PNG court win

Extract from the Environmental Defenders Office (of NSW) newsletter, July 2011

3. Historic decision in the Kiunga-Aiambak road case in Papua New Guinea: Logging company ordered to pay a record K225.2 million.

In a landmark decision last week, the National Court of PNG has ordered a Malaysian logger, Concord Pacific Limited, to pay a record K225.5 million (US$97.2 million) in damages to four tribes in the Western Province of PNG for environmental destruction (including pollution of the river systems) caused by illegal logging. Under the guise of constructing a road between the villages of Kiunga and Aiambak, between 1995 and 2004, the logging company illegally cleared around 179km of forest northwards from Aiambak, up to 20 kilometres either side of the proposed road. The ‘road’ is currently nothing but a bulldozer track, unusable and does not even reach its destination. Thousands of hectares of pristine forest have been destroyed. The EDO provided the Centre for Environmental Law and Community Rights Inc (CELCOR), the lawyers for the plaintiffs, with strategic assistance and arranged for Professor Ian Curtis, to give expert evidence in relation to the economic value of the destroyed forest. That evidence was critical to the final award of damages. The decision was historic as it was the first time a Court in PNG has awarded damages for forest destruction. It sent a clear message that any future illegal logging operations will come at a huge cost.

See the full journal article about the author’s expert evidence below:

ANZPJ-Vol3-No2-Jun2011_Article-1

 

 

 

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