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Environment
and development in coastal regions and in small islands |
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Environment
and development in coastal regions and in small islands |
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Coastal region and small
island papers 10
Chapter 7
Recommendations and closing statement of the Inaugural Summit on Motu Koitabu Development
Recommendations
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The five principal speakers at the summit proposed specific recommendations that have already been documented in their presentations. This chapter combines and summarizes these recommendations as follows:
Political/administrative recommendations
Several recommendations were made for improved political representation of the Motu Koitabu people, these included:
The establishment of a Motu Koitabu Development Authority, similar in nature to other organizations established in the country by the government as vehicles for landowners to benefit economically from resource projects implemented in their area. This would be financed through a trust fund from the revenues from major development projects in the NCD. This trust fund would also finance social welfare services. The authority could be run by a board of directors comprising prominent Motu Koitabu sons and daughters, with a well-equipped and permanent secretariat.
The establishment of a Motu Koitabu local-level government by changing the status of the Motu Koitabu Council to an LLG.
The establishment of a new electorate exclusively for Motu Koitabu representation in the national parliament.
The appointment, without elections, of a member to represent the Motu Koitabu in the national parliament.
Furthermore:
All existing and ongoing agreements relating to major development projects within the Motu Koitabu area should be reviewed in order to identify ways so that benefits and spin-offs can go to the Motu Koitabu people.
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Detail of the symbolic
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Legislative recommendations
The government should pass legislation banning the use of plastic bags in supermarkets and grocery stores in the NCD. Biodegradable paper bags should be reintroduced.
A judicial review should be undertaken to determine the circumstances surrounding the awarding of the land title at Motukea Island to the parties concerned.
Legal advice should be sought on whether the land reclamation at Motukea Island breached existing PNG laws, including the Fisheries Act (1994) and various Conservation Acts.
Legal advice should also be sought to determine if the Motukea Island, Napa Napa Oil Refinery and the proposed port relocation project complied with the normal regulations.
Enforcement recommendations
The enforcement of the Forestry Act 1991 and the Conservation Areas Act, while the responsibility of the agencies stipulated in the law, should be assisted by the village courts at the village and settlement levels.
The village courts should be empowered to enforce the existing fisheries regulations (1994) at the village level.
Coastal rangers attached to the NCDC should be appointed to stop unwise practices such as using spades and shovels on the crab burrows in the mangroves. They should be provided with dinghies and outboard motors for monitoring fishing practices.
Village youths should be employed by NCDC as coastal rangers in a similar arrangement to the current city rangers.
Coastal rangers, village courts, the Maritime Division and the Police Department must work together to ensure that law-breakers are dealt with swiftly and firmly.
Government agencies including the Department of Environment and Conservation, the Fisheries Authority, the Harbours Board and the NCDC should prepare strict policy guidelines and strategies and ensure they are implemented.
Development projects must satisfy the environment impact assessment standards prior to project implementation.
Educational recommendations
A Motu Koitabu education policy should be developed in line with national and NCD policy, but also addressing issues specific to Motu Koitabu people and society.
A co-ordinated programme should be developed to bring the responsibility for education back into the community where it belonged traditionally and to prepare a common Motu Koitabu community-based curriculum for elementary and primary schools.
Strong emphasis should be given to the political dimension of education to assist the Motu Koitabu Council and individual villages in establishing and achieving what should be their right as the indigenous people of the capital city.
A workshop should be held to develop strategies to help remove or modify the constraints faced by many Motu Koitabu students in their attempt to climb the educational ladder.
An educational approach is proposed to inform the developers and local users about the damage they are causing to the environment.
Recommendations for further studies
A data collection and needs analysis survey should be conducted to formulate a development plan for the social, political and economic development of the Motu Koitabu people living within the boundaries of the NCD.
A system to gather qualitative and quantitative data relevant to education and future educational planning should be introduced in all villages.
A quantitative study should be conducted to monitor the health of the residents of Kanudi Valley and Baruni, to determine the impacts of the emissions from the diesel power station. This study could be a joint research project by the staff and students of the chemistry and environmental science departments of the University of Papua New Guinea and the medical faculty at Taurama. ELCOM, the Department of Environment and Conservation, and the NCDC could assist with financing and overseeing the project.
A feasibility study needs to be conducted for a new state-of-the-art solid waste facility.
Feasibility studies and land survey plans conducted by government and private sector agencies in the past need to be reactivated and consolidated into a master plan to tackle the sewage problem in the city of Port Moresby. The migrant settlement of Koki, and the Motuan villages of Pari, Vabukori, Hanuabada and Tatana, need to be included in this master plan.
Recommendations for specific activities
A major clean-up campaign should be organized in the city’s harbour front as well as in the Motu Koitabu villages to remove all garbage in waterways, under the houses built on stilts and in the mangrove areas.
The initiative to clean up the coastal areas from Baruni to Taurama should be continued.
Closing statement of the Inaugural Motu Koitabu Summit
The summit unequivocally adopts all the recommendations proposed by the speakers as representing the views of those present, as well as the rest of the Motu Koitabu people residing in Port Moresby.
The summit endorses the nominations of the Motu Koitabu Task Force Members representing the Motu Koitabu villages in the NCD and empowers them to advance the welfare of all Motu Koitabu people and to pursue the achievement of the recommendations hereby adopted above.
The summit therefore passes the following resolutions:
That hereafter Lady Carol Kidu, Member of Parliament for Port Moresby South Electorate, represent the Motu Koitabu people in parliament.
The task force nominated above pursues relentlessly the advancement of all Motu Koitabu people by whatever means as may be deemed necessary.
The recommendations adopted by the summit as well as the proceedings of the summit be referred to as the ‘Baruni Declaration’.
