The issue of rainforest logging is, or should be, of direct concern to
people interested in the rights of aboriginal people, since rainforests
represent a major habitat for many aboriginal groups. Much discussion
of the subject neglects to make the link explicit, but I think it is
important to keep in mind that working to preserve rainforests is also
working to preserve in a state that permits ongoing use as a habitat the
home territory of many groups of aboriginal people. I plan to pass on
the occasional article on rainforest subjects that catches my eye and
seems to relate fairly directly to issues of people living in rainforest
areas. Perhaps at some point I can establish a separate mailing list for
this subject.
I find the following account especially moving, since it tells how in
Papua New Guinea there are still substantial forest areas left to save,
and, though logging is beginning to encroach and to bring with it the
destruction typical of clearcutting activity, the local villagers are
open and receptive to gaining an understanding of the long-term results
of road-building and logging.
It would appear that the author of this article and those working with
him are very courageous in taking their message to the villagers, since
there are powerful corporate and governmental forces arrayed against them.
I'm sure that any words of support anyone would care to send along would
be much appreciated. I will establish an alias on my system to make it
easier for you to communicate - just send messages to:
My site will automatically forward anything sent to this address to the
"momase" account on the Pegasus system in Australia.
--Gary ]
July 19, 1991
To the Rainforest Movement,
The following article may be used in all movement publications;
in its entirety or in an abridged form. If your publication
would benefit from photographs, please feel free to contact us at
the address at the end of the article.
Sincerely,
Glen Barry
Wau Ecology Institute-Momase Rainforest Campaign
/* Written 2:14 pm Jul 19, 1991 by momase in peg:reg.newguinea */
/* ---------- "TRUTH ABOUT LOGGING" ---------- */
The following article may be used in all movement publications, as
long as proper citing of its source accompanies the article.
PRESENTING THE WHOLE TRUTH ABOUT LOGGING
The Momase Landowner's Conference
Hosted by the Gogol-Naru Landowners
Sponsored by Wau Ecology Institute's Momase Rainforest Campaign
and Asples Madang, Citizens for a Better Environment
Held from April 19-23, 1991 in celebration of Earth Day
Tropical villagers throughout the world are seeing their forests
grasped and routed by heavy outside hands, but often have no idea
how they can protect themselves and their environment.
One solution is education. And nowhere is this more important --
with potentially huge payoffs -- than in Papua New Guinea, the
world's most culturally diverse nation. Papua New Guinea will be
one of only four remaining countries that harbour significant
tropical forest within the next 25 years. Here, land tenure
remains legally vested in local clans and thus the opportunity
exists to preserve one of the earth's largest remaining areas of
tropic rainforests.
Bringing villagers to a classroom and lecturing to them on the
problems of forest destruction seems completely out of place in
this rural nation. The alternative is meeting in the bush,
discussing logging and its effects on a site where the
destruction is visible and the future of this exploitative
strategy is visually apparent.
There is no better site for such a landowners meeting than the
Gogol-Narul, the only place in the world where for 17 years,
valuable tropical hardwoods have been pulped to make cardboard
boxes by the Japanese company JANT.
Holding a landowners awareness meeting in the bush is far easier
to plan on paper than to implement. Logistical difficulties are
ever present. Cultural differences need to be recognised in
planning educational strategies. Political pressure and the
danger of retaliation from vested timber interests wait in the
shadows.
But the rewards make it all seem worthwhile. The Momase
Landowners Conference, held 19-23 April 1991, surpassed all
expectations and will provide the springboard for a programme
that can begin reaching villagers throughout Papua New Guinea.
Here is Glen Barry's, one of the organizers, diary of the
meeting.
19 April 1991. Very late...
At last the day has arrived. The beginning of the Momase
Landowners Conference. We've been planning it for a long time.
The difficulties of moving around this sparsely roaded country
have impeded us constantly. Using our feet, if not wheels, 4
mobile teams from the Wau Ecology Institute and Asples Madang
last month made patrols throughout the 1,500,000 (3,250,000)
hectares of clearcuts nearing approval in the Momase area of
northern Papua New Guinea.
