STATE OF THE RAINFOREST 2014
69
Other members of the community tell how alcohol and drug abuse
accompanied the logging operations.
Peter Bunam continues: ‘When they started to wash their machines
in our rivers, polluting them with oil and grease and destroying our
water system, we had enough.’ ‘We realized we’d been tricked, and
we set about retaliating’, adds John Natu.
In the end, after furious youths blockaded a logging road in 1987, the
logging company packed up and left.
Increasingly, one hears the stories of small landholders in PNG
choosing to resist the advances of the logging, mining and palm oil
industries. They oppose the directives issued by colluding authorities,
and seek instead to pursue self-reliance and environmental
management based on traditional principles and land use practices.
Community-driven planning
Certain that the logging companies would eventually return, villagers
after some years approachedcommunity facilitators fromtheBismarck
Ramu Group (BRG) for support in protecting what remained of their
forest. Founded in 2000, the BRG is an organization that assists
customary landowners in community planning, advising them in the
development of resource management and conservation strategies
that foster economic self-reliance and harmonize with local social
needs. BRG bases its work on local values, histories and practices,
and the right of land custodians to determine their own future.
With the BRG as a facilitator, the Gildipasi Planning Committee
laid the foundations for a community-managed conservation area.
This process included negotiations between clans on boundaries,
and careful mapping of boundaries, using local knowledge of
the landscape and GPS technology. It also involved drawing up a
conservation deed that includes access arrangements and rules to be
applied in case of transgressions, usually a fine.
When the agreement was signed by three local clans in July 2003,
the conservation area comprised 1,000 hectares. Since then, the deed
Karkum
Mirap
Tokain
Malas
Dimer
Imbab
Yambrik
Basken
Gamenken
Saingham
Clan
Ameng
Clan
Baine,
Innoggomang
Clans
Monuguwin
Clan
Andepa
Clan
Andepa,
Temkum,
Kumu
Clans
Ameng
Gildipasi conservation area, Papua New Guinea
Conservation area
Former logging concessions
Forest cover loss, 2000-2012
Source: based on a map by the Bismarck Ramu
Group; information by local communities in the
Gildipasi area with technical support from the
Bismarck Ramu Group; Global Forest Watch, 2013.
INDONESIA
AUSTRALIA
PAPUA
NEW GUINEA
Tanget planting
