10 June 2006

The best of the blogs

The Paradise Forests weblog features contributions from international volunteers at the Global Forest Rescue Station in Lake Murray, a remote area in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea.

Our campaigners and activists on board our flagship, the Rainbow Warrior, also sent through blogs, as they sailed around the region on 'Forest Crime Patrol'.

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1 June 2006

How it was meant to be

Posted by Klaas, GFRS volunteer

I was in-between jobs when I went to the GFRS. It was the perfect time for me to opt in to another Greenpeace project. Papua New Guinea doesn't only sound like Paradise – it is! If any place on Earth can show you the meaning of life, it is Lake Murray.

Vast forests, meandering rivers, birds flocking over the swamps, the sounds of frogs and cricket ... the whole picture. If you try to imagine a perfect place, this is what you would visualise. Beautiful. Mesmerising.

Now, sitting at the computer in my new job, I’m going to take a few minutes to write an epilogue to my weblog, a goodbye to my friends in the Paradise Forests and a thank you to Greenpeace and the other NGOs at the GFRS.

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30 May 2006

To inspirational Sep and the Catfish clan...

Posted by Tia, GFRS volunteer

I also felt the loneliness that you speak of Sep, because my heart is still there with you. It was an honour and privilege to be there in the Lake. I never told you that.

I truly feel this experience has been life changing for me and I hope it is for the Lake Murray people as well - a change for the better.

I would sit and observe the clans in their daily life; no shoes, ripped clothes yet so rich inside and out. There was me with my flashy cameras, clothes and laptops and yet I have nothing in comparison.

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29 May 2006

Hopefully, not a goodbye

Posted by Anne, GFRS volunteer

To all my friends at Lake Murray,

Last december I got an email, asking if anyone wanted to go to Papua New Guinea to help with fight against illegal logging. I didn't even need to think... it was exactly my 'cup of tea' so I replied immediately. It took some time before I knew I could go to the GFRS, because I wasn't the only volunteer to put their hand up.

After a while I got a call from Theo, who asked me some questions, like: "Are you a vegetarian?" and "Will you cope in basic circumstances?" I answered "no", and "Oh, yes; no problem at all!" This type of contact continued for a while and in the end I was chosen as one of the four Dutch activists to go. It made me very happy - what an exceptional opportunity.

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28 May 2006

Longing for Lake Murray

Posted by Cally, GFRS volunteer

I am back by the coast in a place called Woolgoolga, Northern NSW. The sun rises over the ocean, so blue and full of fizzy, dancing sparkles, and sets over the little lake, called Sunset Lake, scorching it red and gold. There are flashes of rainbow colours as a symphony of parrots and lorikeets and rosellas celebrate the beginning of twilight.

I have lived this picture so many times, in this same spot. But right now it hurts to look at anything remotely beautiful, as if the warmth of the sun threatens to melt my heavy sadness and I will have to face the stinging reality that I am no longer in Lake Murray.

Strange, for the first couple of days in the Paradise Forests, all sounds I heard and sights I saw, I unconsciously tried to liken to home. And now, in my Sunset Lakes home, every sound I hear I find myself likening them to ...home. My home in PNG.

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27 May 2006

A letter to Sep

Posted by Chi Too, GFRS volunteer

Dear Sep,

Thank you very much for welcoming us in Lake Murray. It was indeed a priceless oppurtunity of a lifetime. The struggle of your people inspires me immensely, so much so that any attempt to retell your story would result in tears creeping out the corners of my eyes.

I was indeed sad to leave your community. I lament the fact that we had to leave Lake Murray... I'd do anything to stay, I'd even buy your joke that I've been extradited from my country and that I am welcomed to live in exile in Lake Murray. If only.

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26 May 2006

Emptiness and loneliness

Posted by Sep, Kuni tribe leader

Everything will soon be over - the GFRS (Camp Kewe) will close down today. Things at the camp have been packed away, and other things have been dropped off at Kubut village. The camp is almost empty and I also feel empty and lonely.

