Forestry & Corruption in PNG

Transparency International PNG (TIPNG) has publicly attacked Papua New Guinea’s forest industry and officials.

Capitalising on publicity generated by the launch of its Corruption Perception Index for 2010, TIPNG has directly attacked the Papua New Guinea Forest Authority (PNGFA) as well as its auditing body, claiming that 90 per cent of timber exports are shipped without proper checking. 

PNGFA Managing Director, Kanawi Pouru, reiterated that all logs exported from PNG were independently checked and monitored by Swiss inspection company, SGS – one of the global leaders in inspection, testing and certification services. He advised that the process was completely transparent and any questions would be welcomed by the auditor.

TIPNG’s annual report for 2009 said that its forest program “does not take an antagonistic approach” to forest governance – contrary to its latest public comments.

Transparency International has received substantial funding from the European Commission to undertake advocacy and policy research on levels of corruption in the forest sector in the Asia Pacific– the Forest Governance Integrity program.