In each village we visited, a small one day program on the social
and environmental implications of logging was given. We then
left it up to the community to nominate who they wanted to
represent them at this conference. Most of the selected
participants are major landowners in the community.
The meeting has begun late, due to delays in getting people into
the bush. It's easier said than done. First you travel 15 km
from Madang town on the Lae-Madang highway, then another 75
kilometers through the Gogol-Naru clearcut area. Leaving our
vehicles we walk for 45 minutes, passing back in time to the
former rich lushness of the Gogol-Naru jungles.
We begin at the present, the "nil gras" grasslands. It's very
sharp, which makes walking difficult. Abraham Baeanisia,
facilitator of the meeting and Director of Solomon Islands
Development Trust, explained to me that nil grass was introduced
during World War II. As new roads are built, it continues its
spread.
The Gogol clearcut is an ideal environment for nil grass.
Cleared areas where soft, scrub trees never came back,
are largely blanketed with the grass, effectively making the area
inacessible and thus useless. My legs take a beating. Past
experience warns me that the scratches will likely become
infested with scabies.
Today the Gogol-Naru area has over 60,000 hectares of clearcut --
every last piece of grass, moss, fern, bamboo, and coconut tree
ripped from the ground and left exposed to tropical rains and
heat. We have all the "educational material" we need to show the
assembled landowners, who are considering clearcutting their
forests, the consequences of such an action.
Slowly the nil gras gives way to plantation trees. It's dark.
My light illuminates nearly identical silhouettes of young
eucalyptus. Despite the heavy rainfall of the last few weeks,
the area seems unusually dry. Eucalyptus oils leached from the
fallen leaves impair the germination of native plants. The
strangling roots of the trees lap up what little water can
penetrate the bare soil.
These are JANT's reforestation efforts. And what are they? A
chance to get 2 or 3 quick harvests while so depleting the soil
that only grasses will eventually survive. And yet, these
plantations are held up as being equal to the the rainforests,
and their vast biodiversity!
But now we leave this sterile forests behind as we walk across a
felled tree bridging the Sapi River. Now we are in the "big
bush".
The noises of forest creatures surround me, and I cautiously note
them. This is one time I'd rather not run into a "muruk" or
cassowary, the world's third largest flightless bird and a mean
match if cornered. I can see little through the darkness, but
remember that the trees produce a complete canopy overhead.
Occasionally, a sliver of moon finds its way through.
The forest, known as "Bus Sapi", was set aside as a wildlife
management area by some wise landowners under the leadership of
Mr. Yalaum Mosol. Numerous birds, including parrots and birds of
paradise live here.
As I approach the site, the diverse forest sounds give way to
those of one animal; humans, and lots of them. I and my walking
companions have been involved with logistical arrangements in
town all day; I'm uncertain how many landowners made it to the
conference site. A few or many?
The attendance is more than expected. We fortunately have more
tarps with us to accommodate the overflow, but some local people
have returned to their villages for the night. It is late now,
past 11 PM, but not many people are sleeping.
The meeting was to start tonight, but we are behind schedule.
Any last-minute thing that could go wrong did. The public works
driver lost our keys. Three drivers were sick. Provincial
politicians falsely reported that our rented government vehicle
was being driven by drunks in an attempt to have our transport
revoked. An expected 10-minute layover in town was stretched by
"Papua New Guinea time" to 150 minutes.
But Abraham has already started informal discussions at the
campsite, and as the conversation flows into the night, you can
sense excitement starting to build. As I eavesdrop on a number
of conversations, the affirmative headshakes I see becomes
testimony that many villagers are realising for the first time
that their worries about their forests are not theirs alone.
Many have experienced the disappointment of unrealised dreams of
easy riches.
As I settle in, I'm swamped by reimbursement requests. One
attendee rented a boat just for himself to come all the way from
the Sepik. Tomorrow I must explain what a non-governmental
organisation (NGO) really is.
