Destruction Of The Rainforest

Beautiful Madang Province, Papua New Guinea (PNG) -- long known as the "Jewel of the South Pacific" -- is beginning to be clearcut for half a million hectares of industrial oil palm plantations. This will devastate the region's rainforests, rivers, coral reefs and peoples. The villain is renowned illegal loggers Rimbunan Hijau of Malaysia, only now getting aboard the oil palm bandwagon. Madang peoples are vehemently against further rainforest destruction, and are ready to embrace full protection for their rainforests if they can make a living doing so.

Madang's people have a long, tragic history of industrial logging. For decades JANT Corporation of Japan clearfelled primary forests to make cardboard boxes in the Gogol-Nauru, and now bankrupt WTK Realty of Malaysia has harvested much of the Sogeram rainforest. Just behind these already harvested areas lies the mighty Ramu River. There some 500,000 hectares of biodiverse, intact tropical rainforests lie along the Ramu River and between two mighty mountain ranges. The region has been identified as amongst the most biodiverse in Papua New Guinea. The area is sparsely populated.

Most of Madang's local peoples oppose wholesale destruction of their rainforests and way of life, yet have been sold out by their government and a few corrupted leaders to a fierce band of timber mafia. Discontent with industrial logging and Rimbunan Hijau has never been higher, as nationally landowners have joined together in a Supreme Court case to halt their operations nationwide. In Madang, landowners in the Sogeram logging area are petitioning to have their timber permit cancelled to pursue ecotourism and REDD. Ramu logging block 2 has already expelled the loggers and made clear they reject oil palm and logging. Madang landowners are preparing to take all necessary actions to stop the logging.