Appealing for donation to support campaign against experimental seabed mining

Dear Friends of PNG Group against Seabed Experimental Mining,

My name is Mr. Wenceslaus Magun. I am the deputy chairman of the PNG Group against Seabed Experimental Mining.

In 2013, we established PNG Group against Seabed Experimental Mining.
Our group is planning to produce awareness materials using mugs, t'shirts, caps, birros, etc. But to do that we needed funds.

PNG Group against Seabed Mining is a not-for-profit group. We campaign to save protect, restore and sustainably use our marine ecological systems with the primary goal to stop experimental seabed mining in PNG.

Funds will also go towards research, campaign and litigation. Additional funds will go towards sending our delegation to attend the Evangelical Lutheran Church of PNG's Synod in Madang, fly in representatives of villagers or Civil Society Groups in all the coastal communities throughout PNG to attend our fourth general meeting in February 2013, launch PNGGaSEM and travel to Pacific Island countries to share information, and build an alliance.

We plan to start producing and disseminating:

100,000 mugs with our logo and promotional message on it.
100,000 caps with our logo and promotional message on it
100,000 t'shirts with our logo and promotional message on it
100,000 pens or birros with our logo and promotional message on it.
100,000 bags with our logo and promotional messages on it.
100,000 badges with our logo and promotional messages on it.
100,000 educational awareness posters
100,000 educational awareness DVDs,

Promotional Message: 1. Stop Ocean Crime. Say No to a) Seabed Mining, b) Mine Tailing Dumping c) Industrial Waste Dumping d) Riverine Tailing Dumping and e) Plastic Pollution

Our target audience will be coastal villagers and offshore island communities in the Bismarck Solomon Seas starting with New Ireland and East and West New Britain.

For details please contact me on magun.wences@gmail.com or call me on 71959665

Kind Regards,

wence
You CARE if you donate funds to PNG GaSEM to stop Seabed Experimental Mining

Do we need to mine our seafloors?

Stop seabed mining in PNG 

Flash Back: Four new mines in 10 years. A story that was published on Monday, November 18, 2013, The National, page 53. It says ..."Four large mining operations are soon to come on stream in the next 10 years...Mt Kare (17 km west of Pogera gold mine, Yandera in Madang, Frieda project at the border of East and West Sepik, and Walfi Golpu project in Morobe." So why are we so desperate to go into seafloor experimental mining? Are we a desperate nation? Are we existing solely on money? Common PNG, enough of making unwise and stupid decisions. 2014 should be the year of implementation as the PM said and we need to ensure that hasty and selfish decisions in this country must not be entertained. Everything you heard from Nautilus Minerals Ltd and supported by Mineral Resources Authority and lined agencies is based on assumptions because there is no seabed mining in the world. Turn your other ears and listen to Prof. Richard Steiner, Dr. Helen Rosenbaum, Prof Chalapan Kaluwin, and many other top marine scientists. If they have not opposed seabed mining in PNG then we would not worry. But they have cautioned us not to rush the process but to ensure that all environmental impact studies, Nautilus's Environmental Management Plan (WHICH NO ONE HAS SEEN), and other independent studies and assessments must be carried out first to ensure that all is safe, healthy and friendly before we venture into the abyss to mine the seafloors. Little is known about that environment and there is much more to learn about it. PNGeans we are not so desperate to take this step. Not at all!! At Christmas the three wise men from the East came to visit Jesus. It is about time we start listening to our wise men and women in this age and time. Haste brings waste!! There's NO tangible benefit in Misima. Look at Bougainville! We have not stopped dumping wastes into Ok Tedi. So don't be carried away by false promises from mining companies. There's enough propaganda by mining companies in EMTV. Companies in PNG enjoy more tax incentives or exemptions compared to companies operating in other parts of the world due to our leaders making stupid, unwise and selfish decisions. Now is the time to put an end to this approach of doing things. You and I must make some bold decisions if we truly want to see some positive change in our beautiful country.