Unlike the timber companies, we won't be able to "gris them up,"
a local term for buying favours. I find myself once again
face-to-face with Papua New Guinea's cargo cult mentality: in
the absence of education, villagers try to figure out for
themselves how the outsiders they meet could possibly possess so
many objects of material wealth. All they see are the objects-
not the factories, the factory workers, and the hard work
that lies behind them. It all seems so easy, so Papua New
Guineans naturally expect development to be handed to them on a
silver platter. The timber companies play right into these
expectations with their promises of easy money.
Unfortunately, our hobbled together financing for this conference
will not allow such thinking. This needs to be addressed
immediately.
We're really in the big bush. But how do we make our guests
realise this is where life sprang from? It is the womb of the
earth -- Mama bilong olgeta (mother of us all).
I am very tired. Myself and the staff of Asples Madang have not
slept much in over 3 days. There are many things that could have
worked out better. I'm particularly disappointed that Sir
Paulius Matane, PNG's former ambassador to the United Nations,
could not come, because of illness. But I am fortified by the
speech he made on Radio Kalang last Sunday. His calling for JANT
to leave the country was a direct blow to JANT and a major boost
to the villager movement.
JANT's reaction to our meeting has been odd and a little
unsettling. Public relation ploys are completely lacking, as
shown by the fact that when they got wind of the meeting, they
planned, with Provincial Government assistance, to block roads
leading to the Gogol villages. That was abandoned when it was
apparent the meeting would be well attended anyway.
And there were the threats. Two days ago two JANT employees
threatened to attack the nearby village of Wanakala. If the
villagers continued to help build the camp and provide food for
the meeting, they warned that they would return, bringing police
and police dogs. That scared many villagers.
Madang Provincial Premier Ariako did his part to discourage
attendance, stating on local radio that the meeting was "not
approved by the government". This was despite the fact that his
First Assistant Secretary of Forests had already accepted an
invitation to speak! His planned presentation: "What are the
Laws that Foreign Companies Must Follow," was cancelled by the
Premier and over 200 landowners that sit here with me were denied
the opportunity to learn laws that were made for their
protection.
A Japanese timber company barring land access to the traditional
landowners, just because they don't agree with the topic of
discussion? A Provincial government refusing to tell its people
about their legal rights? If these negative ploys by JANT and
the Madang Provincial Government weren't so tragic, I'd laugh.
Their strategy only seems to have fueled more resentment --
already at high levels after 17 years of gross exploitation.
The angry tales being related during our meeting makes good
campfire listening. Everyone talks about why the Madang
Provincial Government seems so completely insensitive to the
aspirations of the local people, who only want to control and
benefit in a meaningful manner from their natural resources. Why
does the government feel so threatened by discussions of
alternative development strategies, that don't rely on foreign
companies?
The consensus: the Provincial Government must have been bought
off by foreign timber interests. Sadly, most of the participants
seem to already take that for granted.
As I write this, a young villager from the area notifies me that
he has heard that some youth working for JANT have threatened to
disrupt the meeting. If they do I think it really might mean
war. People are fed up here.
20 April 1991
Today we took the attendees -- who collectively control 1,500,000
hectares of forested land scheduled to be clearcut -- on a guided
tour of the Gogol-Naru wasteland. They got a good look of what
their world was going to be. They were shocked.
First we visited Wara Kokun, a large river where JANT bulldozed
trees to the water's edge, then into the water. Large abandoned
trees litter the banks and waters. This is a fairly major river.
When it floods, the course of the river changes often and
radically because it no longer has trees to hold down the banks.
Not surprisingly, the road which services a school and health
center for several hundred people washed out in a recent flood,
causing severe hardship.
The clearcut we saw was absolutely the worst I have seen. The
zone of activity covered about 50 hectares. The whole side of a
mountain lay barren. Not a sign of life. Large kites circled
overhead, searching for rodents that scurry from the path of the
bulldozer. Somewhere up above the clearcut; a haunting, mournful
melody came from a now homeless bird of paradise. The mountain
was steep: 45-50 degrees. In negotiating the slopes, the
bulldozer nearly overturned.
