Juffa & landowners move on pirate loggers as forest boss sacked

First page of a letter in which forest agency boss Tunou Sabuin advises forest minister Douglas Tomuriesa that Oro logging is illegal & should be stopped. Sabuin was fired soon after

KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA – The governor of Oro Province, Gary Juffa, continuing his campaign to oust timber pirates from the region, will refer the illegal loggers to the Australian Tax Office and Australian Federal Police having identified they have Australian citizenship although being of Malaysian origin.

Reporting from Oro this morning, Governor Juffa said legitimate forest resource owners are ready to “rise up to get rid of the Minister and the Asian illegal loggers”.

He also said the head of the PNG Forest Agency, Tunou Sabuin, had been removed from his post after advising Forest Minister Douglas Tomuriesa that the logging was illegal, new permits issued and logs should be seized.

Mr Juffa visited and inspected the site of extensive logging and interviewed people there including landowners and their chiefs and illegal workers

“I found no evidence of agriculture but massive environment damage caused by illegal logging,” he told me.

Mr Juffa also said that Tunou Sabuin, acting managing director of the PNGFA and a career public servant, has been stood down in controversial circumstances.

“It was after a meeting with me in which he assured me that what was happening was illegal,” Mr Juffa said.

“He assured me that the PNG Forest Agency would stop [the illegal logging] and take action.

“He also confided that he felt he would be sacked for telling the Minister and his Chairman that they had erred.

“Mr Sabuin informed me that the PNGFA is now totally run by the Minister and his Chairman, who is also the Minister’s lawyer and appointee on the board - which is illegal.

“They run the show, totally bypassing all PNGFA processes and procedures and in breach of its policies,” Mr Juffa said.

Mr Sabuin has since been removed from his position.

Now, as local forest resource owners in Collingwood Bay gear up to oust illegal loggers, Mr Juffa said fake landowners have had arrest warrants issued against them.

“I will personally see to it they are arrested and locked up,” he said.

Comments

[Lindsay F Bond]

Far away in Colombia (and perhaps ahead of thinking in PNG) a 'top court' has ruled on a case brought by younger citizens as expression of their concern for future and forests. Here are parts of two news reports.

“Colombia's top court has ruled that deforestation in the Amazon is detrimental to the health of the population. A group of 25 youths were the plaintiffs in a case that argued lack of action was costing them their future.”

“The court agreed with the plaintiffs and found there was a causal link between the negative impact on their fundamental rights and the climate change generated by the progressive reduction of forest cover, caused by the expansion of the agricultural borders, drug crops, illegal mining and illegal logging.”

See: http://www.dw.com/en/colombias-top-court-orders-government-to-protect-amazon-for-future-generations/a-43288343

“The Colombian government has four months to present an action plan to reduce deforestation in the Amazon region, the main source of greenhouse gas emissions driving climate change in the country.”

See: https://www.dejusticia.org/en/en-fallo-historico-corte-suprema-concede-tutela-de-cambio-climatico-y-generaciones-futuras/

[Lindsay F Bond]

Boats arriving
Coats conspiring
Floats conniving
Shoats conjuring
Bloats convening
Groats contorting
Throats convulsing.