Council of Churches wants ban on seabed mining

THE PNG Council of Churches has called on the Government to conduct consultation on its offshore mining policy and to ban seabed mining in PNG waters.
The council discussed the matter with church leaders from the maritime provinces in a two-day workshop to discuss the impact of seabed mining.
Organisations which attended included the University of PNG, CIMC, PNG Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and the Bismarck Ramu Group.
“Having considered the seriousness of the activity on deep seabed mining through deliberations and presentations from people and groups, we say that seabed mining will only bring destruction to our ocean life and people,” the council said. “The world is watching PNG and it will be a joke to the world if PNG
says yes to this destructive monster in the absence of a relevant national policy and legislative framework on offshore or seabed mining.”
The council said in a statement the Government should ensure that a separate policy and legislation was developed before offshore mining and deep seabed mining activities began.
The council is also concerned about the EITI reports which state that PNG is not getting its fair share of resource revenue.
It said that in that regard, the State’s equity participation in the Solwara 1 project would be a waste of taxpayers’ money.