The demarcation between heaven and hell is profound. At the
forest's edge one can step into the bush and within a meter, be
totally surrounded by green, leafy life. The stifling heat and
dryness of the clearcut becomes remote. As emotions overcome me,
I seek refuge on a stump near the edge of the forest where I can
watch the 150 attendees walk through the destruction.
We all watch with horror as the bulldozer totally bulldozes a
50 square meter area to get one tree. Everything, including a
large stand of bamboo, a limbum tree (used to make floors of
houses) as well as other trees, bushes and plants used by
villagers is destroyed.
Many of the landowners have never seen a clearcut, and they are
clearly overwhelmed by the experience. Local landowners or those
who have had clearcutting of their own forests are less shocked,
but still remark that this is even more of a mess than what they
had experienced. There is loud talk and movement towards the
bulldozer.
The more adventurous have climbed over the vast tangle of felled
timber, making their way to the bulldozer. Nervously, I can't
help but notice they are being lead by the Melanesian Solidarity
crowd, more radical members of the PNG environmental coalition.
I hear some people asking why we are allowing this to happen,
instead of stopping them? Please God, no violence.
Some of the youths climb up on the bulldozer. The driver turns
it off and starts to talk. Later I find out that they are asking
what sort of benefits the driver gets. "Benefits?" the driver
asks. "We make K40 a fortnight (approx. 15 British pounds or
US $38) to work from 8 AM until 6 at night, six and sometimes
seven days a week (K0.33/hour). If we are hurt on the job, we
get a ride to the hospital but are responsible for our bills. If
we die, as 6 men have, our families receive no compensation."
That afternoon...
We return to the camp to find we had visitors. The Premier, Mr.
Andrew Ariako ordered six trucks full of police to the meeting
site. It is unclear exactly what their orders were, but after
walking for 15 minutes and realizing that the camp was still some
distance, they turned back. This blatant intimidation has no
place in a democratic society.
Now we are sitting around a clearing deep in the bush. The
villagers circle the fire. After two initial speeches by Wesley
of Melanesian Solidarity and Abraham, we are now having an open
microphone where people can share their thoughts on the day's
experience.
Concern was voiced by a number of villagers that the kamarere
(Eucalyptus) planting is very bad. No native species
seemed to come back, and the soil is exhausted.
Klement from Josephstaal speaks about JANT's flagrant cutting of
trees right down to the river. Wasn't there a PNG law that
prevented this, as well as cutting steep mountain slopes? How
could this happen without forestry or the government taking
action? What will become of our children?
Klement is very concerned how his efforts against the logging of
the 100,000-hectare Josephstaal project has been misunderstood by
his fellow villagers. He wants to make it clear that he is not
trying to stop development, just trying to think about the
future.
I make my contribution by offering mosquito repellent to the
masses. The mosquitoes here are viscous, almost large enough to
carry us to their lairs!
Now the man from Siassi Island is talking about how the
government is failing to monitor JANT. It is a complete break
down of what the government is supposed to do.
Abraham sums it up: "we are not against the government, we
are for justice and fairness. We can not do it alone, go against
people with money and power. We are more powerful than them all.
The poor people who are suffering -- this is Christianity! Is
this truly a Christian and democratic country?"
Paul from Josephstaal, a very meek and unassuming student, makes
his way to the microphone to address these village bigmen.
"Plenty of people misunderstand. This theater group (the
National Capital District Theater group who had just performed a
rainforest drama) made me think of my place; it reflected my
experience. I have come here and with my own eyes seen the
destruction of the land. All the company cares about is money.
I really was unaware of this type of problem. Now, even though I
am just a student, I am going to start talking to people about
these problems."
Overwhelmingly the message coming across is "thank you for the
experience."
A very old man who hails from the soon-to-be logged Sogeram
region, just behind the Gogol, reaches for the microphone. He is
a very powerful chief.
"The Gogol looks yellow not green, this means that the sun is
very hot. This place has changed. It is ruined. The hot grass
cut us as we walked to the edge of the bush. The sun cooked us,
but when we came up to the bush it was cool."
