Yearbook 2008
Papua New Guinea. With satellite imagery as the basis, an
international research group presented a report during the
year on the rapid calving of Papua New Guinea's rainforests
over the past 30 years. In total, the country has lost five
million hectares of forest, and according to the
researchers, current safeguards are insufficient. The
logging rate suggests that the country may lose most of its
forest by 2021. The reason is commercial harvesting, burning
and planting of palm oil plantations. Timber exports were
2.5 billion cubic meters in 2006. Papua New Guinea has the
third largest rainforest in the world after the Amazon and
Congo (Kinshasa), and it holds great biodiversity.
According to
Countryaah reports, Prime Minister Michael Somare signed an agreement with
his Australian colleague Kevin Rudd in March to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions, including through increased
protection of the rainforest.
In June, Joseph Kabui, president of the Bougainville
Autonomous Region, passed away. Kabui was elected
Bougainville's first president in 2005 after playing a
pivotal role in establishing peace after the bloody civil
war on the island between 1989 and 1997. New presidential
elections were held in December and won by 43-year-old
former guerrilla leader James Tanis.
Papua New Guinea's state oil company Petromin signed an
agreement with Canadian company InterOil on the extraction
of gas in the Gulf province during the year. InterOil, which
operates Papua New Guinea's only oil refinery, has found a
large gas field in the Gulf province. It will be Papua New
Guinea's second liquefied gas production project. The first
facility is being built for the equivalent of approximately
SEK 50 billion and gas deliveries are expected in 2012.
Landowners on the planned gas field in the province of
Southern Highlands brought the state to trial during the
year and accused the government of selling the country's
energy resources without legal consultation with local
authorities. Despite Papua New Guinea's vast natural riches,
about 85 percent of the population lives as self-sustaining
farmers.
The government decided during the year that Papua New
Guinea will get its first national television station, the
National Television Service (NTS). At the same time,
ministers threatened to restrict the freedom of the press if
it continued to publish "government-hostile" articles. The
reaction followed a newspaper's information about a private
ministerial account in Singapore with the equivalent of
nearly SEK 300 million used in illegal activities. Prime
Minister Somare explained to journalists that they would be
grateful that he had not "deported" any of them.
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