PAC Chairman Paul Popora Bosawai urges the Government to establish a mechanism that would require companies to meet the cost of environmental damage caused by their activities
By Simon Tavake
There have been growing concerns and calls from landowners, communities and individuals over pollution and environmental impacts allegedly caused by logging and mining activities.
While these concerns and calls are being heard and considered by the relevant authorities, affected parties say there is still no clear or immediate solution that can fully address their concerns.
Legal action and support from the Government may be among the options available to those affected, but prolonged and lengthy court processes can also cause cases to stall and lose momentum, leaving communities to continue living with the impacts they are seeking to address.
In light of these concerns, Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and Member of Parliament for North Guadalcanal Constituency, Hon. Paul Popora Bosawai, has called for the establishment of an Environmental Bond.
He said the bond would ensure that companies responsible for environmental damage are held accountable and required to pay for the clean-up and restoration of areas affected by their activities.
Hon. Bosawai raised the issue following reports from downstream communities along the Metapona River regarding alleged pollution caused by mining activities upstream. The affected communities are also located within his North Guadalcanal Constituency.
The Minister for Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology, Hon. Wayne Ghemu, confirmed that his Ministry has conducted an assessment following the reports.
However, he highlighted that while the assessment was carried out through field observations and consultations with affected communities, the Ministry requires a comprehensive scientific investigation before any conclusion can be drawn on the extent and level of pollution along the river.
This prompted the PAC Chairman to ask whether the country has an Environmental Bond in place that could be accessed by the Ministry to help support the affected communities.
“My question to you, Minister, is: does the country have an Environmental Bond so that you can assist?
“I am also a medical doctor, and there are a lot of allergic cases along the Metapona downstream because of sedimentation inside the food chain. Those are indirect evidence to the case. So I want to ask: if we have an Environmental Bond, how can you access it and build water supply for these communities?” said Hon. Bosawai.
Prime Minister Hon. Matthew Wale, while acknowledging the concern raised, said there is currently no such mechanism as an Environmental Bond in the country.
He said this has left the country “high and dry” when environmental issues such as this arise.
“This is a very significant and serious matter and is going on for far too long, so we must address it.
“There is no Environmental Bond anywhere in any mining assets in the country, and that’s a defect in our regulatory system. Our laws, both in environment and mining, do not require it, so we are left high and dry when these things happen,” Prime Minister Wale said.
Hon. Bosawai further pressed for the matter to be regulated, stressing that although it has yet to be addressed through the amended Bills, regulations providing for it have already been passed.
Hon. Bosawai previously served as Minister of Health and Medical Services under the Government for National Unity and Transformation (GNUT), which has since been succeeded by the GREAT Coalition Government.
During his tenure as Health Minister, he similarly pursued the regulation of dangerous drugs, including the Dangerous Drugs (Methylamphetamine) Rules 2025.
“There are no regulations on how to deal with methylamphetamine in the country. I took a Cabinet paper to regulate it, and it worked. Even the methylamphetamine amendment will come later in the Bill, but its regulations have already been passed. So I thought the Environment Minister can do better regulation on this,” Hon. Bosawai said.
While the matter was being debated and considered in Parliament, the Minister for Mines, Energy and Rural Electrification (MMERE) highlighted that an Environmental Bond is already provided for under the interim measures of the Mineral Resources Bill 2025.
If passed, the Bill, together with the review of the Environment Act, could have a significant impact on how environmental responsibilities and liabilities are managed in the country, particularly in the mining sector.
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