- Australia: Tasmanian farms which fed people replaced by farms which feed woodchip mills

Preolenna, in NW Tasmania, has dramatically changed from what it used to be just five years ago (see WRM bulletin 36). Under the Federal Government's plan labelled Plantations 2020 Vision ( http://www.plantations2020.com.au ), this former farming community has seen their farms which used to feed people replaced by farms which feed woodchip mills. The pattern of large-scale monoculture tree plantations has swept through more than 35 farming towns in the North West hinterland from Circular Head to Wilmot.

Two long-term residents --Colleen Dibley and Evelyn De Vito-- have denounced before a national review committee that from 1997 to 2001, thirteen houses and eleven dairies were bulldozed to support tree farming as farms were sold and families moved on. Ms. Dibley told the committee that 187 jobs had been lost in the North West in the last five years as farms were converted to monoculture woodchip driven plantations.

In 1995, 26 people were directly employed by the dairy industry on 16 major cropping and dairy properties in Preolenna and Meunna. This year no people are employed on such farms. There were also five farm labourers employed but these jobs have also gone. Over the same time the number of people employed in the plantation industry, which has expanded greatly, has remained stagnant. The once-bustling productive rural community of Preolenna had become a silent, weed infested landscape owned primarily by two forestry companies and "is now a dormitory community, where people either work outside the district or rely on welfare."

In line with the changed economic conditions, Telstra has removed its mobile phone tower and the electricity grid has been pulled back. And Ms. Dibley said it was not land unsuitable for agriculture which has been targeted by the timber companies, but class three and four, or prime agricultural land. Ms. Dibley told the committee that while the forestry companies Gunns and Forest Enterprises had consistently claimed prime soils were not being targeted, its investment scheme publicity painted a different picture. "Gunns conducts a rigorous site selection and assessment process. The sites are located on rich fertile soils with high and reliable rainfall". She said Meunna, except for two houses, no longer existed, but was instead a big industrial monoculture plantation of Eucalyptus nitens which provided only occasional employment for gangs of forestry workers.

In 1999, Waratah-Wynyard and Burnie areas had the most plantations of any Tasmanian local government area and planting has intensified since early 2000. But unemployment in these areas is among the highest in the State and the population continues to shrink. Mrs Dibley told the committee that Waratah-Wynyard Council had lost about $4m a year due to the destruction of dairy farms alone.

However, the changes did not happen quietly. Despite division was created between neighbours, in 1999 and 2000, Preolenna was the subject of numerous newspaper articles as the dwindling group of residents, including farmers who sold out very reluctantly, saw the implications of the destruction of the community's economic basis.

In turn, the Australian senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Reference Committee is looking at impediments to the plantation industry. Submissions closed at the end of August and the committee is examining, among other things, what impediments there are to achieving the aims of the 2020 vision and if the strategy should be altered. "If Preolenna is an example of what happens when there are some impediments to the timber industry in place, imagine what would occur if impediments were removed," Ms. Dibley said.

Article based on information from: "Fighting wave of change at Preolenna", Helen Kempton, The Advocate, Saturday Extra, October 19, 2002, sent by Brenda Rosser, E-mail: shelter@tassie.net.au

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- Papua New Guinea: Forests saved against logging and oil palm plantation

Landowners of Maisin and Wanigela customary lands, in the Collingwood Bay area of Oro Province, have something to celebrate.

In May 2002, the Waigani National Court returned customary land which had been leased to the State in early 1999 under a lease-lease back agreement by Keroro Development Corporation, a local landowner company. The plan was to clear the area and plant oil palm trees. The land concerned comprises 38,000 hectares of rich volcanic soil with an extensive forest area.

The Collingwood Bay people considered illegal the 'lease' on their land so they mounted a test case to determine whether the rule of law and justice can be flouted by logging companies, their agents and corrupt individuals in government.

According to the majority of landowners only a few signed the land lease, without proper consultation with various customary landowners in Collingwood Bay. The court victory did away with the threat of logging and conversion to monoculture oil palm plantations of those lands where their landowners can develop self-managed small scale, community based enterprises without destroying their forests.

This case can be also seen as an encouragement for other landowners who are facing similar problems to reclaim land which has been seized without their consent, and to assert their right to be included in all discussions concerning the usage of their land. Kuinga-Aimbak landowners in the Western province, for example, are also fighting to stop logging operations in their area.

The victory gave way to a four day celebration and the occasion was attended by friends from within PNG and overseas who had assisted landowners in their long battle, like Greenpeace, Environmental Law Center and Conservation Melanesia. Guests were showered with gifts from all the villages and a traditional ceremonial of wiping pork fat on the guests as mark of respect and in payment of their support.

"Unlike our ancestors and forefathers who fought battles with spears and clubs, we fought this battle with pen and paper, as our land was stolen through pen and paper", said a Collingwood Bay landowner.

Although the outcome was in their favour, the whole ordeal has been hard for them and has permanently changed their lives. They had to bear the expensive costs of the legal suit and had to take decisions that affected their families' security and welfare and to a greater extent caused them dear lives.

Article based on information from: "Landowners celebrate reclaimed land", Raymond Palangat, Conservation Melanesia, e-mail: momis@global.net.pg