Forestry

Forestry & Development E-News

www.forestryanddevelopment.com July 2006

A new report – International developments in forestry

Forestry & Development E-News is a new electronic newsletter which reports and comments on regional and international developments in forestry. The newsletter is produced by ITS Global, a consultancy which specializes in international issues. ITS Global are accredited assessors for the International Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes (PEFC). If you do not wish to receive Forestry & Development E-News, please click here.

Feature Story

NEW REPORT - GREENPEACE’S CLAIMS ABOUT FORESTRY IN PNG A SHAM

A new report - “Whatever it takes - Greenpeace’s anti-forestry campaign in Papua New Guinea” - was released this week. It reveals the Greenpeace campaign’s claims about forestry in PNG are wrong or insupportable.

The report was released this week by ITS Global who were commissioned by Rimbunan Hijau (PNG) Group Ltd, the largest forestry company in PNG, to analyse Greenpeace’s global campaign to stop commercial logging in Papua New Guinea (PNG).

Greenpeace has published reports * which claim that commercial forestry will eradicate “ancient forests” in the Pacific and that most logging in PNG is illegal. They also allege that the forestry industry in PNG abuses human rights and ignores labor rights.

Greenpeace wants commercial forestry in PNG replaced with eco-forestry and subsistence forestry.

Greenpeace has directed this campaign against the Rimbunan Hijau (PNG) Group, the major forestry operator in PNG, which it has vilified as “a forest criminal”.

It is pressuring the Australian, New Zealand and British Governments to ban imports of timber from PNG and is pressuring companies to impose consumer boycotts on PNG timber.

Whatever it takes is an exhaustive and detailed analysis of the claims, supporting evidence and the facts.

* See The Untouchables: Rimbunan Hijau’s world of forest crime and political patronage. Greenpeace International Amsterdam, and Partners in Crime: the UK timber trade, Chinese sweatshops and Malaysian robber barons in Papua New Guinea’s rainforest, Greenpeace UK 2005.

Sham claims

The ITS Global report finds the Greenpeace claims are a sham.

PNG’s “ancient” forests are not in imminent danger of disappearing. Fully 65 percent of PNGs forests are currently unallocated for any use and 80 percent of those are “Primary Forest”.
Most forestry in PNG, and all of Rimbunan Hijau’s operations, are legal. Greenpeace uses a definition of “legality” that would not be acceptable in the industrialized world.
None of the allegations of human rights or labor rights abuse stand scrutiny. The company pays its workforce 2.7 times the average minimum wage.

The report also concludes that if Greenpeace’s goal of ending commercial logging were achieved, PNG would lose 10,000 jobs, five percent of GDP and a quarter of a billion dollars in exports. Eco-forestry could not replace that. It is not commercially viable.

The PNG economy is struggling. Social indicators are falling. The PNG economy needs support, not weakening.

PNG a “pawn”

“Whatever it takes” concludes PNG is a pawn in a global campaign against industrial forestry by Greenpeace and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). They created a global campaign about “illegal” logging to mount global support for their failed campaign to secure a global convention to regulate forestry.

Whatever it takes - Greenpeace’s anti-forestry campaign in Papua New Guinea can be located at

www.forestryanddevelopment.com.

In Other News

Greenpeace climbs LONDON building in protest

12/07/2006: Greenpeace has staged a 12-hour protest on top of the UK government’s Cabinet Office building, claiming that the refurbishment is using timber from Papua New Guinea. Labeling the UK government procurement policy on timber purchase as “totally ineffectual”, Greenpeace has demanded that the government imposes a total ban on imports of PNG timber.

PNG Forestry Minister attacks Greenpeace

14/07/06: Patrick Pruaitch, PNG’s Minister for Forests made statement describing Greenpeace’s allegations that PNG is destroying its environmental heritage as false and alarmist. He also said that Eco-forestry had its place and the Government is not opposed to it. But it is opposed to substitution of commercial forestry with eco-forestry. “The PNG Government will resist any effort by International Green NGOs to weaken the PNG economy”, he said. (Parliament Haus, Waigani, PNG)

Eight new projects for Tasmanian forestry industry

07/07/2006: AU$14 million will be spent on eight new forestry projects established under the Tasmanian Community Forest Agreement. $3.5 million will come in form of grants from Tasmanian and Federal governments, whilst the remaining funding will be provided by the industry. The grant money will be used for upgrades and purchases of new equipment, which “will boost safety and efficiency, and enable many to meet the challenge of moving into new forest types”, according to the Australian Forestry and Conservation Minister, Senator Eric Abetz. A media release by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) can be found here.

Australian government under criticism from PNGFIA

03/07/2006: Bob Tate, the executive officer of the Papua New Guinea Forest Industries Association (PNGFIA), has condemned the possibility of Australia banning timber imports from PNG. In an article posted on the PNGFIA website (link), Tate stated that such a move “will be contributing to loss of jobs, rural development and income generation in rural PNG”. The comments come following an article in The Australian (link), which alleged that Australian Forestry Minister Eric Abetz labelled the “vast majority” of rainforest logging in PNG as “illegal”. Bob Tate has denied the allegation.

NAFI dismayed by the decision on sleepers

22/06/2006: The Australian National Association of Forests Industries (NAFI) has voiced its disappointment at the decision by the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) to upgrade the North-South rail link between Brisbane and Melbourne using concrete, rather than timber sleepers. According to NAFI CEO Catherine Murphy, the move will result in the loss of 600 direct and 1200 indirect jobs and will have a negative environmental impact, as “the production of 1.3 million concrete sleepers per year will result in the release of thousands of tonnes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere”.

Ms Murphy also lamented the $10 million investment in mill upgrades, made in the anticipation of ARTC requirements. NAFI is planning to work with the New South Wales and Victorian timber industry to reverse the decision. Related press release can be found here.

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