Papua New Guinea strips communal land rights protections, opening door to big business
JEREMY HANCE On May 28th the parliament in Papua New Guinea passed a sweeping amendment that protects resource corporations from any litigation related to environmental destruction, labor laws, and landowner abuse. All issues related to the environment would now be decided by the government with no possibility of later lawsuits. Uniquely in the world, over 90 percent of land in Papua New Guinea is owned by clan or communally, not be the government. However this new amendment drastically undercuts Papua New Guinea's landowners from taking legislative action before or after environmental damage is done. Essentially it places all environmental safeguards with the Environment and Conservation Minister. Comparing the amendment to the US deregulation that paved the way for the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Papua New Guinea environmental and human rights lawyer, Tiffany Nonggorr, said the amendment seeks "to remove the checks and balances of the Environmental Act for proje