PM ready to lift ban on log exports

PRIME Minister Jame Marape says he is prepared to lift a ban on round log exports and harvest PNG’s forests if the Paris Agreement does not enable the country to pursue its social-economic aspirations.
He said PNG depended heavily on export taxes and the logging industry contributed about K1.2 billion in revenue each year.
“This brings in much needed foreign exchange to the value of US$300 million (about K1.05 billion) per year to the Bank of PNG, which equates to around US$30 million (about K105 million) per month,” he said in a statement on his trip to the One Forest Summit in Libreville, Gabon, and the Joint Heads of Governments and Ministers of State of Rainforest Nations this week.
He said Article 6 of the Paris Agreement had no provision for environmental conservation which he expected to be addressed at the summit.
“I will be discussing options to work around Article 6 to find solutions that are applicable, precise and simplified to ensure that when our government makes a decision to reduce forest destruction, that the revenue forgone is replaced immediately by countries or large corporations so that we can continue to support our annual national budgets,” he said.
“I cannot commit to large conservation arrangements without clarity and simplified processes with respect to compensation on revenues forgone when all forms of logging were stopped.
“PNG has extensive forest coverage and biodiversity that we want to properly harness and develop.”
Marape said indirect benefits in logging in PNG were job creation, infrastructural improvements, shipping support, transportation and logistics industries, income generation for rural communities, development to support timber harvesting and consistent revenue to support the national budget.