Measured by the richness of its cultural and biological diversity, Papua New Guinea is the wealthiest of nations. As much as 10 percent of the world’s terrestrial species flourish in its tropical rainforests, and many of these species are found nowhere else.
It’s been high drama since Rai Coast residents went to trial on September 21, asking the court for a permanent injunction against a Chinese company’s plan to dump its mine and refinery waste into the sea. Since March, Ramu NiCo Management (MCC) has been under a temporary injunction that halted construction of a pipeline from its Rai Coast nickel and cobalt refinery into the Bismarck Sea.
While Indigenous land owners prepare for their day in court, hoping to prevent the Chinese mining company CMCC from dumping waste from its nickel mine and refinery into the sea, the Papua New Guinea (PNG) government keeps changing its laws to remove legal barriers to the Ramu mine.
Indigenous land owners, students, and citizens in Madang province have been vigorously protesting an amendment to the Environmental Law that denies their right to appeal decisions made by the Ministry of the Environment and Conservation. All forms of protest against the amendment have been banned and criminalized by the government.
Indigenous clans on Papua New Guinea’s Rai Coast and along the Ramu River ask us to support their struggle by sending letters to PNG’s Prime Minister. In your letter, please:
Express your support for the customary landowners who live on the Rai Coast and along the Ramu River, whose lands and waters could be disastrously contaminated by toxic waste from CMCC’s Ramu mine and refinery under the current license agreement.
Papua New Guinea
Don’t Dump Poisons into the Sea!
DATE
H.E. Rt. Hon. Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare
The Prime Minister
Department of Prime Minister and National Executive Council
Morauta House
Po Box 639
Waigani National Capital District
Papua New Guinea
Fax: +675-323-3943
betha_somare@pm.gov.pg
Your Excellency,
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are headquartered on Massachusett land, in Cambridge, MA, and we thank the past, current, and future Indigenous stewards of this territory.