Other villagers addressed JANT's apparent lack of concern for
its employees: "it is infuriating if a PNG man dies on the job,
they do not recieve compensation. If a Japanese man was to die
it would be different."
A man from the South Coast of Madang says this is not enough: "we
must take action!" Abraham quickly retorts, "yes, but what type
of action? Must it be violent? I do not think so."
Gabriel from the Sepik believes that "this workshop is our chance
to know our laws. Do you know what is in the constitution?
These laws are for our protection but we do not have the
slightest idea what they are."
"I feel like someone is stealing from my garden. If this
happened in the past, I would kill them," comments an old man
from the Finschafen area.
Abraham's reply is that "as long as people remain ignorant, they
will be exploited. Where is all of this money going? Why are
people still living in bush houses here?"
Local villager Yalaum Mosol answers Abraham's question: "We are
getting K20-K40 a year, enough to buy a little tin fish. That is
all."
I am amazed by the clearly genuine dissatisfaction with large-
scale logging. But I'm a bit unclear why. Are our attendees
a biased cross-section of villagers? Are we simply being told
what the villagers think we want to hear? Or has the meeting
really had this overwhelmingly strong impact? I genuinely
believe it is the latter.
21 April 1991
It is now Sunday and quite a day. Matrus discussed the
results of the Barnett Inquiry which went over well. The Barnett
Inquiry was a government-commissioned (and then suppressed)
investigation of forestry practises in Papua New Guinea that
documented widespread fraud and corruption. There was enormous
interest in hearing dealings others had had with logging
companies.
For example, the company Saban Pty. Ltd., which is going to
destroy the Rai Coast of Madang Province, had previously operated
before in Umboi (Siassi) Island. There are attendees from both
places, and the stories of unpaid royalties, complete destruction
of water resources, and other hardships have made a strong
impression on the Rai Coast folks.
We spent the morning in three groups, working on three different
resolutions. The first is a voice of support for the Gogol-Naru
landowners. The second calls for an end to the export of unhewn
logs. The third is a declaration to form a new grassroots
organisation for the future: The Momase Landowner Development
and Conservation Trust.
These attempts to take actual action spring from the newfound
knowledge which came out of last night's speeches. These three
ideas emerged spontaneously as possible things we could do to
make a difference for the future.
Now we are all sitting around the television monitor that
John Dixon of BEST lugged a very long way, transported by
two carriers astride poles. Its big screen allows the
approximately 200 people to see and hear well.
The video "Wanpela Soa Ino Inap Darai"--a documentary on the
Gogol-Naru in the local language, is shown; followed by
"Blowpipes and Bulldozers"--the story of the people of Sarawak's
similiar battles for control of their destiny. Villagers watched
with rapt attention, and the crowd increased to around 300 as the
"bush grapevine" alerts other local villagers of this crazy
meeting in the bush where you can watch videos!
Later...
Representatives from Papua New Guinean nongovernmental
organisations involved in alternative forest use projects just
finished their presentations. They came from a wide range of
disciplines; including agriculture, small scale village based
sawmilling, small business management, rattan production and
other possible alternatives. This went over better than I had
expected with the realization seeming to sink in that development
only will come through their own hard work.
Nan and Mark of the GROW agricultural project updated us on the
wild rumors flying in Madang town, apparently started by
government officals. These included stories of blockades on the
roads (some saying the landowners, others saying the government
was involved), tales of police and military getting ready to move
in and break up the meeting, etc. Arriving, they were amazed and
surprised to find the relaxed atmosphere and great support here.
When they started out today, many people had tried to dissuade
them from coming.
A PNG-NBC radio interviewer has spoken with most of the
attendees. It was a particularly valuable opportunity for
those who spoke on "alternative development strategies." Also, we
put the radio people in touch with the Wanakala people who had
been threatened by JANT. We'll see what comes of this. The
results will be broadcast nationwide as a multipart serial on the
tok pisin radio service.
