Today in history

Yahoo! Is Incorporated (1995) In 1994, two Stanford PhD candidates began indexing interesting websites as a hobby. "Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web" launched as Yahoo! the following year, and it has since grown to become the largest information portal on the Web. Initially, Yahoo! called itself a "directory" because it employed indexing specialists to categorize websites, but the Web has since grown so large that the use of automated spiders has become a necessity. What is the name "Yahoo!" an acronym for? More...

 

Malcolm Turnbull linked to mass logging operation in Solomon Islands

By Linda Silmalis

February 28, 2009 10:00pm

(http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,25119923-949,00.html)

 

 

JUST as Malcolm Turnbull tries to outsmart Labor on environmental issues, a file of documents has emerged linking the Leader of the Opposition to a mass logging operation in the Solomon Islands.

The tiny island of Vangunu is a speck on the world map; a dot in the Pacific and home to just over 2000 people. It forms part of the collection of thousands of land masses that make up the Solomon Islands.

Once covered in pristine rainforest, the island and the surrounding Marovo Lagoon were the subject of lobbying by the New Zealand government and environmentalists to have it World Heritage-listed in the late 1980s.

Almost two decades later, the island is again being talked about - only this time for different reasons.

The emergence of a carefully-documented file detailing mass logging operations and the ongoing impacts in the region has Vangunu back in the spotlight.

More specifically, the file - obtained by The Sunday Telegraph - records the involvement of Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull over that time.

Mr Turnbull was the chairman of a company called Axiom Holdings after he and fellow investors purchased a 16.21 per cent stake in the company in 1991.

The company was one of several companies with logging activities in the Solomons.

It was also one of the largest.

According to the documents, it was under Mr Turnbull's time as chair that the company boosted its activities and profits, with devastating consequences on the environment.

It is not the first time that the former environment minister has been scrutinised over the issue.

His critics began digging around his past business interests during the battle for the seat of Wentworth in 2004.

With environmental issues a key issue at the time, his opponents were keen to challenge Mr Turnbull's green credentials.

It emerged that he had been chairman of Axiom Forest Resources from late 1991 to to July 1992 -- a company that had earlier been the subject of a series of damning AusAID reports.

Published in the early 1990s, the reports likened Axion and its operations on Vangunu to "a clear-felling operation" that made little attempt to be sustainable.

Responding to the issue at the time, Mr Turnbull told ABC radio that he had had no hands-on role in the logging operations on the Islands.

Describing himself as a "corporate doctor", Mr Turnbull said that after he saw the consequences of poor forestry he had tried to encourage local owners to change their ways. Mr Turnbull said he was unaware the companies had been described as having some of the worst logging practices in the world.

He said he was aware of some companies having "difficulties" and that Axiom had acquired them to clean up the mess.

"The vision of the founders of Axiom, of which I was not one, was to acquire these logging companies and then restructure them and sort of reposition them so that they became sustainable operations," Mr Turnbull said. "My only involvement with the company was as a corporate doctor."

Three years later, when John Howard announced plans to help fight deforestation in South-East Asia and the South Pacific, the issue again arose as Labor circulated press clippings in Parliament House, again detailing the AusAID reports.

The clippings were an embarrassment for Mr Turnbull who had just described forests as "lungs of the world".

When questioned at the time, Mr Turnbull said he had visited the Solomons but never been to the site of the logging operations. The issue again disappeared.

However, just as Mr Turnbull struggles against internal critics and tries to shift the focus onto his policy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, documents about his Solomon Islands dealings have surfaced.

So just what do they contain?

Plenty. Enough, to suggest Mr Turnbull may have been driven more by profits than saving forests.

Mr Turnbull was chairman of Axiom for almost seven months.

In July 1992, the South China Morning Post published an article that states Mr Turnbull sold out of Axiom for HK25c per share, or a representing a sale return of over $A4.3 million.

While it has never been confirmed just how much Mr Turnbull pocketed from the venture, it is speculated that the profits from the exercise may have been as high as $25 million.

Three months after the sale, the Australian-government funded AusAID study was released which catalogued the logging activity of Axiom and its subsidiaries: Integrated Forest Industries, Rural Industries, Silvania Products and Isabel Timber Co. The report found that the companies had massively increased logging activities in the region while Mr Turnbull was chairman.

Specifically, Axiom increased its production from 25,500cum to 40,900cum between 1991 and 92.

Production was able to be increased because of a new Silvania operation that had begun on the island of Vangunu, it said. The operation had contributed an additional 70,000cum to its quota.

"The degree of canopy removal and soil disturbance was the most extensive seen by the authors in any logging operation in tropical rainforest in any country," the report said.

Asked about the details of the report, Mr Turnbull's office referred The Sunday Telegraph to an e-mailed transcript of his earlier interview with the ABC.

Labor has long believed Mr Turnbull has failed to explain his role as a corporate doctor and, specifically, what he did to improve logging practices given production effectively doubled under his watch.

As a Labor source said: "Malcolm's biggest problem is everyone's let him off the hook because it has been written about before." However, he has never confessed that things actually worsened under his watch.

As the file states: "Malcolm Turnbull has repeatedly said that he's an environmentalist, particularly during his hard fought election win in 2007 in his leafy and well-educated seat of Wentworth.

"He's also sought in recent days to position himself as an active campaigner against climate change. But Malcolm Turnbull's past as a logger in the Solomon Islands calls into question how strongly he really holds these views."

More embarrassingly for Mr Turnbull, the file also contains scientific articles published in international journals detailing the impact logging has had on the local Solomon Islands community.

A 2002 report by marine biologists published in The Status of Solomon Islands Coral Reefs said the unique reef and Marovo lagoon system was still suffering from the effects of logging.

"Villagers report huge sediment plumes following heavy rain," it said. "Once the rain has stopped, the water may clear within 24 hours to a week. In the rainy season that means the plumes are a semi-permanent feature."

A 2005 Melanesian Geo article by local resident Douglas Pikacha said the lagoon may never recover from the damage.

A further paper published last year said large algal blooms from sediments in the catchments were wreaking havoc on the delicate reef system.

Mr Turnbull may believe he has already dealt with the issue in the past but, so long as the devastating impacts of the logging activities on the islands keep emerging, Labor will be ensuring it won't go away.

At the very least, the file is an embarrassment for a leader trying desperately to out-green Kevin Rudd on environmental policy. Coming smack bang in the middle of the debate over an emissions trading scheme, it is an unwanted distraction.

At worst, it suggests profit has been placed over the environment and with devastating consequences.

In the same way Environment Minister Peter Garrett and Midnight Oil frontman wishes he had probably never penned US Forces, Mr Turnbull might well be wishing he had stuck to banking.

 

Digicel to launch 'solar' handsets in June

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ

THE Digicel Group will launch in Papua New Guinea and Samoa the world’s first-ever low-cost solar-powered cell phone in June to cater for people not connected to the power grid.

In an announcement at the recent mobile world congress in Barcelona, Spain, the Caribbean-based Digicel said it had partnered with China’s ZTE to make the technology available to 90% of PNG’s population and to those in Samoa.

Digicel-PNG confirmed the solar handset’s launch, saying it would cover “selected markets” without commenting on the June launch in the country.

ZTE, one of China’s biggest telecoms equipment providers, manufactures the solar-powered handset Coral-200-Solar (pictured above) which would be available below US$40 (K120).

ZTE and Digicel believed sales in the first year would reach “several hundred thousand”.

“We estimate in the world there are more than two billion people who have limited or no access to electricity,’’ Wang Yong Zhong, general manager of ZTE cell phone handsets, told reporters at the Barcelona expo.

An Asian Development Bank paper on PNG’s power situation said 90% of population, or 5.4 million, had no access to electricity.

To tap this huge market, Digicel will be erecting cell sites in areas across the country not covered by PNG Power service to connect the solar-powered handsets to the telco’s nationwide network.

Coral-200-Solar uses technology developed by Dutch company Intivation to boost the current from a single mini solar panel located on the back of the phone.

A charge of one hour in full sunlight would offer 15 minutes of talk time, Digicel and ZTE said, adding that the phone could be charged normally with an electricity supply.

“Once the handset’s battery power weakens, the solar power charging starts, “Digicel said.

The handset comes in colour display without fancy functions.

“In our lives (in the rich world), an interruption of power is a nuisance ... but it is infrequent,” Digicel-Jamaica executive Tom Bryant told reporters.

“But where we conduct business, the absence of power is a daily activity,” he said, referring to PNG, Samoa and poor countries in South America where Digicel is the dominant cell phone communications provider.

Intivation, the Dutch company supplying the technology linking the solar panel to the battery in the ZTE model, claimed the Chinese-made device was “twice as effective” as anything else on the market.

 

Prime Minister to 'flow, flare' gas at Antelope 1

InterOil’s gas find believed biggest natural gas deposit

 

By SHEILA LASIBORI

 

PRIME Minister Sir Michael Somare will today “flow and flare” the well at InterOil’s Antelope One gas discovery site in Gulf province, according to The National newspaper.

According to InterOil Corp, the discovery was considered – on the basis of independent expert analysis – “to be the biggest natural gas find of the century anywhere in the Southern Hemisphere or the Asia-Pacific (at least for the last 20 years)”.

The site is located in the vicinity of the Purari River.

Sir Michael will be accompanied by his deputy Dr Puka Temu, who is Minister for Land and Mining, including delegates.

The Antelope One well has hydrocarbons in the Antelope reef. The top of the reservoir had intersected at 1,796m with gas encountered at the same depth.

The company had advised last month that drilling was continuing at 1,964m with an unbalanced mud system with gas production averaging two to three million cubic feet per day (MMcfd) whilst drilling with full returns and about 3,400psi of back pressure on the formation with rates up to 15MMcfd had been achieved while circulating out gas kicks.

It said mud loggers report showed a fine-grained limestone facies inter-bedded with and grading to a coarser grain more porous dolomitise facies.

The dolomitise facies displays good to very good visible matrix and porosity.

The porosity was a mixture of primary and well-developed secondary porosity with evidence of chalkification and dolomitisation.

The lower interval associated with a significant gas kick has an increase in dolomite which averaged almost 80%.

A media team led by InterOil’s senior manager for media relations Susuve Laumaea will join the party at the site.

The programme will see villagers at the Wabo base camp host a traditional welcome ceremony for Sir Michael and the delegation.

 

Passing of Jan Scharlach in Canada

The late Jan Scharlach (right) with huband Jim (left) and Busu High School head boy John Singas after graduation in 1983. Picture by MALUM NALU.

I have just received some sad news from my ex Busu High School teacher Jim Scharlach, in Canada, of the passing of his late wife Jan last Friday night.

“I wanted to let you know that Jan passed away last night,” Jim wrote.

“She had been fighting cancer for many years.

“She is now in a better place.”

Jim, Jan and their children were in Lae in 1981, 1983 and 1983 and they played in important role in shaping me and many other students of Busu.

Jan was a great teacher who has had a great influence on my life, particularly in reading, writing and literature.

My thoughts and prayers are with the Sharlachs at this sad moment in their lives.

I will let other ex Busu High School schoolmates know.

Malum

Sorcery-related killings in Papua New Guinea akin to Salem witch hunt

The numerous sorcery-related killings in Papua New Guinea where innocent men, women and children are killed can only be compared to the Salem witch trials.

