Authority hopes to improve forest management, access market

THE Papua New Guinea Forest Authority (PNGFA) wants to improve forest management in the country to enhance long-term sustainable forest management operations to access more markets overseas, Minister Solan Mirisim said.
Mirisim said this yesterday when launching the Forest Standards Council (FSC) National Forest Stewardship standards for PNG, version 2.0.
He said companies that use the FSC standard were FSC-certified operations of: Open Bay Timbers in East New Britain, 3 A Composite PNG Balsa, ENB and Stettin Bay Lumber company in West New Britain.
PNG Biomass Ltd in Morobe is preparing for its main FSC assessment. Mirisim said there were more than 10,000 FSC chain of custody certified timber buyers and processors in China, all looking to buy FSC-certified timber.
“With more certified operations in PNG, we can start supplying that market and start building our very own national downstream processing industry,” he said.
“Creating and supporting downstream processing capacity in PNG is this government’s number one priority.
“FSC certification is a voluntary market management and marketing tool that can provide incentives for forest managers who practice and promote sustainable forest management.
“It also guarantees the participation of local communities in the forest economy.” Mirisim said to meet changing market demands, PNGFA together with other stakeholders, including the forest industry association and NGO’s, had developed the PNG Timber Legality Standards (TLS).
Mirisim said the PNG-TLS provided an agreed definition of what constituted legal timer sourced from PNG.
“We now have to develop the timber legality verification system (TLTV) to be able to implement the TLS,” he said.
“While we consider the development of the PNG-TLS as a very important milestone.
“PNGFA is looking ahead, seeing the long-term market trend, and is therefore considering the development of a mandatory sustainability standard for the country.
“FSC certification of forest operations in PNG can help us access high level international market as more and more consumers and companies demand proof of sustainability for forest products.
“It will be good to link our PNG Timber Legality Standard with the FSC national forest stewardship standard in the foreseeable future to assist the development of our downstream processing industry with access to high value markets.
“We need to start building a long-term sustainable forest industry that creates more value of our products, and keeps that value in the country, through exporting high value products, rather than round logs.
“This means that we have to support the development of the domestic markets and make them appreciate our local timber products.
“We should look at what kind of role FSC certification and other certification processes, can play to get more PNG-owned companies involved in the timber industry, and get more customary landowners managing their own forest and making business out of that.
“PNGFA is committed to creating a long-term sustainable forest industry for the country, that maximises value for our resource owners and for the government, and we want to work together with other partners to explore the role that forest certification can play in that.”