Monash Publication No.52/GES
Monash Publications in Geography & Environmental Science: Number 52
Integrating Conservation And Development In A Papua New Guinean Rural Community
by Ronald E. Martin
This monograph will appeal to those attempting to promote biodiversity conservation in areas where the local inhabitants are demanding improvements in their quality of life, especially Melanesia. As the relationship between participants is examined in regard to the perspectives and modes of thinking each brings to the partnerships formed, all stake-holders will find relevance in the issues examined. Those working in promoting small-scale, community-based forestry will also find material of value in the monograph.
Abstract:
Attempts to provide for both improvement of quality-of-life
for indigenous peoples and maintenance of the ecosystems on which
they depend have led to experimentation with integrating conservation
and development in many places aroundthe globe in the past two decades.
The study portrayed in this monograph points to obstacles in the
successful pursuit of the goals of such integration in one project
in Papua New Guinea and suggests ways these might be alleviated.
By comparing the processes of intervention with those of similar
projects in other parts of Papua New Guinea it provides information
on potentially successful strategies for conservation in sparsely-populated
coastal areas of the country. The central strategy arising from the
study is at odds with those used extensively in the country in the
1990's based on creating functional networks of diverse groups
within a large area defined by the viability of conserving its biodiversity.
Instead, the evidence presented is suggestive of a territorial strategy
concentrating on individual villages or clans with integrating if
these into larger functional units arising only when local people
recognise, of their own volition, the need for such integration.