing and the abuse of both people and the forests of Papua New Guinea by the mainly foreign-owned logging companies operating in the country led the Papua New Guinea Government to establish a Commission of Inquiry into Aspects of the Forestry Industry in 1987. The inquiry confirmed and documented many of these concerns (Barnett, 1989). At the same time, the Papua New Guinea government went out of its way to seek international assistance under the auspices of the Tropical Forestry Action Plan (TFAP). A TFAP mission visited Papua New Guinea under the leadership of the World Bank to assess and put together proposals for action. This led to major reform processes being implemented in the early 1990s to try and put some order in the management of the country's forest resources. After more than ten years many authors (Poore and Chiew, 2000; World Bank, 2000; Montagu, 2001; 2002) suggest that Papua New Guinea still faces problems with the management of its forests. The research question under discussion is how Papua New Guinea can move forward with the management of its forests. A specific project will analyse the problems and challenges that the Papua New Guinea government is facing.
The Sagarai Gadaisu
timber area
A 'timber rights' agreement over this area was entered into between the customary
landowners and the administration of Papua New Guinea (then under Australia)
in July 1966 and is valid until June 2006 (a 40 year term). The area came about
in 1981 under the concept of the Forestry Development Corporation (FDC) which
was envisioned in the then 1979 forestry policy of the Papua New Guinea government
to meet one of the policy objectives of 'a greater direct participation of Papua
New Guineans in the timber industry'. The preliminary findings of this project
are that the land owners of Sagarai Gadaisu did not hold any shares in the original
company and were therefore not involved at all in its day-to-day operations.
In 1993, the customary landowners established their own holding company with
the aim of developing and managing the timber project themselves. Again this
was not put into action, firstly because the landowner company did not have
the finance to pay off the creditors of the former company and partly because
they did not have the management knowledge to run a timber business. Much of
the flat land within the timber project area is dominated by oil palm trees
and there is no scope for the management of the forest area under a sustained
yield principle (Milne Bay Provincial Forest Office - 2001 Annual Report). The
Papua New Guinea forestry agency has to date established about 1,700 hectares
of this total timber project area with patches of small plantations of mainly
Eucalytpus deglupta (commonly known in Papua New Guinea as kamarere).
This is only about 1% of the total forest area that was acquired by the government.
Conclusion
At one extreme, a New Zealand-owned company was engaged to manage the timber
project. They were only operational for about four years and then went into
receivership. The main reason for this was the claim that there were insufficient
forest resources available in the forest area to sustain the company's requirements.
This again calls into question the management capability of the foreign company.
At the other extreme, the Milne Bay Provincial Government was given the taskof looking after the interests of the traditional landowners from the timber area. It was clear that the landowners did not have the financial resources to buy off shares in the company and so the Provincial Government held some shares in trust on behalf of the land owners. However, it made no effort to transfer or come to some arrangement by which the landowners could buy off shares in the company. The Provincial Government is believed to hold 75% shares in the timber project.
Sadly for this project and the landowners in particular, the natural forests will be replaced with oil palm trees and other secondary regrowth that are not that beneficial for a timber industry. This suggests that sustainable forest management is not taking place in this particular timber area and that, in turn, has wider implications for forest management throughout Papua New Guinea.
References:
Barnett, T.E. (1989). Commission of inquiry into aspects of the forestry industry:
Final Report, Vol. 1, Port Moresby.
Montagu, S.A. (2001). Reforming forest planning and management in Papua New
Guinea, 1991-94: losing people in the process. Journal of Environmental Planning
and Management, 44(5): 649-662.
Montagu, S.A. (2002). Forest planning and management in Papua New Guinea, 1884
to 1995: a political ecological analysis. Planning Perspectives 17: 21-40.
Poore, D. and Chiew, T.H. (2000). Review of progress towards the Year 2000 Objective.
ITTO.
World Bank (2000). Project appraisal document on forestry and conservation project,
Report No. 20641-PG.
Further information:
Ruth C.H. Turia
Human Geography Department, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian
National University
Canberra, ACT, 0200
Australia
E-mail: rturia@coombs.anu.edu.au