By Jon Land
The writ served by the Miripiki people against BHP over the operation of its Ok Tedi mine is the latest in a string of disputes over land ownership and control in Papua New Guinea. The outcome of this case will set a precedent of major importance for both landowners and mining companies.
In an a nation where some 97% of the land is held by traditional tenure recognised by constitutional law, such disputes will escalate as long as mining and logging companies ignore the needs and interests of the customary landowners. 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly spoke to Maikel Kiwuram Kanako from MELSOL (Melanesian Solidarity Group) and NANGO (the National Alliance of NGOs) about this and other issues affecting the people of PNG.
Nearly all of PNG's export revenue is generated by natural resources. Mining, which accounts for the largest slice of this (60%), is controlled almost entirely by Australian and US corporations. Logging comes next and is dominated by Japanese and Malaysian-owned companies. The dependence on these industries by the PNG government, explains Kanako, has allowed foreign multinationals to dictate the terms and type of development taking place.
"The government of Papua New Guinea and other governments in the region are pushing for development. Their idea is development regardless of the rights of custodians and the damage that big business brings. We have seen on Bougainville how the government reneged on its obligation and its duty to listen to the custodians of the land and the resources, and this is also widespread in Papua New Guinea.
"Big companies come in saying they would like to log or mine a particular piece of land. Then a particular minister or a member of the government will sign this or that contract on behalf of the landowners. There is always the temptation by any minister who claims to represent the custodians of the resources to use this to become rich overnight."
The PNG government passed the Forestry Act in June 1992 as a means to overcome corruption and abuse of powers by officials in the Department of Forestry. While the act does formally ensure protection of landowner rights, logging companies have still been able to manipulate negotiations with local and government officials.
"Over the last six to eight months, the NGOs have been looking for ways to talk with the government to change the forestry legislation. The forestry legislation of 1992 was, to an extent, in favour of logging companies. Even though the legislation takes the power away from the logging companies, the mining companies and the politicians, we want the government to give much wider powers to the custodians of the resources, so that they will decide what they want through the [government] representatives.
"Forestry minister Tim Neville has tightened up the loopholes in the legislation, where any foreign company can just come in and log. All the companies now must have what we call 'downstream processing' [value added industries], and if they don't have that, they will be ignored. That is one of the conditions the new forestry legislation is looking at."
There is much at stake in the control of forestry resources, estimated to be worth K70 billion. Many logging operations are still being carried out illegally, and opposition from foreign companies to stricter logging guidelines is strong.
"The Bougainville crisis tells the whole picture of mining companies. If you look at most of the mining companies, they are Australian companies. At Ok Tedi we have BHP.
"The local people are surprised to see sickness and diseases that they have never had before. They cannot even drink from the little streams that come down and empty into the Fly River, because there is this fear that everything is contaminated because of the mining activity upstream. That has really affected the people.
"The communities living along the banks of the Fly River and other tributaries have more or less decided that they should move further inland, away from the rivers, away from their traditional lands. That in itself paints a very gloomy picture about mining companies."
The Australian government has already intervened in the Ok Tedi dispute with a proposal to provide aid to the PNG government for "independent monitoring of the problem". Robert Tickner, minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs, made statements downplaying the legal action while on a recent visit to the Ok Tedi mine site.
In the May 7 Australian, he said the matter was "horrendously complex" and praised the company for the development it had brought to the region.
According to Kanako, such statements distort the truth. "It is not in the best interests of the local custodians that the mining companies operate. Who is really deciding what kind of development is carried out? Are the people along the Fly River asked what kind of development they want? It is mainly in the interest of the foreign companies who need to bring the services so that they can stay in there and mine, and log and fish.
"These problems are genuine. The government of Papua New Guinea and the foreign companies must listen to the custodians. It is the custodians who will suffer in the end, and eventually Papua New Guinea will become like other Asian and African countries: nothing on the land, nothing under the land, nothing up in the skies and nothing in the rivers. So this is something very important that the PNG government must seriously consider."