Legal training for landowners continues in Makira

Thursday, 22 July 2010 08:18


THE Landowners’ Advocacy and Legal Support Unit (LALSU) in the Public Solicitor’s Office is continuing on its schedule of legal awareness workshops, having just returned from Makira Province.

About 25 landowners and community representatives from all over Makira joined the LALSU team in Kira Kira last week to attend legal training on many different topics including forestry, conservation, mining, climate change and the laws on reefs and foreshores.

Presenters from the Public Solicitor’s Office included Jacob Kinai who runs the LALSU, George Gray, Senior Legal Officer and Elaine Johnson, Volunteer Legal Officer.

Other guest presenters were from the Ministry of Lands, Forestry, Law Reform Commission and local community groups.

“The training covered laws affecting the legal rights of resource owners, including forestry, mining and environmental impact assessment,” Mr Kinai said.

“The participants were very interested in training on mining laws and environmental impact assessment, as customary land in Makira is already subject to mineral prospecting.

“Therefore, it is really important that the landowners understand the laws that affect their rights when it comes to mining,” he said.

Mr Kinai said that every mining operation must go through an environmental impact assessment with the Ministry of Environment, access rights must be negotiated with landowners, and a mining lease must be granted, before it can go ahead.

During the workshop, participants also shared their own experiences with logging in the past, and plans for conservation in Makira Province for the future.

“While much of Makira has already been logged, we were interested to hear from some landowners in Makira who are forming community-based organisations or associations and working to protect and sustainably manage those resources that are left,” says Ms Johnson of LALSU.

“It is encouraging to see communities organise themselves to help make better decisions about their resources for the future.

“It’s our job as lawyers to help communities use the law to achieve those outcomes,” Ms Johnson said.

The Public Solicitor’s Office is based in Honiara, with offices in Gizo and Auki, and has been providing free independent legal aid to the most disadvantaged people in the Solomon Islands for decades.

The LALSU is a new unit within the PSO that provides legal assistance to landowners on forestry and conservation issues.

“As well as the training on environmental laws, we took the workshop participants through basic legal concepts like criminal and civil law, contracts, forming associations and registering customary interests in land,” Mr Gray said.

“Currently there is no PSO office in Kira Kira, so for many participants this was a good opportunity to talk to lawyers about issues affecting their own resources,” he said.

During the training, the LALSU also provided free independent legal advice to landowners through a legal clinic which was open to the public.

Recently, the LALSU was also in Buala, Isabel Province, talking to landowners from San Jorge to Buala, and from Buala to Bolitei.

Currently the team is planning their next trip to Temotu Province which will take place in August, followed by Auki in Malaita Province in September.

The LALSU ( lalsu@pso.gov.sb This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) is supported by the European Union through its Sustainable Forestry project and the volunteer post is supported by Ausaid.

[Source: www.solomonstarews.com]