Woodlark Island (or Muyua island) is a coral island of Papua New Guinea, approximately 150 miles (240 km) northeast of the southeasternmost point of the island of New Guinea. Muyua’s rough surface of raised coral pinnacles (rising to 365 metres) in the south) is covered by dense jungle growth. Many of the 6000 island’s inhabitants directly depend on forest and marine resources. In 2006, the Malaysian-based company Vitroplant Ltd. launched the project of transforming 70% of the island into an oil palm monoculture as well as of building a biodiesel plant in Alotau. Most of the project would be developed on governmental land and the rest as “village plantation”, i.e. on customary land. As a result, more than one hundred islanders and supporters traveled to the Milne Bay provincial government headquarters in Alotau, to demand a halt to the palm oil project and claim their land back. They feared marine pollution, deforestation, forced proletarianization, and the effects of an imported workforce. The project was finally scrapped after a fierce opposition. In a statement to the media, the Minister for Agriculture said, "...the government will respect the wishes of the local landowners and will not go ahead with a project that the landowners do not want..."