Logging in Amanab

FORESTRY

Benefits to locals amid challenges of sustainable forestry

By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
ABOUT 15,000 people in the Forest Management Area in Vanimo-Green electorate are benefiting from projects in Amanab and Awai blocks in West Sepik.
According to World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the forest industry in PNG makes an important contribution to the country’s economy. The vast majority of timber is produced as raw logs for export – which accounts for 97 per cent of the value of all exports of forest products, with woodchips covering almost all of the remainder. It is also a controversial issue where there are reports of environmental damages, unsustainable logging and abuse of the landowners.
But the forest projects in Amanab and Awai blocks in West Sepik are genuine with sustainable projects for the land owners with economic, infrastructure and social projects.
“About 15,000 people in the FMA in Vanimo-Green electorate are benefiting from their royalties generated from logging projects,” Project Area Development Committee Chairman Conrad Tilau said.
“The committee had allocated funding for infrastructural and economic projects in communities in Amanab, Walsa and Green River Local Level Governments. These infrastructural projects included water supply, teachers’ houses, classrooms and electricity. For health infrastructures aid post, health officer’s houses with solar power have been built.
“Apart from infrastructure projects, we have allocate funding for economic activities like inland fish farming, cocoa, poultry, piggery, cattle, oil palm and rice projects . Also the road network is fully maintained.
“We are working with PNG Cocoa Board to assist cocoa farmers in providing technical advice and also to help find international market for the farmers. We are also working with National Fisheries Authority to provide technical support for our inland fish farmers. We are funding these infrastructural and economic projects so that the people can continue their lives after the logging projects wind up in 2036.”
Tilau said that they have provided roofing irons for the landowners to build permanent houses.
“Every year we supply 22 iron roofing sheets to 60 families in the FMA. We also provide chain saws for them to mill timbers and built their permanent houses with the roofing irons that we had supplied them. We also send students from the FMA to take up technical courses in Jayapura, Indonesia before Coronavirus closed down the border in 2020. These students upon returning are working in various construction areas in the country,” he said.
Tilau said that royalties are generated from K8 per cubic.
He said: “The logging projects in these areas started in 2008 and I took over as the committee chairman in 2016. Of course there are challenges especially with the local building contractor. They don’t have their own funds to continue the work on the projects when we are still awaiting our funds from the royalty payments. We also don’t have project officers to verify the projects. Landowners don’t understand these challenges and still insisted for their project to be funded.”
Tilau said he believes that if resources from logging are managed well then the country could benefit from it.
“Logging has been seen as a bad industry but I think if we manage the resources that are been harvested, then the community will benefit,” he said.

Meanwhile, a land owner and a PDB committee representative Didicus Aki said that the PDB is very challenging to deliver the project in his area which is in Awai.
Aki said: “It’s very challenging especially in the management of the projects funds and also some of my block in the FMA is so remote. Especially the Moitari area in my block is near the main Sepik River and transportation is a big challenge. To get there from Vanimo, it is three hours by road to Stone pass. Babi and Seini are the tributaries to the Sepik River. And then you have to get on a mortised canoe and travel along the River Babi down to the main Sepik River. And then you go along River Seini to get to Moitari. You can take a whole day traveling from Vanimo to Moitari and that also depends on the water level. If it is wet season, it’s good because the tributaries are flooding making it easy for travel along tributaries. But it is very difficult during dry season and the water level has dropped. It makes it unbearable to travel on the canoe with the materials. And to deliver projects and to sustain it is very challenging.”
He said because of the remoteness of the village projects were being delayed.
“So far social projects worth a total of K400, 000 are incomplete. These projects are the Hela Dila aid post, new church for Christian Brotherhood Church (CBC), new church for the Catholic Church and the administration office for Hera Dira primary school,” he said.
“For the funds for the aid post and administration officers, the Committee has approved K100, 000 each for them. But that money is yet to be release. And at Moitari we have the projects for the CBC church and Catholic churches. The funding has been approved and we have bought the building materials. But the problem is transportation. There is no road and the only way is through the river network system. And we use motorized canoes to for transportations. Apart from these social projects, we did implement economic project like the cocoa project in 2018. But it was difficult to sustain it and also to receive economic benefits from it.”
Aki added that transportation is also a problem.

“We have no money to hire vehicles to take it down to Vanimo to sell it after we use motorized canoes to transport them to stone pass. We used motorized canoe to follow the Babi River to the Sepik River and then we follow Seini River to Stone pass and we get truck from there. That is where the road link to Vanimo. We can harvest the cocoa and ferment it. But we have no petrol to take it by canoe and get a car and take it to Vanimo to sell it.
“This is making the cocoa farmer to lose hope and now the cocoa trees are in the bush because of no transport both for canoe and car. So now the cocoa fementry and cocoa trees are no use. There are many projects have been approved but road and canoe is a problem,” he said.
Aki said that for another social component is the roofing iron project where each year PDB gives 220 iron roofs (12 foot). He said however the challenge is how to get these iron roofs from Vanimo to Stone Pass.
“I bring it from Vanimo to Stone Pass and hire motor canoe and follow the Babi river and distribute the roofing iron all the way to the Sepik River and then up wara seni and then to Moitari. And that’s how I used to distribute the roofing irons. It’s not only by road, but also through the river and that is how I used to distribute the roofing iron and other economic and social projects.”

• Clifford Faiparik is a freelance writer.