Viewed by many to be the result of a period of factional infighting and religious hysteria, the witch trials of Puritanical Salem Village, Massachusetts, led to the executions of 20 people—15 women and five men—and the imprisonment of approximately 150 accused witches.

Even after the trials ended, people who had previously been found not guilty of witchcraft remained in prison, held until they paid their jail fees.

What is "spectral evidence," and how did it play a role in the witch trials? More...

Bulolo MP to sort out issues with MMJV

An aerial view of the Hidden Valley Mine Project area stretching down to Hamata. Picture by SIMON ANAKAPU of MOROBE MINING JOINT VENTURES.

Bulolo, Morobe province, with the Bulolo River snaking through the town. Picture courtesy of PNG Forest Products.

The Bulolo River...MP Sam Basil has warned of class action if the river is polluted. Picture courtesy of PNG Forest Products.

Bulolo MP Sam Basil will meet with officials from Morobe Mining Joint Venture today tomorrow to sort out several issues relating to the Hidden Valley gold mine in Wau, as it prepares to start pouring gold this year.
These include company accommodation being built in Lae, sedimentation of the Bulolo River, and the structure of royalty payments.
Mr Basil said from Canberra today that he would meet with officials from both Harmony Gold of South Africa and Newcrest Mining of Australia, who are joint venture partners in Hidden Valley and Wafi.
“An earlier meeting was held in Melbourne with the executives of Newcrest, however, many issues relating to the developments in Bulolo were not raised as the meeting was to meet the other half owners of the MMJV,” he said.
Among the issues to be discussed to today’s meeting will be the building of MMJV staff accommodation at 10-Mile outside Lae, and not at either Wau or Bulolo, as demanded by the local people.
“Bulolo has had earlier experiences of mining activities taking place there, and after the resources were reaped off, the mining companies disappeared, leaving behind a big holes with no sustainable activities or infrastructure both towns,” Mr Basil said.
“The 1980’s saw the worst of the two towns, which were both branded as ‘cowboy towns’.
“A public forum will be held back in Wau with appropriate community representatives involve, including the newly-formed Bulolo District Development Foundation, which consists of all professionals from Bulolo in PNG and overseas, business house representatives and the ordinary residents and people of Wau/Bulolo.”
Mr Basil also expressed his disappointment at landowner executives for not doing enough to pressure the company to focus its attentions in terms of infrastructural developments back into Wau and Bulolo.
“The company must understand that dealing with a particular landowner group only does not provide a one-stop shop to the company,” he said.
“They must understand that the entire people of Bulolo are closely watching and they will understand when there may not be enough jobs or business activities for everyone.
“But seeing the company building its infrastructure in Wau and Bulolo will bring relief into their hearts, because they are still haunted by the bad experience of the past, which makes the issue very sensitive.”
Mr Basil said unlike MMJV, the national government had made available K7 million for 21 houses for Wau police, while Morobe provincial government contributed K500,000 for police houses in Zenag, K1m for a grader and rubbish collections trucks, as well as K8.5m worth of developments.
“Those developments, if and when are constructed in Bulolo will add pressure to improvement of the town’s utility services such as water upgrade, communication upgrade, electrification upgrade and so on,” he said,
The other issue will be the sedimentation of the Bulolo River caused by the mining upstream, which has greatly affected the local alluvial miners, and there is a possibility of Mr Basil engaging an independent group to assess the environmental damage.
He said there was the possibility of extending the affected areas into Middle and Lower Watut.
“If negotiations are not addressed properly after the presentation of the reports, then a class action will be the next possible action,” Mr Basil warned.
“Community programmes and projects will also be discussed as the company is running its own programmes in duplication or against the district’s and the national government’s rural developmental focus.
“The structure of the royalty payments will also be discussed as the mining company will start pouring gold this year and the impact to the local communities can be affected if the current structure is not updated or thoroughly looked at.”
A report from the meeting will be made available for the media and the Bulolo people by Wednesday.