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Forest Rescue Station and Village Life in Papua New Guinea

Shoot

GP01I6

02/20/2006

The forests in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea are under threat from illegal, unsustainable logging. Already logging companies have acquired 70 per cent of the available forest resource in Papua New Guinea, threatening local forest communities who depend on the forests for food, clean water and medicine. Greenpeace launched the Global Forest Rescue Station (GFRS) when tribes from Lake Murray invited them to help protect their ancient forest. Volunteers from all over the world set about a boundary marking over 300,000 hectares of remote forest, declaring ownership and rights to the land passed down to the tribes through the generations. The landowners were then trained in forest management as they prepare to implement new eco-forestry businesses in the area.

Greenpeace document the traditions and lifestyle of indigenous people in a remote forest community. It is communities such as this one which suffer the social consequences of deforestation in the region. Logging perpetrates social problems such as poverty as local people are robbed of the valuable sources that they depend on for food, clean water and medicine. Already logging companies have acquired 70 per cent of the available forest resource in Papua New Guinea. At the request of locals, Greenpeace sets up the Global Forest Rescue Station (GFRS) to help the indigenous people with "boundary marking" to protect their homeland. This will give these people more control over their land and is part of a programme of community solutions work which also involves other initiatives such as implementing self-reliance and small-scale eco-enterprises so that locals can establish their own businesses in the area.