Centre for Environmental Law & Community Rights (CELCOR)
The Centre for Environmental Law and Community Rights (CELCOR) Inc. is a not for profit, public interest law and advocacy NGO with special focus on awareness raising, policy development, legal support and capacity building for communities.
At A Glance
- Programme: Melanesia
- Years Funded: 2025
- Geographic Focus: Oceania, Papua New Guinea
- Website: https://www.celcor.org/
Since its founding in 2000, CELCOR has worked to protect the environmental and customary rights of Indigenous communities in Papua New Guinea impacted by logging, mining, oil palm expansion, extractive industries, and marine development.
CELCOR supports communities through legal advice, policy advocacy, awareness raising, and capacity building, with a core mission to empower local people to defend their land, environment, and way of life. The organisation envisions a just, holistic, and sustainable future in which all Papua New Guinean communities live in harmony with their environment and culture.
Throughout their history, there have been two landmark cases. The first was court ruling in 2011 where a Malaysian logging company was found guilty of illegal logging in Kiunga-Aimbak (Western Province). The court fined the company $100 million. More recently, CELCOR supported the precedent-setting Mesulam vs Joku case, which asserted the public’s right to access information about a proposed deep sea mining project.
With a strong presence in rural communities and deep engagement across provincial and national policy spaces, CELCOR is a key voice in Papua New Guinea’s environmental justice movement and a vital partner in civil society networks locally and globally.
© CELCOR