PNGGaSEM formed to stop seabed mining in PNG

Photos:

1. Members of the civil society groups, NGOs, University Lecturers and students attending the first general meeting to form PNG Group Against Seabed Experimental Mining at CELCOR’s conference room.  Yariyari Lawyer, Damien Ase (front left) Hon. Gary Juffa (next to him) and other key speakers sitting in the front raw.
2. Professor Chalapan Kaluwin speaking to the group and making a point to stop seabed mining. 
3. Executive Director for Partners with Melanesia Kenn Mondiai speaking to the group.  PwM will support Papua New Guineans to protect our natural resources and identity.
4. PNGGASEM Secretary, and Political Science Lecturer at UPNG urging all members of the group to unite and work together to stop seabed mining
5. Executive Director for CELCOR Peter Bosip speaking to members of the group and pointing out some of the reasons why we need to stop seabed mining
6. Oro Governor, Gary Juffa giving his support to the group to stop seabed mining in PNG
7. Madang Indigenous People’s Forum President, Alfred Kaket sharing his experiences of campaigning to stop deep sea tailings placement from MCC’s Ramu Nickle Mine and the seabed mine campaign.

By WENCESLAUS MAGUN

The campaign to stop experimental seabed mining in Solwara 1, by Nautilus Minerals Limited, a Canadian developer has been boosted by the establishment of a group, ‘Papua New Guinea Group against Seabed Experimental Mining (PNGGaSEM)’.

This civil society group was established on Sunday 1 December, 2013 at the Ela Beach Hotel during its second general meeting. PNGGaSEM comprise of a coalition of resource owners, Centre for Environmental Law and Community Rights (CELCOR), Partners with Melanesia (PwM), Mas Kagin Tapani (MAKATA), Four Maisin (4M), Madang Indigenous Peoples Forum (MIPF), Madang Deputy Governor Rama Marisan, Oro Governor Gary Juffa , the PNG Council of Churches, private Lawyers Moses Murray and Thomas Elisah and some university Lecturers and students from both the University of PNG and University of Technology in Lae. 

PNGGaSEM membership continues to increase as the campaign grows.

The group will be formally registered to pursue the matter further even in court to ultimately stop seabed mining in PNG.

Chairman of the group Lawyer Moses Murray, pointed out that PNGGaSEM had an important role to play for Papua New Guinea.

“Seafloor mining has not taken place anywhere else in the world.  The costs of any possible environmental damage caused as a result of seafloor mining can be catastrophic and immeasurable,” he warned. 

He stressed further that in such a case, the State and Nautilus Minerals Ltd may not be in any position to contain the damage which can harm the marine environment, and the lives of people who live off it.  He warned that those who may be affected by such damage include not just the people of New Ireland and East New Britain but everyone who consumes anything in the Bismarck Solomon seas.

“Mining on the land is much easier to track and monitor destructions made. Unlike the ocean, current flows in completely different directions,” he cautioned.

He added that the mining laws must also cover the ocean and its surroundings, above and below.

He said PNGGaSEM has no funds to fight this hard battle but he called on the young members to set the pace and get the fundraising going as soon as possible.

The group is in close consultation with scientists and a lawyer abroad for support and guidance in its endeavour to achieve its goal.

Deputy Governor for Madang, Rama Marisan said on behalf of the Madang Provincial Government and the 400, 000 people of Madang Province, he extended full support on behalf of the Governor and the Madang Provincial Government to say “NO” to Deep Sea Mining in PNG.

He said a lot of mining activities can be seen on land and their aftermaths can be visually seen. He gave examples of  Panguna, Lihir, Ok Tedi, Ramu Nickel mines just to name a few which are causing great concern to PNG’s fresh water, forests and sea and their biodiversity.

Lawyer Elisah a private Lawyer based in Madang in addition said, there are no laws to police, and monitor the sea bed mining.

“From the Governors’ Conference level held in Madang, the support is greatly needed for this group to fight this on the floor of Parliament,” he stressed.

 He raised concerns that anything within the three mile zone belongs to the customary owners, but anything outside the three mile zone is up to the State to do anything.

“Since this is the case, it needed all the political will to fight this in Parliament,” he reiterated. He urged the PNGGaSEM to lobby hard for resolutions to be passed through government at the National Executive Council level to stop seabed mining.

Thomas Imal Lawyer with CELCOR said,

“The PNG Government has put the cart before the horse by issuing Nautilus Minerals Solwara 1 mining licence without adequate and independent scientific studies, or comprehensive national policy, laws and regulations for Deep Sea Mining (DSM).”