The meeting is drawing to a close a day early. As always, we
have logistical challenges. The shipping schedule changed since
we planned the conference and now the East Sepik and Morobe
people have to leave Monday. Also, we had expected about 100
people and have 150 to 200. Of course, we are not going to turn
people away who traveled long distances. When we had made our
village patrols last month, we made it clear we would pay for 3
people from each area to come, and if others paid their way, they
could get accomodation and food. We never thought so many people
would take us up on the offer!
I can hear the squeals of the unlucky pig being slaughtered down
below as we prepare to celebrate Earth Day 1991 with a mumu (a
traditional Papua New Guinea way of cooking food wrapped with
banana leaves, buried in the earth and then covered with hot
stones).
We have been blessed with great weather. Not a drop of rain
for over 3 days. That was a pleasant surprise. A torrential
downpour had prefaced the conference, as we all huddled in the
Asples Madang office thinking how miserable the bush would be if
it rained the entire time. We had almost decided to transfer the
meeting from the bush to the town.
Abraham's presence has been wonderful. He is so well spoken and
sincere that even though he speaks Solomon Island tok pisin mixed
with English, people are caught with the frankness and truth of
what he says.
22 April 1991
It is all over. And it was incredible. The landowners are fired
up. After the second day tour of the JANT clearcuts, there was
no doubt where the meeting was headed. Logging is widespread
enough that most people know in the back of their mind the
problems, even though they may be unable to verbalize them. We
gave them the opportunity to see first-hand the current
destruction. This brought harsh condemnation, anger, and a
desire to have the meeting make a difference.
The bush location was perfect. Walking from grassland to bush to
get to the meeting site had an enormous impact. During the
meeting, as we would be talking of loss of wildlife, perhaps a
cockatoo would sing out and fly over the group. In such a
setting, particularly after taking a tour of the Gogol,
environmental concerns became front, center, and immediate.
But the idyllic setting of the bush has its unexpected dangers.
The last night, as we danced and listened to Papua New Guinean
music, three large python snakes emerged at intervals from the
edge of the camp. This caused a great deal of talk about bad
omens, which fortunately later turned into jokes that the snakes
obviously heard all the dancing and thought it was an earthquake.
AFTER THOUGHTS
It has been nearly 2 months since the conference. Since then, 5
of the Timber Areas that were represented at the meeting have had
village mini-conferences organised by Asples Madang and the Wau
Ecology Institute.
Out of the conference, Provincial and village spokespersons for
the Momase Landowner Development and Conservation Trust were
identified. These individuals are now undergoing training in the
Solomon Islands under the facilitator of the Momase Landowner
Conference, Mr. Abraham Baeanisia. When they return they will
comprise the new Wau Ecology Institute Landowner Mobile Awareness
Team.
We plan another conference of this type, this time in the
extremely large (estimated from 500,000 to 1,250,000 acres) East
Sepik Timber area of April-Salumei.
The mobile team members will work together to put on the two week
program and visit villages in this very remote area. The
development of educational materials targeted specifically
towards concerns of the area have been started on Wau Ecology
Institute's new desktop publishing system. Our patrol is being
planned with great anticipation in that the logging plan is still
in a sufficiently early stage of approval process that we might
nip it in the bud -- if we can come up with suitable alternatives.
Two existing timber areas represented at the conference, the
Gogol-Naru and the North Coast TRPs, have experienced roadblocks
and the shutting down of the logging companies as a result of the
empowering flow of information. The JANT operation resumed after
being shut down for two weeks by the National government. Now
landowners are negotiating over JANT's long-term future in Madang
Province. The North Coast operation remains shut down.
Wau Ecology Institute has established the ingredients necessary
for home grown, grassroots activism. We are training village
people to conduct workshops, use computers to make materials such
as posters, and have the on-site facilities for continued
training courses. If you would like to help our efforts, please
contact us:
Wau Ecology Institute
Momase Rainforest Campaign
P.O. Box 77
WAU
Morobe Province
(675) 44 6341 phone
(675) 44 6381 fax
peg:momase email