More complaints of illegal FCA logging
Recently logged area in the Morevona FCA
Communities in the remote Nakanai region of West New Britain say their forests are being illegally destroyed by a Malaysian logging company.
Locals say, not only are the logging operations being conducted without their consent, the logging company has destroyed part of their cultural heritage by damaging old villages, cemeteries and other sacred sites.
Letters to the Forest Minister, PNGFA, PFMC and the logging company have gone unheeded
The communities have raised their complaints with the logging company, the PNG Forest Authority, the Provincial Forest Management Committee and have even written to the Forest Minister, but no action has been taken to stop the harvesting operations.
A Malaysian owned logging company, Milton Limited has been logging forests in the Morevona Agro-Forestry project area since 2021 under a Forest Clearing Authority (FCA) permit issued by the PNG Forest Authority.
FCA's are a particularly controversial type of logging permit, with many documented instances of abuse.
The Morevona FCA covers an area of 67,795 hectares - much of the terrain is unsuitable for agriculture. Map courtesy of the PNG Forest Authority
The Morevona project area is located in the centre of New Britain island and extends from the Salelubu government station on the north coast of West New Britain down, across the Nakanai mountains and over the Provincial border into East New Britain.
Much of the area covered by the FCA permit is completely unsuitable for any agriculture project, with steep terrain and high mountains.
The permit holder is a local company, Morevona Resource Development Limited. This company was deregistered in 2025 and is no longer a legal entity
Morevona Resource Development Ltd has been removed from the Register of Companies
Members of the Morebule / Gibolo Clan groups say they have never given permission for logging on their land at Umu, where the logging company set up a camp in 2024.
The clans say their rights over the land where extensive logging is ongoing has been confirmed by the District land court in a decision made in September 2024.
A temporary logging road carved through the forest by the logging company
The clan leaders say that Milton Limited has a checkered history and that a previous FCA logging operation for the Pakalua Agriculture Project in West New Britain was cut short by a court order after less than two years.
Milton Limited is owned by the Malaysian businessman Leonard Chow Leung Ng.
Another of Mr Ng’s companies, Mirabel Limited, has also recently been the subject of complaints of illegal logging. Local people on Fergusson Island claim Mirabel landed logging equipment on their land in November 2023 and carried out logging operations under an FCA without their permission.