Legal Awareness For Landowners In Small Malaita

Legal Awareness For Landowners In Small Malaita

Last week, the Landowners’ Advocacy and Legal Support Unit (LALSU) in the Public Solicitor’s Office conducted a legal awareness workshop for landowners in Afio, Small Malaita.

About 30 landowners attended the workshop, which was presented by Mr Jacob Kinai, Senior Legal Officer, and Ms Elaine Johnson, Volunteer Legal Officer of LALSU.

Mr Kinai and Ms Johnson talked to landowners about their legal rights and the laws relating to logging and landownership in the Solomon Islands.

“The main purpose of the workshop was to share information with landowners on laws which affect the management of their own resources” said Mr Kinai.

“Customary landowners own the forests and other resources on their land, so it is very important for them to understand what the law says about their rights as landowners.”

During the workshop, participants learned about customary land ownership, and the timber rights acquisition process for logging under the Forest Resources and Timber Utilization Act.

Mr Kinai says that all of the participants had either already experienced logging on their land, or were familiar with logging operations on nearby land.

“However, most of the participants had never been included in any timber rights hearing for logging” said Mr Kinai.

“Under the law, a timber rights hearing must take place with all affected landowners, and agreement must be reached between the licensee and landowners before any license can be issued. Therefore, it is very important that landowners understand what the law says about their rights.”

Participants also learned about environmental impact assessment laws under the Environment Act. Ms Johnson said that under the Environment Act, every logging operation must be assessed for its environmental impacts, and approved by the Ministry of Environment, before logging goes ahead.

“During the workshop we discussed the positive and negative impacts of logging on the environment and communities”, says Ms Johnson. “The most common negative impacts discussed by participants included water pollution, soil erosion, land disputes and disruption to the community. Positive impacts included financial benefits and cash flow.”

“Many people are not aware that every logging operation must be assessed by the Ministry of Environment for its environmental impacts before any logging operation can start”, said Ms Johnson.

“Environmental impact assessment is important because it informs decision-makers about whether a particular development is likely to be environmentally and socially sustainable.”

Other topics discussed at the workshop included laws relating to ownership of the foreshores, climate change, contracts and legal remedies.

The LALSU has previously run similar legal workshops in Rennell and Gizo, and plans to continue its schedule of legal training for landowners in other provinces this year, including Choiseul, Isabel, Makira, Guadalcanal, New Georgia, North Malaita and Central Province. LALSU is supported by the European Union through its Sustainable Forestry project.

ENDS

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