“To date the PNG Government has ignored the concerns of communities and other stakeholders.  This has been the cause of a strong backlash from PNG’s society culminating in the threat of a legal challenge.”

“Whilst DSM may be a viable option for other Pacific States it is not the same for Papua New Guinea.  We need to apply the Precautionary Principle.  The uncertainties far out weight the benefits and it is not beneficial for the country at this time.”

Meanwhile, reports obtained from Nautilus Minerals Ltd stated that it had conducted a workshop to discuss the social and environmental impacts of subsea mineral extraction on 12-13 March 2007. 

According to this report, the workshop was to identify and discuss issues related to the environmental and social aspects of Solwara 1 project.

The PNG Government has issued license to Nautilus Minerals Ltd, to mine for high grade copper, gold, zinc and other minerals in high concentrations in seafloor massive sulphide deposits over 59km² selections of Bismarck Sea. The Solwara 1 project site, is located at 1,600m water depth and is about 30km from the New Ireland and 50km from East New Britain provinces.

The government has granted a 20-year mine lease for the project to Nautilus Minerals Ltd as well as take a 30% stake in the venture.

For more information please contact:

Chairman Moses Murray on:   elishbru@daltron.com.pg

Nautilus shares slump as investors lose confidence

Nautilus shares slump as investors lose confidence by ramunickel Investor confidence in Nautilus Minerals, the company that wants to use the Pacific as a testing ground for experimental seabed mining, has slumped to near record lows. Nautilus share price over the last three months: The shares in Nautilus have not only lost all of the price gains made after the favourable arbitration decision  in October, they have continued tumbling. But the investment media, so quick to shout about price gains, is not writing about it! Any experimental mining is at least 3-4 years away, and Nautilus still does not have the cash to fund the construction of its mining vessel. Add to that the mounting public opposition in Papua New Guinea, the government reluctance to throw tax-payers money at the project, the threat of court action and increasing belligerence and  community mobilization in other Pacific countries and the future does not look bright for Nautilus Minerals. They say the markets do not lie and they paint a very ugly picture indeed when you look at the Nautilus share price over the past 10 years: Cost cutting measures mean cash operating costs in the first three quarters of 2013 were down to $12.7m from $20.8m  for the same period last year. How  But how much longer can the company continue that sort of outlay when the opposition to their plans for open cut strip mining on the sea floor just keeps mounting... ramunickel | December 4, 2013 at 7:40 am | Tags: Environmental damage, experimental seabed mining, Nautilus, open cut strip mining, Papua New Guinea, Solwara 1 | Categories: Environmental impact, Financial returns, Pacific region, Papua New Guinea | URL: http://wp.me/pMvf7-2T0 Comment    See all comments

They come home

A short video telling the story of Madang villagers taking steps to save leatherback turtles.http://youtu.be/sNMv84W3gR4

Turtle conservation site communities in Madang empowered with communication skills

http://www.facebook.com/n/?groups%2F210718705711207%2F&mid=6c3525eG20735b4fGb104cdbG15&bcode=LNVAbcrL_1.1348031792.AaSvo9N3YuUm0lzr&n_m=magun.wences%40gmail.com

Introduction    

SeaWeb Asia Pacific is a regional organization that advances sustainable resource management through strategic communications and social marketing approaches. In this unique region, applying these approaches invariably revolves around empowering local leaders to facilitate community dialogues around the need to marry traditional cultural practices and modern science to solve resource management challenges.

Seaweb in collaboration with Mas Kagin Tapani (MAKATA) organised this workshop to build the communications capacity of community members to effectively disseminate information to the community at large. 

The workshop was conducted to members of Karkum and Sarang villages along the North Coast road of Madang Province who are involved in the protection of the leatherback turtles that nest along the sandy beach of these communities. Efforts to extend the protection area have been hindered by lack of effective awareness and other factors.

The communications training workshop was conducted at Karkum village from 18^th to the 20^th of September, 2013. It was attended by at least 50 people from Karkum and the neiboughring Sarang villages. The participants were mainly, youths (males and females) and elder men who occupy leadership roles in the community were on hand to provide encouragement for the youths. Many of the participants are currently involved in other community activities such as law and order committee, youth committee, church committee, water committee etc...and the skills obtained in this training is an enabler to help them effectively communicate with the community on issues of importance to the community.

