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Forestry & Development E-News: March 2010 |
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Forestry & Development (F&D) is an online resource on sustainable forestry. It
supports commercial forestry as a viable source of economic growth which is
compatible with sustainability. |
Contents
Illegal logging exports from PNG to
Australia found small Reports commissioned by the Australian Government have found the incidence of illegal timber in imports to Australia to be low. Nevertheless, under pressure from anti-forestry activists, the Agriculture and Forestry Minister, Tony Burke, is toying with imposing legally mandated import restrictions because of an election promise to do so. WWF's
numbers on forestry questioned The recent
scandals surrounding the accuracy of data on climate change have spread to
arguably the world's most reputable conservation organisation, WWF. US-based
campaign organisation Ecological Internet has launched a misguided smear
campaign against the forestry industry in Papua New Guinea. The deadline for nations to state their emissions-reducing commitments under the Copenhagen Accord passed on January 31. |
Illegal logging exports from PNG to Australia found smallReports
commissioned by the Australian Government have found the incidence of illegal
timber in imports to Australia to be low. Nevertheless, under pressure from
anti-forestry activists, the Agriculture and Forestry Minister, Tony Burke,
is toying with imposing legally mandated import restrictions because of an
election promise to do so. The
Centre for International Economics (CIE) in Canberra was commissioned by the
Rudd Government to assess the regulatory impact of trade bans. It concluded that the incidence was so low
that the cost of formal controls was not warranted. The focus on illegal timber imports has
been on imports from Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Malaysia. Forestry
consultancy URS was separately commissioned to demonstrate how voluntary
codes administered by industry could give buyers confidence that timber
products that they purchased were legal.
In respect of PNG, URS observed that the effectiveness of the system
of inspection of logs administered by international inspection company SGS to
verify payments of log exports made it unlikely that there was a high
incidence of illegal timber in PNG exports. These
reports led Tony Burke to state publicly that the level of illegal product in
timber imports is less than 10 per cent.
It is likely to be even lower. Most
assessments rely on a report prepared five years ago by US consultants Seneca
Creek which suggested that perhaps 10 per cent of world trade of timber was
illegal product. The same report
qualified that assessment by observing that for each assessment of illegal
logging in each country, there was no verifiable data and that most sources
were from anti-forestry activists. In
the case of PNG, most timber exported to Australia is processed. The lion's share is provided by three
companies which, if they had visited PNG and inspected the businesses, would
have led the consultants to conclude that they do not use illegally acquired
timber. However,
Burke is saddled with an election promise to anti-forestry groups like WWF
and Greenpeace to ban imports. Given
the collapse of negotiations on climate change and a failed domestic scheme
to reduce energy consumption, delivering on small environmentally-related
issues like this one, even if misconceived, becomes politically important. An election is due at the end of 2010. Greenpeace
continues to claim that most logging in PNG is illegal, even though its
evidence for this has been publicly shown to be bogus. Like
Greenpeace, WWF is now calling on Australians to avoid "bad wood".
It too has no supporting evidence for published claims that 70 per cent of
PNG timber is illegally logged. Its record of unsupportable use of numbers to
support its forestry and environmental campaigns has been revealed in the
current international scandal over climate change data. WWF
is lobbying the Australian Government hard to mandate that timber imports
comply with the sustainability standard developed by it forest certification
arm, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). The
political message here is: wood certified by FSC is "good wood" –
anything else is bad. |
WWF's numbers on forestry questionedFebruary
2010: The recent scandals surrounding
the accuracy of data on climate change have spread to arguably the world's
most reputable conservation organisation, WWF. The
scandal surrounds the use of WWF numbers in IPCC reports, and the validity of
those claims. It
also calls into question WWF's previous claims about levels of illegal
logging. WWF
has been a vocal player in the illegal logging debate. In Australia, it is
currently lobbying the Australian Government to implement its election
commitment, ably assisted by Greenpeace. One
of its key targets has been the forestry industry in Papua New Guinea. WWF
has received considerable levels of aid funding for implementing 'eco
forestry' programmes in PNG. In
2004, WWF issued a report containing estimates of illegal logging for various
countries. It stated that there was not enough information to assess the
levels of illegal logging in PNG. Yet
in 2008, it was more than happy to put forward a claim that 70 per cent of
forestry in Papua New Guinea is illegal. It sourced the number from the
infamous Seneca Creek report, which states there is no "persuasive or
supporting information" to back it. In
response to a recent opinion piece in The
Australian newspaper, WWF Australia CEO Greg Bourne maintained that WWF
is a 'science-based conservation organisation'. The claims on illegal logging
hardly seem to be based on science, but they are indeed aimed at conservation. That
is food for thought for AusAID, which granted WWF
Australia almost A$500,000 for aid work. We're looking forward to seeing the
outcomes of the group's work with the world's bottom billion. |
US NGO ignores the obviousFebruary
2010: US-based campaign organisation
Ecological Internet has launched a misguided smear campaign against the
forestry industry in Papua New Guinea. The
NGO has disseminated reams of misinformation, including accusations of
torture and bribery. Worse
still is its attempt to turn a technical legal proceeding concerning the
granting of a forestry concession into a political stunt.
The group has used a recent legal review of PNG Forest Authority procedures
as an opportunity to accuse the country's largest loggers of environmental
destruction. This
follows the campaign organisation's personal attacks on the Chairman of PNG's
largest logging company after receiving an honorary knighthood. In
the meantime, claims have surfaced that there is more than US$25 million missing
from the PNG National Forest Authority's accounts, in addition to a string of
criminal incidents in the country, including the escape of the entire maximum
security section at the nation's most notorious prison. On
top of this, the Australian media has claimed that disputes surrounding the
new LNG project in PNG have claimed the lives of 16 locals. Above all else this seems to demonstrate that the NGOs of the developed world are getting more and more disconnected from the reality of life on the ground in Papua New Guinea. |
Copenhagen commitmentsFebruary
2010: The deadline for nations to
state their emissions-reducing commitments under the Copenhagen Accord passed
on 31 January. A
large number of nations submitted their commitments. However,
the lack of technical detail in most of the submissions is stark. It clearly
reveals the political nature of the Accord itself. Russia,
for example, simply stated in one page that it would reduce emissions by 15
to 25 per cent from a 1990 baseline, provided that all other emitters make a
legally-binding commitment, and that Russia's forests are 'appropriately'
accounted for in any such commitment. In
other words, it has committed to nothing. Papua
New Guinea's submission was, however, quite detailed. It states that PNG
wishes to triple per capita GDP by 2030 while simultaneously decreasing
emissions by 50 per cent. To
do so it aims to halve the emissions from its agricultural forestry sectors. PNG's population is growing rapidly. Per capita GDP has been falling over the past decade. This current strategy begs the question: what are people going to eat? |
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