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Papua New Guinea: Land of the Unexplained
Australian and other foreign mining companies operating in Papua New Guinea do not have a good history of succeeding in being transparent with their host communities about the impacts their operations will bring. In 2003, landowners impacted by large scale mining in Papua New Guinea held a meeting on Motopure Island and adopted the following declaration:
THE MOTUPORE DECLARATION
We the landowners and mine affected communities have witnessed and experienced the destructive effects of mining on human and other life forms- violations of people’s rights, environmental destruction, pollution, and dreaded diseases. These are glaring in the cases of the Bougainville, Ok Tedi, Porgera, Misima, Lihir and Tolukuma Mines. This cannot go on. There are alternative ways of organising and understanding our world and how we want to live.
We declare that given the current state of mining in Papua New Guinea and the current economic and political set up, there can be no sustainable mining under the current Mining Act and the proposed National Sustainable Mining Policy.
We commit to contribute whatever collectively through our clan groups to uphold customary rights of landowners and affected communities to achieve a more ecologically sound, gender fair, equitable system of resource management.
At the minimum we call for-
The recognition of landowners’ and affected communities’ rights to:
- customary ownership of lands;
- an effective participation in decision making process for public input in new law and policies that relate to mining;
- free, prior and informed consent to negotiate projects and the right to veto projects;
- landowners’ and affected communities’ representation in initial consultations and negotiations;
- to recognise legitimate and representative landowner and affected community organizations that are legally established to promote and advocate the rights and views of their members and to support each other.
Environmental impacts:
- An end to submarine and riverine tailings disposal;
- Promote proper waste management and environmentally friendly techniques, use, recycle, reuse and recover waste;
- An end to mining in protected areas and sacred sites;
- Standards that apply to a country of origin should apply in PNG;
- An independent study of social, economic and environmental impacts and needs to be carried out in any impact area, with the people who carry them out to be chosen by landowners and affected communities;
- Mine closure plans should be evaluated by landowners and affected communities prior to acceptance of the plan;
- Sustainable development framework principles should not just be voluntary but put in a national law;
- Ensure that proper monitoring and enforcement mechanisms are in place.
- Corporations should acknowledge the damages to environmental, social and economic problems created and fix them up.
In relation to international financial institutions and export credit agencies:
- No more public funding for any new mining in PNG, including institutions such as the World Bank Group, the Asian Development Bank, export credit agencies such as EFIC and the European Investment Bank;
- Financial institutions must report on their social and environmental impacts as they do in their financial reporting.
Women:
- Impacts of the mine on women should be monitored through the cycle of the project;
- The Department of mines should include a section for women to ensure that they are represented in negotiation and decision making and that the impacts upon them are monitored and that they receive equal benefits from the mining development.
Motupore Island, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, 18 July 2003.
Signed
(names withheld for security purposes)
For more information, please contact:
Techa Beaumont
Workphone: +61 2 9557 9019
Mobile: +61 409 318 406
Created: 09 Dec 2004 | Last updated: 09 Dec 2004
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