KIBCA Wins Historic Court Case

In a landmark ruling, the High Court supported KIBCA’s application to halt Success Company from logging the Lolobo land at Lot 1 on southern Kolombangara, above Kuzi and Happi.

KIBCA believes this sets an important precedent for logging on Kolombangara and throughout the Solomons. It was the first time a landholders association has taken this type of action.

The logging was ruled invalid because the company did not have a forestry license from the Ministry of Forests nor a development consent from the Ministry for the Environment. To receive a development consent it is necessary for an environmental impact statement to be completed and to undertake local consultation. The court ruled that this had not occurred.

Logging must now cease across the entire Lot 1 logging operation.

KIBCA took the legal action to stop logging above 400m to honour the community conservation agreement that landholders made in 2009. The agreement allows KIBCA to receive funds for a five-year scholarship program that provided 73 scholarships worth $61,000 in 2010.

KIBCA was overwhelmed by people congratulations us for the win. Over 100 local landholders from the Lolobo tribe had written to KIBCA confirming their opposition to logging.

This judgment should interest many landholders frustrated with the behavior of logging companies. KIBCA believes that there are few logging operations in Solomon Islands that follow the correct process.

Their now remains important questions about how the trust administrator for Lot 1 approved logging in the first place, and whether he received any personal benefits.

Visit www.kibca.org for KIBCA’s media response to the ruling, delivered on 26 Nov 2010.

Category: