Thursday, June 11, 2009

Papua Don't Preach


I am back in Port Moresby with a bit of catching up to do. I crossed the border into Indonesia for several days in Jayapura then returned to Vanimo where I was struck down with a malarial fever for three days, something akin to Tropical Madness considering the hotel I was languishing in.

In between all this there has been more developments about the strange dealings of PNG's Office of Climate Change -

http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13724646

there has been a report from Sydney on the Porgera mine in Enga Province in PNG's Highlands. It's usually best to visit a place before writing about it and perhaps to learn burning down 'houses' and shooting people are how things get done in PNG - especially the Highlands. Oh and that there's no such thing as innocent villagers. You should be careful who tells you what's what as there are more than three sides to a PNG coin - especially as those suffering "human rights abuse" are not at all interested in seeing the gold mine shut down....

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2009/06/09/1244313137827.html

And there was the 19th meeting of PNG and Australian ministers. Seems the two countries can only discuss two perennial topics that forever remains at the forefront of the bilateral relationship- Kokoda and Climate Change.

From a quick glance the meetings didn't even rate a mention in the Aussie press. But from what I understand Australian government will help PNG develop their carbon market - will be interesting to see what happens to all those who've already made a deal with PNG....

http://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/png/19_forum_joint_statement.html

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