Event on deforestation and palm-oil in PNG
FOEI, A SEED Europe, Bothends , Milieudefensi - 23.09.2005 13:41
I N V I T A T I O N
Papua New Guinea Day:
“A talk on the impact of deforestation and palm-oil production on people's livelihood and environment in PNG”
International School for Humanities and Social Science (ISHHS)
Prinshendrikkade 189-B, Amsterdam
September 28, 2005
TIME: 17.30 – 19.00
DATE: SEPTEMBER 28th (Wednesday)
Papua New Guinea is located on the island of New Guinea, second largest island in the world. It is a country with huge level of biodiversity and richly endowed with natural resources. The resources provide a subsistence livelihood for 85% of the population (5 million people). Mineral deposits, including oil, copper, and gold, account for 72% of export earnings.
However, the exploitation has been hampered by rugged terrain and the high cost of developing infrastructure.
PNG’s tropical rain forests are subjected to intensive logging as a result of the growing commercial demand for tropical timber, pollution from mining projects and severe droughts. The process is accompanied by numerous human rights violations and tensions between customary landowners and small-scale farmers in the logging campsites and in the oil palm industry.
Speaker: Ruth Pune, CELCOR / FOE PNG
Ms. Pune is CELCOR’s campaign coordinator and working on forest, oil palm plantation development, and mining issues and IFIs (International Financial Institutions) like World Bank, Asian Development Bank involvement in these sectors.
CELCOR (Center for Environmental Law and Community Rights CELCOR) is a NGO based in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. Its mission is to protect and assert legal rights and equitable access to (and control of) natural resources and promote community based natural resource management through effective law and policies in Papua New Guinea.
“The Netherlands is the biggest importer of palm oil in the European Union.
Palm oil imported from Southeast Asia is used in many food products, in
soaps and detergents and animal feed. Recently it is being introduced as
a green energy fuel in the Netherlands as well. But do you know how these resources are extracted and the impacts they cause on the livelihood of subsistence farmers in Papua New Guinea? We lose our land and our livelihood to big and destructive resource infrastructure developments. These are unsustainable and the people in PNG do not get any benefits from it”.
Organised by:
FOEI, A SEED Europe, Bothends , Milieudefensie
Contact: Filka Sekulova (0617182941) and student union at ISHSS.
 E-Mail: anna@aseed.antenna.nl  Website: http://www.aseed.net
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