Fraudulent agro-forestry projects are being used as the vehicle for a massive land grab in Papua New Guinea.

Since 2004 the number of large scale agro forestry projects being approved has vastly increased; reaching a total of 5.2 million hectares by April 2010.

In most cases these projects are not bona-fida agriculture projects, but an attempt to access large areas of rainforest for logging without having to comply with the provisions of the Forestry Act.

Public pressure has forced the government to set up a Commission of Inquiry into the land grab - you can follow the latest news from the Commission on our dedicated SABL blog.

In May 2010 the National Research Institute published a preliminary report on the granting of Special Purpose Business and Agriculture Leases which identifies many problems. A summary of the findings can be downloaded below.

The jpg image below shows the size and location of some of the largest agro-forestry projects and the spreadsheet lists all those gazetted since 2004.

An ACT NOW! presentation on the SABL issuecan be downloaded below as a pdf file.