Ode to Madang: Yet another paradise lost?

BY DR GLEN BARRY*

PRIME MINISTER Michael Somare of Papua New Guinea is ruling as a Mugabe like thug bent upon becoming a tinpot dictator….

On the bidding of Somare's increasingly despotic and erratic leadership, PNG’s natural assets are being sold off to invading Asian business interests - destroying rainforest, ocean, water and land - as well as the resource and ecosystem rich nation's future development potential.

Will one man - bigman Sana or not - single-handedly destroy Earth's third largest remaining contiguous old rainforest expanses?

Nowhere is this more evident than in Madang Province, which contains some of Earth's last remaining mostly intact tropical and marine ecosystems.

The ‘Jewel of the South Pacific’ includes large ancient rainforest tracts, huge tuna and other fisheries, and barely explored mineral deposits; as well as beautiful, loving and peaceful people.

Madang's rainforests and oceans feed and house all its citizens, regulate national and regional climatic patterns, and make the Earth habitable by providing global ecosystem services.

As Somare flits about in his new high-end private jet (who paid for that?) signing illicit business deals with Asian cartels and otherwise stealing Madang and the nation's resources (including attempts to corner nascent carbon markets), Madang and PNG's infrastructure including schools, hospitals, police and roads are in shambles….

Exactly 20 years ago I fell in love with Madang, its peoples and PNG as a Peace Corps volunteer. I married locally and for over a decade I worked as a PNG rainforest activist – helping stop many dodgy timber deals.

My tribe’s ancestral land lies in the Sogeram, the entry point to Ramu logging, and an area that has been partially logged.

Recently, on the basis of a hand-shake with German NGO Rettet den Regenwald (Rainforest Rescue), I had the opportunity to have my personal expenses covered to research the situation, and to find local and international campaign opportunities, as we visited and holidayed with family.

There have certainly been many adventures, successes and failures – some of which I will relate here.

You can read the complete article here.

* Dr Barry founded Ecological Internet and is an independent political ecologist, writer, computer specialist and technology researcher. He is committed to communicating the severity of global ecological crises.