Jayapura, 18/3 (Jubi) – Representatives from Melanesia Maluku, West Papua, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Kanaky and Fiji came together on Lelepa Island in Vanuatu on the 10-14 of March to hold a meeting on Slow Food and Land in Melanesia. This was sponsored by The Christensen Fund and Oxfam.
The meeting was officially opened by the Minister of Lands Mr Ralph Regenvanu who is also the founder of Melanesian Indigenous Land Defence Alliance (MILDA), with the call for indigenous people to care for their land and food as these are their identities.
Land grabbing and land registration is becoming a big concern for the indigenous people of Melanesia with huge tracks of land in PNG being grabbed by loggers, oil palm and other industries.
