Hello, and welcome to Indian Pacific. I'm Peter Mares.
On this program, worker safety in Thailand, four months after one of the
world's worst industrial fires, and logging in the South Pacific.
The island nations of the South Pacific are facing a crisis over logging of
their tropical rainforests. With many of the tropical log producing countries
in Asia now limiting the export of raw logs, big logging consortiums are
turning to the island nations as a new source of supply. And they are
bringing with them a scale of operations that small national governments
find almost impossible to control.
Here's South Pacific correspondent, Jemima Garrett.
GARRETT: Back in 1990, Papua New Guinea's ground breaking Barnett inquiry
into the timber industry found logging companies have been responsible for
corrupting politicians and officials, circumventing Papua New Guinea's tax
laws, flouting environmental guidelines, and failing to live up to their
commitments for landowners.
Three years later, all the evidence suggest these practices have continued
unabated. With new restrictions on round log exports in Asia, the big
Malaysian logging companies are expanding their empire.
In Papua New Guinea, they now control 84 percent of logging, while in
Solomon Islands an upcoming takeover will give them 50 percent.
In Vanuatu, companies associated with the Malaysian entrepreneur, Ting Jack
Sang are introducing large scale logging for the first time. Mr. Ting plans
ventures on the islands of Eromango, Malekula and Santo. He has enough
equipment on order to take up to 150-thousand cubic metres of timber a year,
six times the sustainable yield.
Until recently, Mr. Ting was responsibile 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 Solomons
Western Province.
BAENESIA: The worst thing about Kalena Bay is that the devastation upstream
washed into a harbour where two villages were situated, and all the marine
life in that harbour, beautiful harbour view was destroyed so that right now
after the operations had closed the bay has been silted and there is still
murky waters where the harbour used to be quite clear and there was
abundance of marine life, including fish and shellfish. And all that has
now been destroyed as a result of the Kalena Bay operations.
GARRETT: Abraham Baenesia.
Aerial photographs show the whole eastern end of the big Roviana lagoon has
been silted up. Local villages lost the streams they used for drinking
water, trees used to make canoes, and building materials for their houses.
In the leadup to the May election in Solomon Islands, the opposition
parties, now the new government, identified corruption particularly that
associated with logging as one of the most crucial issues facing the
country.
Solomons new Prime Minister, Francis Billy Hilly, says he's very concerned
about logging.
HILLY: We have limited number of these resources and the way we are
exploiting them at this point in time is depleting them very, very fast.
GARRETT: So how is your goverment going to bring the logging industry under
control?
HILLY:We are determined to stop the export of round logs, and to encourage
more reprocessing of logs within the country.
GARRETT: Some of your initiatives require legislation. Last time your
majority was tested it was a majority of only one. Are you worried that
some of your backbenchers maybe enticed away by corrupt offers from logging
companies?
HILLY: Well, I cannot really speak for everybody in parliament, but I think
we are responsible members and whatever initiative is taken out by
government. I think it's seen fit and good for the country I we get the
support of everybody, including the opposition.
GARRETT: Solomon Islands Prime Minister, Francis Billy Hilly.
The new government in Solomons is making a concerted attack on logging
malpractice. Mr. Hilly has appointed Ezekiel Alebua as Resources Minister.
Mr. Alebua has announced new timber milling guidelines, which will bring
Solomons sawn timber up to export quality, and demanded logging companies
comply with laws requiring 20 percent of their cut to be processed in the
country.
As not one of the big companies has been complying with this rule, he's also
insisting that the quota milled in the country be boosted to 50
percent. Those failing to comply by September 18 risk losing their licence.
ALEBUA: There's be a big threat of our logging. It's not true to say there
is no problem, but definitely there is a threat of our logging at this very
point of time. And we are planning on reducing the annual quota for the
companies.
GARRETT: At the moment you have got eleven logging companies operating there
in Solomons. How many do you think are likely to be left after you have gone
through this process of forcing them to comply with the current
regulations?
ALEBUA: Maybe two or three I think.
GARRETT:And from your point of view, would that solve the potential problem
with overlogging?
ALEBUA: It certainly would. I mean what we need is an industry that can be
well monitored by the ministry and that has proper management plans for
logging operatons and environmental programs as well. I would be happy if we
have say two or three companies left you know. We would able to monitor and
control them more.
GARRETT: Solomon Islands Natural Resources Minister, Ezekiel Alebua.
Reducing the role of foreign logging companies will be no easy task. With
prices of other commodities declining the Solomons economy is now almost
entirely dependant on log exports.
ALEBUA:We are also looking at the problems to our structural adjustmency.
Now this is budgetary of course and we are looking at the international
communities to assist us. And indeed logging operations we are looking more
to involving Solomon Islands, giving them their own timber rights and
hopefully with the assistance of some foreign technology. They might be
able to export initial shipments to coff up enough capital to actually
settle their own milling operations for purposes of export or just mill
timber. And in this way, we hope to build up or make up for the difference
in the loss of revenue that we believe that we will actually be losing in
the course of our enforcing the new directions for the timber industry i.e.
scaling down of logging. So we should be able to provide some alternate
things for Solomon Islanders to do their own thing.
GARRETT: Mr. Alebua also plans to move against logging companies transfer
pricing. His department estimates that in the five months from October last
year, undeclared exports and undervalued logs cost Solomon Islands around
seven million Australian dollars in tax revenue.
