PAPUA NEW GUINEA

In a move that could be a blessing in disguise for the country's environment, foreign logging companies have threatened to end their operations in the country. They are protesting against the new timber policy of the government which calls for increased royalties to local landowners. Officials of six major foreign logging companies which control most of the industry have declared that they would not pay the extra us $7 per cu m in addition to the current taxes.

Environmentalists have also criticised the proposed new national forestry policy, which they say is "a business brochure to tell everybody what remains to be logged'. Known as Asia's Amazon, Papua New Guinea contains an estimated 15 million ha of lowland rainforests, half of which has already been sold out. Brian Brunton, a forest specialist with Greenpeace, accused the government of promoting logging business without paying any attention to conservation, biodiversity and non-timber use of the forests.