The unlawful use of Forest Clearing Authorities as a cover by foreign-owned companies for illegal large-scale logging operations has been further exposed in a new report published by ACT NOW in a press release on the 9th of November 2023. ‘A New Forest Grab’ is a report that is focused on the Mengen agriculture project in East New Britain which revealed how a Malaysian owned logging company called ‘KK Connections’ had used highly suspicious claims to establish a forest plantation and agriculture project, in order to obtain a Forest Clearing Authority (FCA), which is now being used as a cover to export thousands of cubic meters of round logs. According to ACT NOW, an FCA only allows the clearing of small, discrete areas of forest for agriculture or other land use changes. Unfortunately, satellite images analysed by ACT NOW revealed the logging company in the Mengen area is roaming over a large area, selectively felling, and extracting valuable timber with no forest clearance or agricultural planting. The Mengen report is the second FCA case study report to be published by ACT NOW after the first report, ‘Ten Years Without a Crop’ was published last month in conjunction with Jubilee Australia. This report revealed how another Malaysian-owned logging company called Global Elite Limited had sold US$31 million (K115 million) worth of round logs from the Wammy FCA in West Sepik Province but has not established promised palm oil or rubber plantations. Both reports highlight how the FCA logging operations had been approved by the PNG Forest Authority without the informed consent of a significant proportion of customary landowners. ACT NOW! Campaign Manager, Eddie Tanago stated that Prime Minister Marape, last week reaffirmed his government’s commitment to the protection and sustainable management of our forest resources. “Yet the PNG Forest Authority is continuing to allow illegal logging across the entire country.” “ACT NOW! Is calling on the PNG Forest Authority to cancel the Forest Clearing Authorities for both Mengen and Wammy projects and to impose a moratorium on logging in all FCA areas.” According to Tanogo, FCAs are routinely being used as a loophole to authorize the theft of PNG’s forests. “We call on the National Forest Board and PNG Forest Authority to extend the current moratorium on new GCAs, suspend logging in all existing FCAs and conduct a comprehensive public review of the projects.” Meanwhile there are active FCA logging operations across nine Provinces in PNG which cover an average of 61, 849 hectares, the equivalent of more than 11, 000 rugby fields. ACT NOW says it is also calling on the Independent Commission against Corruption and the Fraud squad to open investigations into these illegal logging operations as they are continuing under the supervision of Forest Authority Officers.