Getting the 'rough end of the pineapple'

Captions: 1. Pineapple Building. 2. Pineapple Building with the mildew-covered Central Government Building in the background

The ‘rough end of the pineapple’, Australian slang for a disadvantageous position which was made world-famous by prime minister Kevin Rudd, could be how Papua New Guineans could describe their deteriorating infrastructure, especially government buildings.
Colloquially, and literally – as seen by the ‘Pineapple Building’ at Waigani - Papua New Guineans are indeed getting ‘the rough end of the pineapple’.
The state of PNG government buildings all over the country epitomises the neglect and decline of the country since independence in 1975.
All over the country, hospitals, schools, public libraries and government buildings have basically gone to the dogs
The country's historic first Parliament (House of Assembly), in a converted isolation hospital in old Port Moresby town, has collapsed into a vandalised wreck.
The major government offices, inland at Waigani - the Canberra type geographical centre of Port Moresby - and the ‘Pineapple Building’ that once housed prime ministers, received so little maintenance that they were abandoned within 25 years of being built as health hazards.
The national bureaucracy as a result migrates from one new building to the next, leaving behind shells.
There has been much talk about restoring the first Parliament, and the ‘Pineapple Building’, however, it seems to have been much ado about nothing.
In September 1975, Port Moresby became capital city of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea.
New government buildings were constructed at Waigani area to house government departments, including a spectacular National Parliament Building, which was opened in 1984 by Prince Charles.
Other important national buildings such as Supreme Court, National Museum, and National Library are also located in the same area.
Among the buildings, there is a strange-shaped building opposite Sir John Guise Stadium.
This was originally one of the government buildings called ‘Marea Haus’, but now everybody calls it as the ‘Pineapple Building’ because of its shape resembling the tropical fruit.
All these, suffice to say, have fallen into various states of disrepair.

Papua New (s) Guinea Blog

Ilya Gridnef, the intrepid Australian Associated Press man in Port Moresby, has set up his blog called Papua News Guinea (http://aappng.blogspot.com/).
“I cover PNG and the Solomon Islands,” Ilya says.
“Hopefully this blog can help those interested in these areas.”
Have a look…

Essential reading about the carbon trade and Papua New Guinea

Have a look at this blog http://natashaloder.blogspot.com/ for the tantalising tidbits about the carbon trade controversy and Papua New Guinea.

Papua New Guinea in hot seat: claims of false carbon credits

By ILYA GRIDNEFF of AAP

16/06/2009 12:00:00 AM

 

Papua New Guinea's Office of Climate Change director has denied any wrongdoing amid reports he issued up to 39 false multimillion-dollar carbon trading deals.

Theo Yasause said in Port Moresby on Monday that stolen documents leaked to the media were ''samples'' not designed for official use.

Documents obtained by The Economist and available on the internet show a series of what appear to be multi-million-dollar carbon trading deals with foreign companies in various regions of the country.

Dr Yasause said, ''I've not sold or made any money out of this process.

''I've done no deals, or sold any credits.''

Even though the leaked documents appeared to carry his signature, the official seal, and another colleague's signature, they did not represent real deals, he said.

''It's not a false document but a sample,'' he said.

''It's speculation by certain individuals who have no regard for the process.

''They should have asked before they released this kind of statements,'' he said.

''It was a sample stolen from my drawer, we were looking at several types of project,'' he said.

Dr Yasause said a criminal investigation would be conducted to find who stole the sample documents, along with a review of the Office of Climate Change. ''We never received any funding from foreign entities,'' he said.

''We have not issued any credits to anyone,'' he said.

Papua New Guinea has the world's third-largest rainforest and great interest in turning the asset into carbon trading revenue, but at present no such policy or legislation exists in the country.

Dr Yasause was in the news two years ago when Papua New Guinea's national executive council revoked his appointment as secretary for national planning and monitoring. At the time, sources said the appointment had caused a split in cabinet.

Dr Yasause was an economic adviser to Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare.

Dr Yasause, of Yangoru, East Sepik province, has worked for the Department of Education, Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Commerce and Industry. He has also served with the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat as trade policy adviser to the region under a European Union-funded project for the past five years. AAP

Weather warning

When you walk out the door in the morning and see this in the sky.......  
.....just go back inside, have another cup of coffee,

And stay home. It's NOT going to be a good day.
Hope today was different. Have a nice day

2009 Papua New Guinea Mining and Petroleum Seminars

The Papua New Guinea Chamber of Mines and Petroleum will be hosting a Petroleum Seminar on the 27th –28th October followed by a Mining Seminar on the 29th – 30th October at the Crowne Plaza, Port Moresby.

As well as providing a comprehensive technical update on current activities in the mining and petroleum industry, these seminars will offer an excellent opportunity to meet all the players in the PNG resources industry, including Government, and for joint venture discussions, networking, and promotion.

The Petroleum Seminar will feature the current activities in the petroleum sector including PNG’s first LNG development, major new gas discoveries at Elk/Antelope in the Gulf Province and Douglas/Puk Puk in the Western Province, and other exploration.