All the happiness is over and I could not hold back any more of the loneliness. I thought that it would not have much effect on my feelings but I was wrong. I can feel the pain of emptiness and loneliness now.

For those who have visited Camp Kewe, you will be remembered by me and my community. For the last five days we have been suffering from the pain of emptiness and loneliness of you all.

Today I could not hold back my tears any more. Anyway that is the feeling at Camp Kewe now. It is just emptiness and loneliness for me and my community.

-- Sep Galeva

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25 May 2006

It aint over yet...

Posted by Laura, GFRS intern

So the GFRS is closing up tomorrow, and we have the great privilege of being the last foreign volunteers to spend time here. Yesterday we skipped across the lake, from one community to the next, starting what is known as a ‘tok-save’, a message that gets passed by word of mouth between villages.

(The noticeable absence of both letterboxes and telegraph poles in this neck of the woods renders any of Sydney's standard modes of community communication pretty ineffective. PLUS it saves paper. How wonderful!).

We want the communities to know that just because there won’t be any (or many, anyway) weird white-folk dropping by anymore, that doesn’t mean that the project is over. Far from it. This is actually the stage that will determine the spread, the sustainability, and the success of the eco-forestry project.

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24 May 2006

Of leeches and BOPS (Birds of Paradise)

Posted by Tim, campaign co-ordinator

Leeches and BOPS – or Birds of Paradise as most people call them – go together like strawberries and cream. The leeches are there to test your commitment to see one of nature's great treats – Birds of Paradise dancing and calling early in the morning from their courtship trees where the males prove to the females how irrestible they are.

The previous day we had the leeches without the Birds of Paradise but early this morning we had developed a cunning plan. We were going to surprise the leeches and get into the forest so early that they would not be expecting us. Anyhow, that was the theory.

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Words just aren't enough

Posted by Matt, GFRS co-ordinator

The wind shifted to a South Easterly today, signalling the start of the dry season in Lake Murray. Yesterday the water level dropped one meter in front of the Global Forest Rescue Station (GFRS). This means we are going to have to carry the Banana boat over logs and drag it through the shallows on our way to the airstrip this weekend.

We’re packing down the GFRS. The change in the wind and the twinge of sadness in everyone seem to fit.

The people of Lake Murray have said goodbye to most of the international guests. Everyone went out to visit the Kuni people, who fought off industrial logging. Together, we saw the first load of eco-timber milled and shipped out from Lake Murray.

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BOPs prove elusive again

Posted by Laura, GFRS intern

We got up early this morning, to try and sneak a look at a Bird of Paradise. Interesting facts about the BOPs (as they have come to be known by our resident 'twitcher', Tim):

• They feature on the PNG flag


• They are endangered, but can be hunted as long as you use traditional weapons (bow and arrows and such)


• They are yet another in the long list of bird species where the male prances around, showing off its long, extravagant (and in this case flame-inspired) tail feathers; while the female trundles along, looking dowdy in brown

Greatly anticipating an adventure worthy of a GFRS weblog, we started off down the track.

Not surprisingly, the BOPs were hard to find. Leeches, on the other hand, were hideously abundant.

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23 May 2006

Reflections by the lake

Posted by Luke, GFRS volunteer

There's water lapping at my toes. Here on the end of our bamboo jetty trying desperatlely to take in my last full day in Paradise from sunrise to sunset. The vibe here at Campe Kewe is extremely chill after the excitement of the past few days.

Just a quick rundown: Leave at dawn two days ago to head to the walkabout sawmill with filmcrew in tow to document and assist in the first shipment of ecotimber in Lake Muray. In the proccess I find myself visiting a village in the dark and getting swarmed by hundreds of little hands all pressing gifts of sugarcane and occari nuts into my overwhelmed palms.

I got soaked under a sky filled with every star in the heavens while on an overloaded canoe. I made a banner (how Greenpeace, right) and tapped the resin of a rosewood tree to paint it with. I later carved a necklace for my boyfriend from a branch off the first tree felled for export. It was an emotional sight, to watch this giant tower of the forest come crashing down. Sad, but beautiful, because it's the start of great things for this community ...

