ivil society groups and community representatives from across Papua New Guinea have gathered in Port Moresby to demand government action on the widespread abuse of Forest Clearing Authorities (FCAs). More than one-third of all logs exported from PNG come from logging operations authorised under an FCA permit.
These permits are meant to facilitate land clearance for agriculture or other land use changes, but the civil society groups and organisations like the Institute of National Affairs can point to a large body of evidence that they are being systematically abused to allow large-scale logging of huge tracts of forest. The environmental campaigners, Act Now!, say there are currently more than 20 FCA logging operations in eight provinces across PNG which are contributing to widespread illegal and unsustainable logging.
