Papua New Guinea

Reports

Gilford Ltd. clearing land in West Pomio © Paul Hilton / Greenpeace

Land Summit or Land Grab?

Jubilee Australia and the Oakland Institute denounce the National Land Summit, organized by the Papua New Guinea (PNG) government, as a dangerous attack on the country’s unique customary land tenure system. Land Summit or Land Grab? details how the summit organized from May 1-3, 2019 is an attempt by the PNG government to ‘mobilize’ customary land to allow greater access to multinational companies and commercial banks for logging, mining, and...

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Losing Forests, Losing Tax Money: Illegal Logging and Tax Evasion in PNG

New research reveals a considerable increase of illegal logging in Papua New Guinea while also pointing to massive tax evasion by logging companies. Download the factsheet for an overview. The full report is available at https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/great-timber-heist-continued-papua-new-guinea

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The Great Timber Heist - Continued: Tax Evasion and Illegal Logging in Papua New Guinea

The Great Timber Heist-Continued: Tax Evasion and Illegal Logging in Papua New Guinea makes public new evidence of financial misreporting and tax evasion in the logging industry in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Following the Oakland Institute's 2016 report , which alleged that financial misreporting by foreign firms resulted in nonpayment of hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes, the new report reveals drastic worsening of this pattern in recent...

Illegal Logging Papua New Guinea: Taking On the Logging Pirates Report Cover

Taking On the Logging Pirates: Land Defenders in Papua New Guinea Speak Out!

A landmark report from the Oakland Institute, Taking On the Logging Pirates: Land Defenders in Papua New Guinea Speak Out! elevates the voices of communities across the country who are opposing the theft of their land, made possible by the corrupt practices of local officials and foreign companies.

The Great Timber Heist Cover

The Great Timber Heist: The Logging Industry in Papua New Guinea

The Great Timber Heist: The Logging Industry in Papua New Guinea , exposes massive tax evasion and financial misreporting by foreign logging companies, allegedly resulting in nonpayment of hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes. Papua New Guinea (PNG) is home to the world’s third largest rainforest. After the lease of 5.5 million hectares of land in recent years through the Special Agriculture and Business Lease scheme , today over 15 million...

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Paul Palosualrea Pavol speaking at an October 2017 Oakland Institute event. Credit: The Oakland Instittue.

Money Will Not Buy My Heart to Give My Land Away

Thursday, January 18, 2018

The day we met Paul Palosualrea Pavol, he was evidently tired. It took him four days to travel from his home village in West Pomio, Papua New Guinea (PNG) to our offices in Oakland, California. Weary eyed, he was still eager to share with us his struggle against logging and palm oil companies that have stolen over 5.5 million hectares of land in his country.

Round logs ready for loading on a cargo ship bound for China. Local Pomio landowners are protesting against the biggest land grab in PNG history. Under a lease system called SABLs (special agricultural and business leases) forests are being destroyed and customary land is being stolen. Credit: Paul Hilton / Greenpeace

Rainforest or the Illegal Logger – Who is Really Under Threat in Papua New Guinea?

Tuesday, November 28, 2017 Frederic Mousseau

“The forestry industry is on the brink of disaster” warned Bob Tate, the head of the Papua New Guinea Forest Industries Association (PNGFIA) on November 22, 2017. According to Tate, a spokesperson for the logging companies clear cutting the forests of Papua New Guinea (PNG), increase in log export taxes put in place by the government this year, combined with low international prices for tropical timber, are putting the industry at...

Logging camp in Fergusson Island, Milne Bay. Credit: Paul Hilton/Greenpeace.

Laundering Illegal Timber: How Tropical Wood Stolen Through Land Grab Makes its Way to the Furniture Store

Thursday, June 8, 2017 Frederic Mousseau

With 3.1 million cubic meters of tropical wood exported, primarily to China, Papua New Guinea (PNG) became in recent years the world’s largest exporter of tropical wood, surpassing Malaysia, which had held the top spot for the past decades. PNG reached the coveted first place after expanding the exploitation of its forest resources through a legal mechanism called Special Agriculture and Business Leases (SABLs). According to a government...

Papua New Guinea: The Land at the Core

Friday, November 15, 2013 Alice Martin-Prével

“In a sense, Wola belong to land as much as it belongs to them.” Paul Sillitoe’s [1] consideration about the Wola farmers of the Southern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea (PNG) brings us to the heart of a critical question: what is the value of land in a country like PNG? In the current context of land grabbing, why is it important to preserve traditional systems of tenure? In the West, people understand land as a private piece of...

Press Releases and Public Statements

Land Summit in Papua New Guinea: a dangerous attack on the country’s unique customary land tenure system

OECD to Send Auditors to Assist Papua New Guinea’s Crack Down on Tax Evasion by Loggers

New Revelations on Tax Evasion and Illegal Logging in Papua New Guinea

Taking On the Logging Pirates: Papua New Guineans Speak Out Against Illegal Logging, Palm Oil, and Corruption

US Senate Letter to Prime Minister Peter O'Neill

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Media

NGOs accuse PNG government of land grab plan

Radio New Zealand

Report Exposes Tax Evasion by PNG Loggers

Radio New Zealand

Report Says Loggers Declaring Losses But Increasing Exports

Post Courier Online

China Can Help PNG Defend its Ecological Redline

China Daily

中国助巴布亚新几内亚捍卫生态红线

China Daily

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Documentation and Contracts

US Senate Letter to Prime Minister Peter O'Neill

Petitions from Landowners

Leaked Transcripts from the Commission of Inquiry into Special Agricultural and Business Leases (SABLs)


On Our Land Full Film

On Our Land chronicles the experiences of rural communities in Papua New Guinea—giving a voice to those who are losing their land and natural resources to illegal logging operations. The film exposes the failure of current development strategies and highlights community and local NGO struggles to take back what is rightfully theirs.