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Billums for everybody!

Posted by Amber at the GFRS

After a total of 10 weeks spent in Port Moresby (meeting and greeting all the volunteers and arranging their transport and accommodation to and from the GFRS) it’s my turn to join the team at Lake Murray.

Since I’ve been in PNG, I’ve been keen to learn how to make a billum – a wool or string bag. These are a “must have” item for practically everyone in PNG, and the souvenir of choice for visitors. There are many different styles and sizes to choose from: from the massive ones you can chuck the whole family’s beach gear in, to the little ones you put the bare necessities in when you go out. There are everyday billums, a billum to lug the shopping home in, and of course the billum to carry your baby with. Almost all billums come in loud, garish colours and patterns.

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Time to say goodbye

Posted by Sergio, forest campaigner at the GFRS

A bearded man sits in the grass on the bank, filling out forms. It’s the check-in at Lake Murray Airport - Boboa terminal. Not many formalities indeed, and everyone is ready for boarding.

The last goodbye is the hardest one. I look onto those dark eyes, those bearded faces, marked by the sun, by the water, and I wonder if we will ever meet again. It seems impossible to leave after sharing everything (meals, sweat, mosquitos). Now us volunteers are going back to our ‘normal’ lives – comfortable, wealthy, reassuring, empty. I know that each promise to come back may turn out to be broken.

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22 May 2006

"Behold: Eco-timber!" - The first shipment

Posted by Christy, forests campaigner at the GFRS

"Forest is my life ... my blood! Land without forest is like human beings without blood. Lukautim Bus." That's the message Bonti, one of the foresters, wrote on the banner we all decorated for the timber barge in preparation for the first landmark shipment of eco-timber.

Everyone’s excited about the shipment. As the timber is carried from the sawmill site to the water by the men, women, and children of the village, there’s a buzz in the air.

Today we’ll all bear witness to the realisation of years of hard work by Sep and other community leaders, and of months of learning, planning, practice, and commitment on behalf of all the clan members. We’ll mark the beginning of a new life for the people of Lake Murray, one that’s full of independence and hope.

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21 May 2006

The Catfish clan take flight

Posted by Christy, forests campaigner at the GFRS

Today I asked Murray, one of the locals, about the beautiful drawing on his paddle. It's a drawing of a flying catfish. Murray's a member of the Kuni tribe's Catfish clan, the clan who invited us here, and whose land the Global Forest Rescue Station is housed on.

He went on to explain that the image of the flying catfish represents his clan as it rises to the challenge of establishing an eco-forestry business.

Murray has plans for another drawing. In the new one, the catfish will be lifted up by a pair of hands. The hands represent all the volunteers, campaigners, and foresters who have come from all over the world to help the Catfish take control of their land, protect their forest, and make life better for everyone around the lake.

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At the end of the rainbow...

Posted by Sergio, forests campaigner at the GFRS

There are a lot of people at the Global Forest Rescue Station today. A full clan is camping here. Over the many new fires, hang big pots of manioca and bananas, boiling in coconut milk. Crumpets fry in the oil. Women cook, children run and play and yell.

It is a party for us to say goodbye and thank each other. There will be food for everybody, music, singing, speeches, goodbyes and the promise of new projects.

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The two elders of the forest

Posted by Sergio, forest campaigner at the GFRS

I was also there for the felling of the first tree. For me, it was a day of strong feelings.

It was the first day of eco-forestry, after weeks of training. The forest here was already demarcated. The inventory was complete - each tree in the designated eco-forestry area was carefully marked and registered.

The work was about to begin!

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20 May 2006

Adventure aplenty in Lake Murray

Posted by Cally, GFRS volunteer

I didn't expect it, but honestly my days this week have so far ended in exciting, crazy GI Jane sort of stuff.

After days visiting villages and sawmills, all abundant with laughter and wide eyes (especially when the whole screaming village chased a snake out of their camp, oh, and when a women's basketball game was interrupted momentarily as a rooster sauntered across the court. Ten minutes later, a pack of dogs had a barking match.

