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| Growing population threatens ecology | |
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By GABRIEL FITO and ANTON HUAFOLO THE increasing population in Papua New Guinea is the biggest threat to the environment, a senior forestry officer in East Sepik has said. Speaking to students of Brandi Secondary School on the occasion of World Environment Day yesterday, David Murray said increased population is the number one threat because the people are responsible for the destruction of the environment. Mr Murray said 99% of the land in PNG is owned by the people themselves and therefore it is hard for the Government to protect the environment. He said the environment was being destroyed by bush fires, gardening and the common logging activities at the request of the landowners while Government agencies do very little or nothing do something about this. Deputy school principal academic Raymond Bakavi also spoke on this year’s theme “Keep the habit towards a low carbon trade” and stressed the need for people “ be good stewards for God”. Meanwhile, celebrations went smoothly in Wewak with school children actively taking part in activities contrary to earlier reports saying they would not participate in the event. A statement from Wewak celebrations committee chairman Gabriel Mollok sent to The National last Tuesday accused provincial education adviser Joseph Ouyoumb of refusing schools to allow students to take part in the towns celebrations. But Mr Ouyoumb said this was not the case and Mr Mollok “has his own political agendas and was playing politics” and has “tarnished the reputation of the education board in East Sepik”. Mr Ouyoumb said what he refused to entertain was Mr Mollok’s persistence to include Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare in the programme, as proper protocols was not observed when sending an invitation to Sir Michael. The Prime Ministers office confirmed receiving the invitation from Mr Mollok and his committee last Friday but had not indicated whether Sir Michael would attend the event. |
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