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PEOPLE living along the coastline of Madang Lagoon are unaware of the proposed “marine park”. Quite apart from the stunning beauty of this area between Madang and Vidar, the lagoon provides food for the people who have traditionally protected its resources.
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GOOD morning. So says a spokesman for a community-based marine wildlife management NGO and he is supported by no less that 11 community-based organisations in the area. Surely profiteers who have made no attempt to invest in sustainability have grabbed enough money from our country and ruined enough of PNG’s natural beauty?
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WE have a department of the Environment. What attempts have been made by the minister and his department secretary to engage with the people of the Madang Lagoon area? If the answer is none, then how much longer will the increasingly anxious residents have to wait for some explanations of what is proposed and some re-assurance that the lagoon will remain in its current pristine state?
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MANY large scale investors in PNG have been honourable corporate citizens – they have spent millions to minimise their impact on the environment and many have brought significant and non-invasive progress to our land. New health facilities, roads, airstrips, bridges and schools dot our country as a direct result of mining and other major investments.
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OTHERS of the fly-by-night brigade have wreaked havoc with the environment, paid lip service to sustainability, and failed to meet contract requirements to provide health care and education facilities. By now we should be able to tell the difference between the good, the bad and the diabolical, yet it seems we can’t. Or is it that the massive bribes and pay-offs that change hands week after week purchase a very deafening silence?
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THERE should be no further attempts to install a “marine park” near Vidar until the local inhabitants are informed of the proposed plans and their formal approval to proceed is obtained.
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ONCE again, dear friends, lend us your ears. Be aware that the coming Tuesday will see the return not of the Pink Panther, but of The Quiz. Don’t miss out – buy Tuesday’s edition of The National. Cheers.

– Dee Nesenolis
Editorial