It has become so replenishing to take the boat journeys back to camp, where we all sit comfortably silent, lost in our own thoughts....

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Celebrating a new canoe

Posted by Sergio, forests campaigner at the GFRS

The new canoe lies not far form the lake’s river. Like a bitten apple, the tree is carved into the form of the future canoe, carefully excavated on the inside. The bark is still there: it will be trimmed at the very last moment, in order to make the wood slick, easier to drag to the water. That’s because every canoe, so light and versatile on the lake, is incredibly heavy out of water.

In order to build it, you not only need a special tree, you also need it to be straight, large enough, and it has to be located at the bank. When logging companies arrive and chop down all the trees (they also prefer those near the water), local people subsequently have a very hard time building canoes. And a canoe is the only way to travel in this region.

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The felling of the first tree for export

Posted by Christy, forests campaigner at the GFRS

Today we watched a dramatic and sombre landmark in the eco-timber project: the felling of the first tree for timber export.

As the huge rosewood tree was about to be felled, an elder spoke to the spirit of the forest to offer explanation and thanks, and to ask for forgiveness. Speaking directly to the tree in his tribal language, he explained that the clan needed to cut the tree in order to provide for their people. Through milling a few large trees like this one, he said, the clan will be able to afford things like education and healthcare that are otherwise scarce.

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19 May 2006

The women of Lake Murray

Posted by Cally, GFRS volunteer

Just as I started writing this weblog, an ant crawled across the screen. In its mouth was a whole other ant and that ant was carrying some other object of equal size in its mouth! Just thought I’d share that…

Big, big visions are swelling deep inside me the longer I’m here, experiencing life with the local people. I can hardly sleep at night sometimes, there’re so many ideas flooding my thoughts!

The thing that stands out most, for me, is the women – the role they play in the community, and the role they wish they could play. I have talked with many of the women and, after hearing their wishes to be included in this project equally (even at all), and seeing that they are not, I decided to organise a meeting. It was just for women, to listen and to share and of course to encourage each other to become involved.

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Lake Murray’s marketing department

Posted by Grant, solutions campaigner

At the latest meeting of the Lake Murray Resource Owners Association (LMROA), a business arm that will focus on marketing local eco-timber to international markets was born.

Lake Murray Eco-timber Enterprises Ltd will be a company that is owned by the clan ecoforestry projects and will arrange transport and packing of timber for export. A barge has already been refloated and is being fitted out to transport the eco-timber down the lake and rivers.

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Konnichiwa, MV Ardhianto

Posted by Hapsoro, forests campaigner

I woke up very early in the morning on May 11th. My Japanese colleagues said, the night before: “You have to be up at 05.30 tomorrow! We have to leave early to go the port.” This made me very nervous, as it is usually very hard for me to wake up early. I am not an early bird, because I am a night owl.

But I did it, and after having a Japanese-style breakfast of rice, salty fish and sea weed, we went to Yokohama.

I was here in Japan to witness the arrival of the MV Ardhianto – an Indonesian-flagged vessel carrying thousands of cubic metres of plywood. This product came from the Kayu Lapis Indonesia logging company) operation in Papua, Indonesia. It was destructively and possibly illegally logged from the largest remaining intact forest area in the Asia Pacific.

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Involving everyone in land use planning

Posted by Christy, forest campaigner at the GFRS

Education is hard to come by in Lake Murray. The villages are isolated and schooling costs money that most families don’t have, so a lot of people (girls, especially) never learn to read or write, or to speak Pidgin or English. So how do you get a largely illiterate community, one whose members don’t even all speak a common language, to produce something like a land use plan for forestry?

Back home in Canada, land use planning is a complicated and technical process that’s engaged in mainly by specialists. Indigenous communities are consulted somewhat, but because the process requires such a high level of expertise, they often hire outside consultants to usher them through.

As a result, community members - most of whom don’t have university educations - quickly lose the ability to understand and therefore participate in what’s going on. Thus, they become frustrated and disenfranchised.