Seaweb Asia Pacific was privileged to have been a part of this training in building the capacity of these community leaders.

Community Communications need

The needs of the participants are around three key areas; Public presentation, packaging information and radio presentation. Hence the training program covered these key areas with many practical activities.

Workshop objectives

By the end of the workshop, participants must be able to;

1.    Identify fundamentals of communications

2.    Develop concise message for a target audience

3.    Deliver informative and persuasive presentation

4.    Identify ways to execute successful meetings and workshops

5.    Identify radio interview techniques and conduct a radio interview

6.    Indentify public speaking techniques

7.    Conduct a public speaking session using message box and better presentation

8.    Facilitate a dummy meeting or workshop

How did the workshop address these needs

The workshop covered the following;

Topics	Description	Method
Introduction to communications	This covers the fundamentals of communications. It gives an understanding of the elements of communications, effective and barriers of communications.	Group discussions around communications; what participants think communications is, what is good communications and why and what is bad communications and why. This was followed by a presentation.
Better presentations	Better presentations teach how to deliver more engaging, informative and persuasive presentations.  Better Presentations help avoid the most commonly made mistakes, structure information in ways that help audiences absorb it, and deliver talks with greater confidence.	A presentation was conducted on presentations. The reflections about presentations at community meetings by elders, and many times the community leaders take so long to relay a message in a short time. Many times community members lose concentration, resulting in the message not adhered to.
Message box	TThe message box is powerful tool that help to prepare for interviews, frame a press release, organize a lecture or discussion, or to explain what your organization does in one minute or less. Sharpens focus, and gain audience’s attention.	A presentation conducted on the message box and the sample was conducted for participants. Then one was developed by all the participants. A group activity was conducted in which all participants identified an issue and a message box was developed. Overpopulation, land acquisition and marine pollution were issues identified and message box developed.
Basic Facilitation	FBasic Facilitation give the tools needed to prepare and plan for a session, focus participants on the job at-hand, and understand the tasks that need to happen after the meeting. Useful when facilitating community meetings.	A presentation was delivered. Two volunteers were selected to facilitate the session on developing a workshop agenda and the question and answer session.
Public speaking/presentation	Teaches the skills of making public presentations. What needs to be done before, during and after the presentations.	General discussion on public speaking and a presentation. Using the message box participants developed a message and presented their message using public speaking techniques.
Radio interview	Radio is a common media accessible throughout PNG. This teaches how to conduct radio interviews, before, during and after the interview.	This session did not eventuate, as the NBC staff were not there to co facilitate. However, it was planned that the participants were to be interviewed on radio, conduct an awareness on  turtle conservation; both to be aired by NBC for Madang Province
Minute taking skills	Teaches the importance of taking minutes and how to take minutes	A presentation on minute taking skills. A dummy meeting was conducted by 5 volunteers and the rest were minute takers.

All topics above were provided by Seaweb, except minute taking skills. The minutes taking skills was suggested by the participants as it was a much needed skill that they lack. Seaweb developed a presentation on the minute taking skill.

All sessions were very interactive with participants having plenty of practice. The participants were given the opportunity to evaluate participants doing presentations The workshop objectives were achieved.  Below are some comments from some of the participants;

a)    Joe Hurim, a village court magistrate from Sarang said: “This is the first time such training is conducted for villagers of Sarang, Basken, and Karkum.  The training will help young leaders’ especially young women leaders to have confidence to do public speaking, conduct meetings, take meeting minutes, and to identify community issues, problems, steps to solve those problems and see their benefits.”

b)    Otto P. Gabbe, from Karem village was excited about the course.  He said: “We are so fortunate to be given this training which is normally conducted in hotels and at universities for a substantial amount of money.” He added that the skills learnt will be used to help them run their own affairs in the community.

c)    Adolf Lilai, from Karkum Sea Turtle Restoration Project committee said, the training has empowered them to understand the significance of keeping meeting minutes.   

To conclude, this workshop was the first to be conducted in Madang. The workshop was tailored to cater for community members. Most of the participants could read and write making presentations easy.

On behalf of Seaweb I thank Mas Kagin Tapani for engaging us to run the communications workshop, and UNDP for making it possible to have this workshop conducted.