Schnaubelt highlights forestry’s contributions

THE management and development of our forest resources have contributed significantly to the development of Papua New Guinea over the years, a minister says.Forestry Minister Walter Schnaubelt said with 85 per cent of people living in the rural areas, the development of forest resources provided the needed tangible development such as infrastructural developments that brought with it much-needed social and Government services in addition to the economic and monetary benefits to the rural population.Schnaubelt said the expectation now for the PNG Forest Authority (PNGFA) and the forest sector was to reorganise its relation with nature and deliver beyond its usual targets in revenue generation, sustainable harvesting, reforestation and plantation development, greater benefits for forest resource owners and climate change resilience.“These are part of the forest sector’s contribution towards ecosystem restoration in PNG,” he said.“PNGFA is already looking at ways to re-organise its working relations with development partners to strengthen its monitoring of logging projects and forest cover through the PNG-timber legality standard and the near real time forest monitoring platform.“PNGFA now has a new corporate plan 2020-2030 and a new corporate structure towards a major paradigm shift in the way we conduct business.”He said the corporate plan would drive the priorities of the Government in the forestry sector, the achievement of sustainable development goals and also implement commitments under international agendas of the international treaties rectified by the Government.