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18 May 2006

Schoolhouse rock

Posted by Luke, GFRS volunteer

Here we are in Baboa, getting ready for our visit and presentation to the primary school. As I look around, I can't help but notice what a ragtag group of volunteers we are.

First there's Pook from Thailand. Short, with a fiery spirit, huge eyes and a smile full of braces. She does not speak English fluently but can hold her own in a conversation.

Then we have Reza from the UK. He is a wiry little doctor, with a big heart and a very proper demeanour. He's always covered with repellant from head to toe, to protect himself from bites and germs (the opposite of me but we get along very well).

Next up there is Chi from Malaysia. A stocky young filmaker with jet black hair and a sarcastic wit.

Finally, I have a look at myself. The loud-mouthed American who is always singing and pushing the cultural boundary. I have my hair in rasta braids courtesy of a local girl who I believe I am now betrothed to (read more about that in Reza's blog).

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Here's a thousand words

Posted by Chi, GFRS volunteer

I want to write a lot of things about the logging industry here in Papua New Guinea. Especially about how so many Malaysian companies are involved in the destruction of the Paradise Forests.

About 80% of the companies logging PNG are from Malaysia. Very often, despite having permits, most of the operations are conducted illegally; where massive blocks of forest are cleared and the rights of the local community gravely violated. Landowners are paid3 kinas (about 1 USD) for every cubic meter of timber logged (it fetches 1000 times more in the foreign marketplace), and they have no forest left. Their livelihood is ruined.

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I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts!

Posted by Dr Reza, GFRS volunteer

We went to Boboa school today, and Luke, Chi, Pook and I all took turns to explain where we were from, why we were in PNG, and why we thought it was important to save the forests. We all did fairly well, although it was obviously a bit difficult to talk to about 300 differently aged children.

The headmaster must have thought I was rambling on for too long, as he nearly interrupted me about 3 times. I was talking about saving the forests because of the amount of biodiversity in the ancient forests, and how in Europe, we chopped down all our forests many years ago.

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Lost in Paradise - literally

Posted by Grant, forests solutions campaigner

The forests of the Lake Murray area are vast and mostly, people pass through them rarely. As anthropological studies have found in other places, local people have patterns of land use that run in bands and patches with decreasing intensity away from their village.

The 'general use' area - for fishing, gardening, and collecting is only a few hundred metres from the village. Then there are sago areas in more remote arms of the lake. As you've probably read, sago is the staple carbohydrate of this region. Hunting happens further in, normally 5 -10 kilometres max. Beyond this it's essentially wilderness.

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17 May 2006

Musings on a full moon

Posted by Luke, GFRS volunteer

Two silver orbs greet me as I glide gently over the surface of the lake. The moon and her reflection shimmer below, soft light drips onto everything around me - almost like the wax from some luminous candle.

There are many new faces around the camp tonight and I am leaving their matching voices all melting together behind me as I paddle further and further away from the shrinking glow of our fire.

I have to get away for a few precious moments to think about the day...

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"Timber can leave, but the forest must stay"

Posted by Dr Reza, GFRS volunteer

Sixty percent of the forest landscape in Papua New Guinea (PNG) has been destroyed by logging. Most of the logging was done illegally - without the full and informed consent of the customary land owners. The illegal logging is carried out mainly by large logging companies. They are threatening the remaining 40% of the forest in PNG right now.

The customary land owners have to act fast, before their land is claimed by logging companies.

We came to help, by marking out the forest boundaries of the clans, and providing the training needed to start eco-forestry projects. This way, the local people can begin developing their communities in a sustainable way, stopping the destructive logging at the same time.

Greenpeace's partner organisations are really taking the message of sustainable management of the Paradise Forests to all of the clans in this part of PNG.

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A sneeze for love

Posted by Grant, forest solutions campaigner

A Melanesian custom that I've come across here at Lake Murray, in other parts of PNG and also in the Solomon Islands is: when you sneeze it means someone who loves you is thinking of you.

It's such a wonderful thought and feeling!

So I now welcome sneezes when they come, as they join me to my family who are far away from Lake Murray. I've encouraged everyone else at the GFRS to take this custom on board as well.

