BANK ON RENEWABLE AND LAND RESOURCES: SOGAVARE
Hon. Manasseh Sogavare in Parliament. Photo credit: SIBC.
Member of Parliament for East Choiseul Manasseh Sogavare says Solomon Islands can create more wealth sustainably on resources found on land, saying all it needs is strategic thinking and concern for the welfare of our future generation.
Mr Sogavare made the comments in Parliament today during the Second reading of the ‘Business Names Bill 2014’.
He says the country is heavily focused on unsustainable harvesting of logs and non-renewable resources.
“I believe we can create more wealth sustainably on resources found on land and in our seas can survive without the need to extract them. All it needs is strategic thinking and concern for the welfare of our future generations, instead of the quick fix strategy employed so far, which is very heavily focused on unsustainable harvesting of our logs and non-renewable resources. We are banking our future on them which is very serious and very dangerous.”
He says banking the country’s future on non-renewable resources and quick fix development strategies will only leads to suffering, adding the closure of Gold Ridge Mining is a perfect example of what will happen to the country.
“Just see what has happened to us, we’ve received circular everywhere. The Ministry of Finance has issued a circular advising the government not to spend outside specific areas it has identified. We paid dearly for this carelessness Mr Speaker, with the closure of Gold Ridge Mine. That incident is a perfect example of what will happen to this country if we bank our future on non-renewable resources and quick fix development strategies”.