There are claims in Papua New Guinea that some of the country's banks are implicated in illegal logging and the human rights abuses that plague the sector.
Log piles in East New Britain, PNG. Photo: Global Witness Media Hub
The NGOs Act Now and Jubilee Australia say if banks lend to loggers who are operating illegally, that would make them criminally complicit.
The groups warn that a bank's exposure to the logging sector also creates risks for the banking system as a whole, adding that until illegal logging is stamped out, bank involvement in the logging sector is a liability.
In 2019, a report by Global Witness found that around 300 banks and investors backed six of the companies associated with destruction of the world's main forests to the tune of US$44 billion - these include logging and oil palm entities linked to violations of landowner rights in PNG.
Of the few banks still operating in PNG, ANZ says it is no longer dealing with companies that fail to meet the Forest Stewardship Council or Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification standards. Westpac says it is also in the process of doing this.
But the NGOs say the way forward for others, including the Bank South Pacific and the Kina Bank is clear.
They say to avoid complicity in human rights abuses, and the potential risk of handling proceeds of crime, these banks need to stop financing the logging sector.
Where banks have been linked to human rights abuses committed by their clients, then the NGOs say they need to offer redress and remedy to those communities.
Forestry in Papua New Guinea. Photo: RNZ / Johnny Blades
