Image: Google Earth – Image Airbus, CNES / Airbus 26/04/2024. Accessed 20/04/2026
A new investigation by ACT NOW! and Jubilee Australia Research Centre reveals that logging has continued unabated in the Wasu Forest Clearing Authority (FCA) area in the Tewae Siassi District of Morobe Province, despite serious concerns raised two years ago about the legality of the operation.
The new report, ‘Still No Beef? The Wasu Cattle Farm Project’, analyses satellite imagery to assess what has happened since ACT NOW!’s 2024 investigation. Our findings indicate that logging has continued across large areas of forest, while there remains no evidence of a promised cattle farming project or associated agricultural land clearing, as required by the Wasu FCA permit.
The report also notes that none of the recommendations made following the original investigation appear to have been implemented, including calls for investigations by government agencies and enhanced due diligence by financial institutions.
The Wasu FCA covers more than 50,000 hectares of forest and was approved for agricultural development in 2019. Yet, our new analysis found a pattern of activity resembling large-scale selective logging rather than the clearing of discrete areas for agriculture as required under PNG’s Forestry Act.
“Our latest satellite analysis shows the same pattern we identified in 2024: extensive logging continues, but there is still no evidence that the promised agricultural project is being delivered. That raises fundamental questions about compliance with the purpose of the Forest Clearing Authority” - ACT NOW! Campaign Manager, Eddie Tanago
Activity in the Wasu FCA is yet another example of the ongoing misuse of FCA licenses, concerns echoed by the Bank of Papua New Guinea, the Parliamentary Committee on Public Sector Reform and the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, all of which have called for stronger oversight and independent scrutiny.
ACT NOW! and Jubilee Australia are now calling for an immediate halt to logging in all FCA concession areas until an independent and transparent audit confirms that projects comply with legal requirements, genuine agricultural development is taking place, and affected resource owners have given their free, prior and informed consent.
“This is not just about one project. Wasu is yet another case that exposes the systematic abuse of FCA permits to access PNG’s forest resources. Wasu reinforces why Papua New Guinea urgently needs a transparent, independent review of all Forest Clearing Authority projects to ensure forests are not being lost under the guise of agricultural development plans” – Mahealani Delaney, Jubilee Australia Research Centre.
Our new analysis, alongside the 2024 investigation findings, suggests the Wasu operation should be regarded as an illegal logging project because it lacks informed consent from resource owners, involves widespread selective logging rather than agricultural clearing as outlined in the approved permit plan, and fails to meet the long-term sustainability requirements of the Forestry Act.
Download the report here.
Media contacts
Eddie Tanago, ACT NOW!: etpaine@gmail.com | +675 7119 3498
Emily Contador-Kelsall, Jubilee Australia Research Centre: emilyck@jubileeaustralia.org | +61 4229 682 91 (WhatsApp)
Background
ACT NOW!
ACT NOW! is a community advocacy organisation based in Papua New Guinea. Its vision is for a ‘gutpela sindaun blong olgeta’ (a just and equitable society) that embraces PNG’s rich and diverse cultural and biological heritage and is based on the principles of sharing, communal land ownership and environmental stewardship.
Jubilee Australia Research Centre
Jubilee Australia Research Centre partners with and amplifies the voices of local communities in the fight against an extractive and unequal economic system, produces quality investigative research and advocates for just solutions that centre communities. We are an independent and not-for-profit organisation.