For three weeks in late June and early July, Ecological Enterprises, a Papua New Guinea and United States-based rainforest preservation group, worked in East New Britain, home an incredibly diverse ecosystem. However, East New Britain is also one of the PNG provinces most at threat from logging, with 16 operations now operating or soon to begin.
Local people are organising to rise to the challenge: notably, the Pacific Heritage Foundation and the East New Britain Social Action Committee.
The Pacific Heritage Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, estimates that PNG's "massive forest resource will be ... wiped out in far less than one generation." The demise of East New Britain's timber resource may come much earlier, perhaps as soon as the end of the century.
"The scale of the plunder is beyond historical comparison", states the Pacific Heritage Foundation. Over the past 12 months, on New Britain Island alone 1000 pieces of logging equipment have been unloaded. Most have been transported by Malaysian timber operators from Sarawak, where the timber supply is rapidly dwindling.
An East New Britain forestry officer says most of the landowners he sees are "only worried about cash, not how life is affected in future. We have experienced a lot of destruction; there is not proper control." The same officer explained: "They [timber companies] don't go through the Forestry Department to get approval. Instead, they go direct to landowners, bribe them to get the minimum of approval. The company then turns around and makes demands on the Forestry Department."
With 16 logging operations, the East New Britain Forestry Department says that by 2000 or 2005, East New Britain will have no forests left. The department has a staff of 30 officers to monitor these operations. However, they have only three vehicles. Often the company takes them to the site, severely restricting movement and showing them only places with little adverse environmental impact.
East New Britain does not have a provincial Forestry Act, which in some provinces, such as Manus, has shown potential to cut logging quotas determined by the national government to more sustainable levels.
Such an act was passed by the provincial assembly in March 1992, but immediately thereafter, landowners were flown in by the logging giant Rimbunan Hijau to lobby against it. Rimbunan Hijau, which does over US$1 billion in business a year in PNG, chartered planes and paid for hotels and transport. As a result, the provincial Forestry Act was quickly repealed.
The East New Britain Social Action Committee reports that vast areas of forest land are being degraded and destroyed.
The committee, and numerous others, have documented that logging and skidding is taking place along streams and rivers and on slopes greater than 30 degrees. Restricted species are being logged and exported. Many undersized trees are being cut. An estimated 30-40% of the ground area is being compacted by bulldozers. Water courses are also being blocked. All these practices are illegal under current PNG legislation.
During Ecological Enterprises' patrols, we visited many logging sites, distributing awareness materials and putting on our slide show which details the changes that have accompanied industrial logging in other countries and provinces. One such area that we campaigned in, Kerawara Logging in Worangoi, has been well studied by the East New Britain Social Action Committee, and clearly illustrates the failure of Malaysian logging companies on nearly every measure of performance.
Kerawara Logging has 49 non-citizen personnel working as bulldozer operators, cooks etc. Following logging, cocoa is to be planted, but severe soil degradation as a result of improper logging makes this highly unlikely.
Employee conditions are atrocious, with five nationals living in a 6 foot by 6 foot bush shed. They have no toilet or washing areas, no drinking water and no mosquito nets. Nearby, an oil tank is leaking into the area's major river. Logging is being carried out right into rivers, which is blocking the flow.
The operation is supposed to export 14,900 cubic metres per year, yet by June it had already cut 16,000 cubic metres. The East New Britain Social Action Committee has photos of rosewood being marked as yellow hardwood and other rare species, of which PNG restricts export, being labelled incorrectly. When they tried to discuss the matter with the company management, a K300 bribe was offered.
Ecological Enterprises also visited the Gar and Senbam Extension timber area, which is being logged by a subsidiary of Rimbunan Hijau. The area was found by the Conservation Needs Assessment, a recent scientific investigation into areas of high biodiversity in PNG, to be the most biologically diverse area in East New Britain. Unfortunately, such studies do little to save such diversity.
At approximately 30,000 hectares, this relatively small logging area just obtained 65 more pieces of heavy machinery, far more than needed for an area this size. Logging on slopes over 30 degrees and along river banks was clearly evident. Streams and rivers were very heavily silted, even though the area is supposedly being "selectively" logged. We were told by numerous local people that wildlife, which is still the primarly means of obtaining protein, was severely threatened. The company is logging outside of its approved boundaries.
There has been little economic benefit to East New Britain from this project. Landowners are receiving US$4.20 per cubic metre for their top quality tropical hardwoods, which are worth hundreds of times more. Workers are paid US$50 per fortnight, working 12-hour days. One worker reported doing a triple shift. The 10 logging trucks carried from Malaysia are uninsured and not registered.
Forestry officers, many of whom were stunned by what was occurring, summed up Rimbunan Hijau's conduct: "They have been given free access to our forests without much screening. A new company should have past record looked at, but theirs was not. Lack of reforestation and their falling behind on infrastructural and environmental requirements have meant they have not yet proven they are genuine developers."
[Ecological Enterprises via Pegasus.]