From the camp we go for a walk in the bush to look at the team’s progress. We are on the land of the Kuskus tribe now. Like many other tribes, they want to guarantee that big companies cannot come in and claim part of their land. The Papua New Guinea constitution guarantees the tribes ownership of the land they live on, but it is often not very clear where their land starts and ends.

The boundaries were fought over and decided years ago and now each neighbouring tribe “sort of” knows where they are. But logging companies use the murky area as an excuse to come in and take over.

To avoid that, clans really want to boundary-mark their land. To do so, they need to get the GPS coordinates and officially register it all. But before registering, they must draw up a “land use map”. So first, the tribe decides exactly where they will live, hunt, fish and harvest trees for eco-forestry.

Klaas, Flo and the boys have spent the week boundary marking an area for ecoforestry, within the (not yet demarcated) Kuskus land. While some of the team are busy plotting the GPS points and baselines, the eco-foresters take an inventory of all the trees that can be cut. While they are at it, they also paint an arrow on each tree to indicate in which way it should fall to minimise impact.

Next week there will be a demonstration of the walk-about sawmill, which the landowners will be able to use, so that they can process the logs while still in the forest. Part of the timber will be exported, and of course, it will have the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification. So, if you want to help the Kuskus people, buy FSC!