Industrial logging has other costs to, as Abraham Baenesia explains.
BAENESIA:They have tried to do what one would call "selective logging" but I
think they have overdone that. But the terrible thing about it is that they
have left this reforestation to the government, who got very little money
out of it, rather than they who made a lot of money from it themselves being
responsible for doing some of the reafforestation.
GARRETT:Director of the Solomon Islands Development Trust, Abraham
Baenesia.
In Vanuatu, even before logging begins, it is possible to see problems with
reafforestation. Former Forest Minister, Onyan Tahi granted Jack Ting Sang's
company a reduction in the reafforestation levy from the usual 75 percent of
royalties, down to just ten percent. While Mr. Ting's plans have caused
divisions within Cabinet, there has been no sign the government will
repudiate the discount.
A ministerial delegation including Mr. Tahi's critics is currently visiting
Malaysia at Mr. Ting's expense. Decisions of Mr. Ting's operations will be
known when they return.
MARES: ABC correspondent, Jemima Garrett.
MARES: Six years after the Barnett inquiry in Papua New Guinea revealed
rampant abuse and corruption linked to logging it looks like Port Moresby
has a forest minister who is willing to take the industry on.
The tough talking Tim Neville says he has received death threats in his
attempts to reform the industry. But he is pushing ahead regardless, and he
says he has popular support for his move.
He has also apparently had some stiff opposition to his plans from within
the Cabinet.
Mr. Neville told Sean Dorney that the key planks of his forest plan are to
introduce new guidelines for collecting revenues, to improve the monitoring
of logging operators and their export shipments, and to force timber
companies to process more of the timber in Papua New Guinea.
NEVILLE: I am now actually starting to get submissions coming through over
the next couple of weeks, where people are now starting to talk. I am
talking about the developers, because they have got the money. They have
also go the markets and the contacts to be able to sell and pass on our
finished products. And they are now coming out with some very genuine
proposals in downstream processing.
The other thing is that we are getting very close now to getting our
monitoring organisation out in the field at the point of export, which I
think is probably the most important and critical at this stage because of
the log shipments that are going out willy nilly in remote areas that we do
not have any contact or control over, so we need to get that control. And I
am now starting to take the position and stance that we are going to reel
them in which will help me where I am bringing in more staff, additional
staff. That has been one of the biggest problems within the department, who
is qualified and experienced and I believe leadership at the top is what
they are looking for.
DORNEY: Where are you getting these qualified staff from?
NEVILLE: Staff are coming from all over the world we've advertised. We are
talking about lawyers, we are talking about financial people, people in the
field. Also quite a number of governments. The US. Government in particular
have offered free of charge up to a dozen officers that if we are interested
provide free of charge as I said where we would just have to look after
them, and the ideas to bring those people in to help train our people.
DORNEY: We're are the guidelines at the moment?
NEVILLE: Guidelines have been improved of principle of some eight to 12
weeks ago by cabinet. There was subject waiting for finance department to
sign off on it. We're talking about doing away with the current method of
collection, where we have the 17 percent on exports on logs, which is the
value that the logger will put up, which is where they are getting away with
their price transferring. So we have come up with a completely new revenue
collection system.
And more importantly with the new revenue system, apart from we're going to
collect what we're entitled to is that its under the guidelines and I am
also looking at putting through an amendment to the Act where the surplus
monies and the royalties will be made directly to the local landowners. Not
into any trust or anything or it will not be going to consolidated revenue.
The idea is to go directly to the local landownes and guarantee that they
will get their dues, rather than getting tied up in the government
bureaucracy.
DORNEY: Will the guidelines be cutting down the current rate of logging?
NEVILLE: The idea of the current guidelines is to work on a sustainable
basis out there. And yes to slow the industry down to a degree and I believe
that if we go into downstream processing we'll be able to get a tighter
control on our forest out there without destroyed devastation and at the
same time we'll be employing people, we'll be education people, we'll be
training people to give ourselves a better base to have educated people out
there that they know what it is all about as far as their forests are
concerned that they can be managed on an economical basis if it is done
properly without destroyed it.
DORNEY: At the moment there is practically no reafforestation. Do your
guidelines bring in requirements that companies reafforest?
NEVILLE: They do. Part of the guidelines is that we will want them to work
on a sustainable basis and on reafforestation. It is going to be one of our
main issues. If they take out a tree, we basically want them to put another
tree back there to replace it straight away.
We're talking of an industry this year that will probably do in the order of
around about 800 kina OK, that's in export. If we put in a proper monitoring
systems out there we can collect in the order of about 100 million kina in
taxes. To date we are not collecting anything. The other one is the local
landowners will get in the surplus stumpage, 100 million kina plus. You know
anywhere up to 200 million kina.
Now we are not getting that at the moment. So the idea is that we need to get
our proper budget to be able to collect the revenue out there at the same
time to make certain we control the industry out there to try and get it on
a sustainable basis and not this fly by nighters that are just coming in
ripping the resources at nighttime.
MARES: Papua New Guinea Forest Minister, Tim Neville, with ABC
correspondent, Sean Dorney, in Port Moresby.
--- * Origin: Pactok project (email: pactok@peg.apc.org) (90:612/990) --