The Mining Seminar will showcase the PNG mining industry highlighting project updates, new developments, advanced prospects, and exploration. PNG’s four new mines – Ramu nickel/cobalt project and Hidden Valley, Simberi and Sinivit gold mines - will be featured as well as the offshore deep sea exploration for seafloor massive sulphide deposits.

The seminars will be complimented by a Trade Fair with 16 companies exhibiting their services, products or exploration/production activities to the delegates.

The Chamber sees the seminars as an important service to members and to the general public.

It is essential that information on the activities of the mining and petroleum sectors is freely available to all.

For this reason, the Chamber endeavours to keep the registration fees for the events to a minimum.

The Chamber is expecting over 800 delegates to attend the seminars.

Along with industry and Government any member of the public is welcomed to attend.

For further information please contact the Chamber on telephone (675) 321 2988 or email conf@pngchamberminpet.com.pg

 

Will you feel guilty when the 'CARBON COPS' call?

by Paul Oates

Recent news report of the Australian Federal Police now being tasked withpolicing Climate Change Regulations. However, with all the debate about
carbon sinks, carbon sequestering and climate change, it seems almost impossible to get a 'helicopter view' of what is actually happening.

Firstly, we are told the Earth is going through a warming phase. This has happened a number of times in the past without disastrous results (e.g.
around 1,000 AD) so why is it so important this time? Well, it seems likely that the use of fossil fuels (coal and oil) have over the so called
'Industrial Age', helped accentuate this warming. Some may argue as to how much, if at all, our burning fossil fuels has contributed however, when you compare these man made emissions against those caused by natural causes such as volcanic eruptions and bush fires.

So how will this global warming affect us? Can we really do anything about it?

Prior to the current level of political consternation, the use of coal and from last century, oil, seemed to be the only way world societies could
progress and develop. The problem was that those with the resources and power kept the benefits to themselves and those without the power to use
their resources were severely limited in their prospects.

As the global village developed over the last 20 to 30 years, there are some recognisable changes emerging. There is a power struggle going on between Europe, North America and East Asia. China and India (the world's most populous nations), are emerging as industrial giants and challenging the status quo.

During the last 30 years, the world population has doubled and is set to double again. If everyone in the world today enjoyed the same standard of
living as the so called developed nations, we would need the resources of two and a half world's to meet that demand. Clearly that can't happen. So
what's the answer? Is it just a battle between the haves and the have nots? Traditionally, these battles have allowed those with resources to believe
they will always come out on top.

Now we should all know where this horrible deluge of carbon is coming from. Hundreds of millions of years ago, the Earth was much warmer and had an atmosphere many times richer in Carbon Dioxide (CO2). Why? Well it has been suggested that the natural atmosphere of our solar system's planets is made up predominantly of CO2 and Methane as is the atmosphere of Venus today. So what changed our world? During the 'Carboniferous period', the huge forests grew in the warm climate and used the CO2 to grow. This growth in plant life then released a huge amount of free oxygen (O2 then estimated to be over 20% of the Earth's atmosphere), and this allowed an explosion of animal life that depended on this oxygen for life. As the carbon based plant life died and was eventually covered by rocks, the resultant coal and oil lay untouched for millions of years until humans discovered and used these resources during the last thousand years.

Now here comes the conundrum. Why won't this balance between CO2 and O2 happen again? What's the difference between the Earth regulating itself previously and any increase in CO2 naturally increasing the world's plant life? Surely an increase in plant life will eventually decrease the CO2 and release the O2 back into the atmosphere (i.e. a natural carbon sink)? Surely the only difference in today's equation is people? When the natural 'carbon sink' previously happened, there were no people around to be affected. If the predictions are correct, the Earth may warm by an average of 4 degrees by the year 2100. BUT, by that year, unless something different occurs, the Earth will be so over populated that there will not be the resources to feed and house all these extra people. Earth's human bio mass is currently only second to krill in overall total size. In less than 30 years, it will double again. This is far, far sooner than any cataclysmic disaster that may be caused by climate change.

If the world's oceans do rise by some meters as the ice caps melt, the areas on the Earth that will be most affected are those that are heavily populated
now (e.g. Bangladesh). Where will these people go to find safety, food and shelter? No government seems prepared to 'bite this bullet'.

So while the world's leaders wring their collective hands and lament abouthow they can wean their people off their CO2 producing culture, the only
answer seems to be by legislating to make energy (coal, oil and electricity) more and more expensive in real terms. Agriculture is being told that they will have to pay for the amount of CO2 it produces. This will also cause an increase in the cost of food and yet more overheads on already stretched famers to try and keep pace with an increased population.

So what timely alternatives are being put in place to make a real difference? Like the recent inability to stop swine flu, nothing seems possible to stop the world's population from increasing exponentially. What will then stop these extra billions from chopping down any surviving trees to live? History is full of examples where this has happened. A classic example is the original population on Easter Island. The people there eventually
used up all the available resources and their society 'imploded'. The strong defeated the weak but eventually they too died off as there were no
resources left on the island.

So when it all becomes too hard and too complicated, a diversion is needed to get governments past the next election. Recent examples could be the Year 2000 bug, The war on terror, Oil prices, and now, bring on the concern about climate change....... Two thousand years ago, it was bread and circus's.