© Eric Lafforgue www.ericlafforgue.com
I really don’t know where this came from (weird e-mail trail), but it was too good not to share.
For those of you who follow ConservationBytes.com, you might remember a fairly recent post where a group of leading conservation biologists exposed one of the most dangerous men in the world – Alan Oxley, the (very embarrassing to admit) Australian destroyer of tropical biodiversity and future welfare of hundreds of millions of people.
It seems he and his commercial interests (and my, do those fellas lay it on thick) have turned their attention to destroying the last tracts of intact South-East Asian forests (and associated biodiversity) in Papua New Guinea. Kiss some of the most endemic, biodiverse and biowealthy areas on the planet good-bye.
So it was interesting to receive this email that had been sent to Oxley’s front-company, International Trade Strategies (ITS) Global, by one very pissed off Papua New Guinean. I have no idea who ‘Bush Kanaka Mangi’ is, but he sounds the real deal and I wouldn’t want to be Oxley if he ever came across him. I cite verbatim1:
–
Mr Alan Oxley,
HONESTLY : I am sick of getting this bloody rubbish, bullshit from you and your company ITS Global about palm oil is good for PNG, logging is good for PNG. Who the hell do you think you are ????, you seem in all your articles and consultancy reports as the expert about our country and more knowledgeable about the Melanesian society very well. My assessment of all your electronic newsletter which you circulate widely, your reflections and recommendations all are in no way closer or nearer to the way we Papua New Guineans think and want to do things and develop our nation, all of what you say are totally and purely and absolutely RUBBISH and yet you claim to know everything and know the problems of PNG and our people and on ways to solve our problems and continue your bullshit campaign in support of R&H and all its doing here destroying our forests, our society, manipulating our systems and creating confusion and hell is loose here.
New study by ITS Global shows Palm Oil can spur economic growth in PNG. A vibrant Palm Oil industry is economically and environmentally viable in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and has the potential to raise the living standards of the nation’s poor, according to a new report released by ITS Global2
…..this is incorrect, have you seen and travelled this country and seen the conditions of the local landowners and block holders or you sit your bottom in an air-conditions office in Australia and write reports which is far from the trust and reality on the ground.
…argues that PNG is in a perfect position to capitalize on oil palm development as a response to strong global demand for food staples and a domestic need for nutrition and food security…..
Yes global demand we know but that, oil palm is a exotic crop from Africa, it has no traditional value to our people and what nutritional value and food security are you talking about?? What about the traditional landowners that will be pushed away from their land for oil palm, how do you intend to cater for their traditional needs…already we are experiencing and seeing original landowners from oil palm area areas face many social and internal problems in their own villages and clans, and furthermore what about the large influx of people from other provinces that will flood the plantations in search of jobs, and then get poor services like accommodation and then the social conflicts for space and land for gardening….have you gone to Kimbe, visited Galai, Buvussi, Kapore, Saraklok, Vilolo Section 8 or yu stap long Melbourne tasol na raitim repot, yu imas paul yah !!!!
The ITS Global report claims that the palm oil industry has the potential to generate significant economic growth in PNG. It notes that Palm oil is PNG’s most successful agricultural crop, accounting for around 39% of agricultural export earnings over the last decade while directly providing income for over 160,000 people living in rural households.
Yes true, but have you visited the any of the 160,000 people and their households to find out how much of their earnings from oil palm FFB or salaries last them a week ??, you are living is a unreal world and writing, the reality is the money they earn from FFB or salary as a employee/laborers evaporates into thin air within a week, because the cost of living has risen and they have no savings…our people are slaves in the oil palm industry and you want more and more forest land in PNG is cleared by R&H and then put more and more of our people into those plantations and with promises of higher living standard and conditions, come on Alan Oxley, yu imas faul yah, maski kusawe long ol pipol bilong mipela. In fact you are enslaving them…..which they don’t know.
The study also finds that PNG soils offer the prospect of highest output per hectare from palm oil of any economy and that the industry provides a net climate benefit despite a politicised “environmental” campaign pursuing an anti-development agenda3.
The soils, GOD blessed our country no question about that…….and NET CLIMATE BENEFIT, hey wait a minute….again you imas longlong, ai bilong yu istap we, long ???? what about all the problems of forest clearance, it that climate benefit, what about all the soil erosion into the rivers and seas, what about the huge loss of forest carbon and soil carbon initially……..what studies have shown oil palm is a good carbon capture crop….yu imas kirap nogut long silip yah…sekim em ??
Politicized Environmental campaign pursuing an anti-development agenda.
I dont understand what you mean by this or referring to, but OUR politicians are supporting your agenda of oil palm development and that thinking blindly that it is good development option, because you and R&H have brainwashed them (long paus na long tingting) by your BULLSHITS. PNG NGOs and knowledgeable Landowners who have opposed you and R&H plus others in the logging forestry and oil palm sector are not against development (ANTI-DEVELOPMENT3 as you say), but are against the manner in which the process of development is carried out and conducted without considering other options all and following due process. Het bilong yu imas kilia, na maski paulpaul yet. PNG NGOs and the Landowners are PNG’ans by BLOOD and will live here and die here and get buried here and they have the heart for their people, land, forest, future generations, and they are talking from the hearts, you are not a Papua New Guinean and you don’t feel how we feel and how we see things and how we appreciate our society. You are a foreigner only providing your one sided KONsultancy service of BIG BUCKS.
The list below4 I don’t want to waste my time trying to put some real sense into your brain to put some touch of reality, so that the next time you write a report for R&H, it is a true and real reflection of things on the ground in PNG. OK..na harim gut maski long raitim kainkain giamna samting na giamanim ol lidas bilong mipela na traim bagarapim ol ples, bus, giraun, wara and kantri bilong mipela.
Em tasol…..stap gut long ea kondisen ofis bilong yu lon Australia na tingting gut.
Mi yet…………………….
Bush Kanaka Mangi5
–
1 I’d really like someone to translate the Pidgin for me, please (in boldface). I can get most of it, but I’m uncertain of a few words.
2ITS Global propaganda in italics.
3I always love how any attempts to protect biodiversity and livelihoods from rampant environmental destruction and instead promote sustainability is labelled by these people as ‘anti-development’. The hyperbole is extra-ordinary.
4I’ll spare you the remainder of the ITS Global propaganda. Follow the link above if you really want a good laugh.
5Amen, brother. Whoever you are.