By Patrick Kaiku*

By Kireni Sparks-Ngenge

Halo, nem blong mi em i Kireni Sparks-Ngenge.

Papa blong mi kamaut long Lou Ailan long Manus Province, Papua New Guinea (PNG). Mi bon lo PNG na bikpla long Madang, PNG, na long Vanuatu.

Source: Matthew Vari, Post Courier via PNG Mine Watch

Prime Minister James Marape has indicated he will support a proposed regional moratorium on seabed mining, however, could not go as far as to say a ban outright would be needed.

ACT NOW! has launched a new video toolkit, titled Giraun Emi Laif, to assist rural communities to better understand the benefits of customary land and the threats they face to their livelihoods, natural environment and culture.

The toolkit shares stories of resistance, resilience and hope from communities around the world whose territories are central to their way of being but who have found themselves on the frontline of the global rush for land.

The toolkit features communities:

Source: Scott Waide / My Land My Country

Our economic investment model as it relates to job creation is wrong.  We have had it wrong for nearly half a century. We followed a colonial model of job creation where an enterprise is established, jobs are created and people get a paid job.

Dear Hon. Prime Minister,

Congratulations on your recent election as the new leader of Papua New Guinea and for the establishment of your new cabinet! This fills our hearts with hope for a better future. 

We, the PNG Council of Churches, Voice of Milne Bay, Alliance of Solwara Warriors, Bismarck Ramu Group and the Center for Environmental Law and Community Rights, would like to draw your attention to the issue of deep sea mining in our Bismarck and Solomon Seas.

Customary land tenure is an inherent feature Papua New Guinea society and culture and its protection is enshrined in the nation’s legal framework. It is also highly contentious. Powerful economic interests ensure customary land tenure is always at the forefront of national and local debates about development and wellbeing. 

It is time for Papua New Guinea to stop relying on destructive large-scale extractive industries and build an indigenous economy based around our land and our people.

Projects like the ExxonMobil LNG, new mines and large-scale logging don't benefit rural communities or our economy as the revenues and profits are kept overseas while local people suffer the negative social and environmental impacts.

The recently completed National Land Summit is just the latest manoeuvre by government to try and take control of customary land away from communities. That fact is exposed in both the 2019 Budget Statement and the recently published Summit Outcomes [attached below].