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A burning question

Posted by Chi Too, GFRS volunteer

Today is the last day of the sawmill training here at camp Awekaim, Ogia. For the past 2 weeks, Amele has been drilling the 15 participants really hard... filling their heads with mathematical formulas, secret key numbers, calculations, and of course sawmill handling skills.

Being the end of the training, I decided that I must record an interview with Amele today, otherwise it’ll never be done and my film will be denied his awe-inspiring wisdom.

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Do as I say, not as I do!

Posted by Dr Reza, GFRS volunteer

After being totally ravaged by mosquitos and other unknown assailants, I was literally itchy all over last night.

Now, when I am at home, working in the skin clinic, I usually tell my patients that, no matter how itchy they are, they should not resort to scratching, in case they damage their skin further.

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Mission accomplished

Posted by Christy, forests campaigner at the GFRS

This morning started off with a trying personal challenge: walking across a log lying over a river, on our way back to the lake from a bush camp in the jungle. It doesn’t sound like much, and no one else seemed too stressed by it, but ever since I crossed this same log yesterday afternoon, I’d been slightly obsessed by a vision of falling off into the muddy water on the inevitable second crossing.

Every time we’re out boundary marking there are streams and rivers to cross and logs to walk over, but this one felt different. For one thing, most of those are pretty low to the water, and the water is pretty shallow (which I knew, because I’d lost my balance and put my entire leg in at least twice on previous hikes). But this one was high over the water, and the water looked deep.

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16 May 2006

Getting down to business

Posted by Cally, GFRS volunteer

I am chewing a betel nut! It's a strange, prune-sized, juicy, fruity thing that you have with lime powder, and that turns red the more you chew it ...

Hmm, the locals love it, so it must be good, yeah? It's a very mild narcotic, like chewing on tobacco I guess. It's sort of nice, except you have to spit out all the saliva that you make, because it's very bitter. Lovely!

My group of volunteers is leaving soon, and I'm feeling pretty heavy about it. I still feel like I have so much more to learn, and to share.

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Smoke gets in your eyes

Posted by Dr Reza, GFRS volunteer

We're only eating local foods here at the GFRS, so we will have an authentic experience. Unfortunately, that tends to mean foods which are not cooked with a lot of spices.

We all want to get our hands on some yummy contraband, like curry powder, garlic, etc. We would do anything to have it, to give the veggies the flavours we're accustomed to.

I am going to go totally over the top with spicy foods when I return to England!

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A day in the life of a boundary-marker

Posted by Luke, GFRS volunteer

8:00 AM Depart by boat for our drop off zone, somewhere in the middle of the lake area. It’s hard to believe we are going to an even more remote place than Camp Kewe but that’s the way the coconut falls around here.

11:00 AM We cannot make it any further with the motor so its manpower for the last 2 or 3 kilometers through the reeds till we can start. Oops! We forgot to bring paddles so what else to do but pull over, find some branches, and improvise.

11:30 AM Wow! This sure does beat the hell out of the everglades as we glide through some fertile swampland.

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Encounters with ... cows?

Posted by Christy, forests campaigner at the GFRS

Today I learned that they have wild cows here – no kidding. Apparently during the colonial days an Australian brought some over for his farm. One day the cows broke down the fence and escaped into the jungle, and have lived there ever since.

I find the idea of cows living in the jungle unlikely and hilarious, but the locals are quite into it and love to tell stories about their encounters with the beasts.

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15 May 2006

The closest thing to a Bird of Paradise...

Posted by Dr Reza, GFRS volunteer

The Paradise Forests are of course really famous for a particularly stunning, endemic breed - the Bird of Paradise. But the closest I have been to a Bird of Paradise so far was having birds crap on me in the forest when we were doing boundary marking.

At least, I hope they were Birds of Paradise....

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Feature stories:

Meet the foresters

Long battle against logging

Profile: Galeva Sep

Food and bush medicine

Eco-forestry: step by step

Community logging on Batanta Island

Q&A with activists on the Rainbow Warrior