Land tenure and transfer in Chimbu, Papua New Guinea: 1958?1984?A study in continuity and change, accommodation and opportunism

Human Ecology ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Brown ◽  
Harold Brookfield ◽  
Robin Grau
Keyword(s):  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
Land Tenure ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Continuity And Change

Landowner Groups and the Codification of Custom in Papua New Guinea

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria C. Stead
Keyword(s):  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
Land Tenure ◽  
Land Reform ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Resource Extraction ◽  
Land Reforms ◽  
Middle Way ◽  
Customary Land ◽  
Relations Of Power

Although it diverges markedly from the vision of the Melanesian Way elaborated in the 1975 constitution, large-scale resource extraction has in recent decades been championed as the key mechanism for development in Papua New Guinea. In this context, forms of “middle-way” land reform are advocated as means of rendering customary land tenure commensurable with the requirements of modern, capitalist practices of production and economic activity. Principal amongst these are Incorporated Land Groups (ILGs) and lease-lease-back arrangements. Ethnographic exploration of communities affected by the tuna industry in Madang Province shows how these land reforms transform structures and cartographies of power, privileging the agents of the state and global capital at the same time that they transform relations of power within communities. At the same time, however, forms of codification and the assertion of landowner identities allow communities to make claims against outside agents involved in resource extractive activity on their lands.

Conservation and Management of Tropical Rain-forest: A Dilemma of Development in Papua New Guinea

1977 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Lamb
Keyword(s):  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
Land Tenure ◽  
Rain Forest ◽  
Tropical Rain Forest ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Managed Forest ◽  
Language Groups ◽  
Local Pressures ◽  
Wildlife Reserve

Large areas of Papua New Guinea are covered by tropical rain-forest, but national and local pressures for development are causing increasing areas to be cleared for agriculture or logged for timber. Despite concern by conservation-minded land managers, a number of constraints make planning for the rational use of these resources rather difficult.The problems encountered are mainly sociological rather than ecological. Thus while landowners are willing or eager to sell the rights to harvest the timber on their land, they are unwilling to commit the land to any long-term land-use, whether this be as managed forest, national park, or wildlife reserve. The problem is compounded by the complicated system of land tenure and the fact that several language-groups may commonly be found within even a small area.The Gogol Timber Project at Madang illustrates some of these difficulties and the attempts that are being made to overcome them.

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