COMPERE: Vanuatu is the next island nation to face the
depredations of the big Malaysian logging companies.
In Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, Malaysian logging
companies have been responsible for corrupting politicians and
officials, circumventing tax laws, undervaluing and mis-declaring
log species and failing to live up to their commitments to
landowners.
With the export of tropical logs from Malaysia now severely
restricted by Government regulation, the Malaysian timber
companies are expanding into the South Pacific.
Radio Australia South Pacific correspondent, Jemima Garrett,
says Vanuatu is the next target.
GARRETT: Last week logging companies controlled by
Malaysian entrepreneur, Jack Ting Sang landed 13 bulldozers and
a host of other equipment in the Vanuatu capital.
When the second consignment arrives later this week his
companies, Delta Development and Premier Corporation, will
have enough machinery to take up to 150-thousand cubic metres
of timber a year; six times the sustainable yield.
Environmentalists say the equipment on order by Delta/Premier
could log out the entire country in six years and they are
concerned about Mr Ting's record.
Until recently Mr Ting was responsible for the Earthmovers group
of companies in Solomon Islands. Abraham Baenesia, Director of
the Solomon Islands Development Trust, says logging by
Earthmovers Kalena Timber Company left devastating
environmental damage on New Georgia Island in Solomon's
Western Province.
BAENESIA:
The worst thing about Kalena Bay is the devastation upstream
washed into a harbour where two villages were situated.
All the marine life in that beautiful harbour was destroyed. Since
the operation closed, Kalena Bay has been filtered, but there are
still murky waters where the harbour beforehand was quite clear
with an abundance of marine life including fish and shellfish,
which has now been destroyed as a result of the Kalena Bay
operations.
GARRETT:
Aerial photographs show the whole eastern end of the big
Roviana Lagoon has been silted up. Local villagers lost the trees
they used to build canoes and building materials for their houses.
Mr Baenesia says the streams used for drinking water became so
polluted they were no longer fit for human consumption.
BAENESIA:
They tried to do what one would call selective logging, but they
have overdone that. The terrible thing is they have left the
reafforestation to the Solomon Islands Government who got very
little money out of the logging operation, rather than
Earthmovers, who made a lot of money from it, being responsible
for doing some of the reafforestation themselves.
GARRETT :
In the Vanuatu capital, Port Vila, environmentalists are worried
about Vanuatu's capacity to monitor Delta/Premier's operations.
While Vanuatu's environmental regulations are quite strict, it has
only three timber monitoring officers who would be dependent on
the company for transport during many of their inspections.
Premier/Delta has also been able to persuade Forestry Minister
Onneyn Tahi, to reduce the reafforestation levy from 75% to just
lO%.
--- * Origin: Pactok project (email: pactok@peg.apc.org) (90:612/990)--