BRG (PNG) and PANG (Fiji) are supporting a campaign stopping the World Bank from land grabbing in the developing world. The World Bank uses its political and financial might through its investment agencies and institutions to force developing countries to follow a pre-prescribed model of development based on the neo-liberal principles of privitisation, deregulation, low corporate taxation and free market fundementalism.
THE Department of Environment and Conservation will be introducing several legislations, among them will be one to control non-government organisations involved with environmental issues, parliament was told yesterday.
While Australia is hiking up the taxes mining companies must pay and many South American countries are moving to nationalize foreign owned mines to ensure the benefits from mining remain on-shore, PNG politicians continue to allow mining companies to literally run off with our gold and silver avoiding any tax at all.
The National Research Institute (NRI) has published an interesting study of the economic benefits from the Porgera Gold Mine over its lifetime, see NRI Discussion Paper No 124, Peter Johnson, Lode Shedding: A Case Study of the Economic Benefits to the Landowners, The Provincial Government, and the State from the Porgera Gold Mine, Background and financial flows from the mine at NRI (available directly here [pdf]).
A paramount chief who is also a scientist has joined in the push to stop the Government from issuing a mining license to Nautilus Minerals for its Solwara One project.