People hold the key

27/02/1994

People hold the key Papua New Guinea has extraordinary biodiversity that parallels its extraordinary cultural diversity. But it is not enough to get a Prince Philip or a King of Sweden to impress upon the local elite the need to protect the animals. In PNG, they have to talk to the poor villagers themselves.

When a group of US NGOs recently conducted a Conservation Needs Assessment (CNA) for PNG, local landowners and NGOs picketed and protested. Said environmental activist Joseph Ka:u, "Conservation needs in this country cannot be determined in Washington."

There are two conservation laws in PNG -- the National Parks Act and the Fauna (Protection and Control) Act -- both of which were enacted before Independence. The NPA allows the government to hand over land to a park director. But because of landowners' resistance, the act has been applied in less than 3 per cent of the land, considered by biodiversity experts to be too small.

The World Bank recommends that at least 20 per cent of the country's land be protected. At the workshop, biologists upped this initial target area to about 50 per cent, apparently under advice from PNG's department of environment and conservation.

Two PNG land systems experts, Michael Brown and Hartmut Holzknecht, told the workshop, "Landowners and NGOs should be introduced into the conservation planning process at an early stage, rather than be consulted on an ad hoc basis." With respect to the protected area target, they pointed out, "The ultimate decision is highly subjective and can be politically driven." Sasa Zibe-Kokino of the Village Development Trust was more blunt: "The CNA programme will fail if involvement of local people is not addressed."

Wildlife management
The Fauna Act provides for strong state intervention, but only to protect specified animals. The act also provides for the establishment of Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) in consultation with landowners. As of December 1991, 18 WMAs had been established.

In 1978, the government had announced a package of three new environment laws, including the Conservation Areas Act. Introducing the bill, the minister said the government rejects "the idea that the only way to conserve anything is for the government to take it away from the people."

Participatory approah
Says land laws expert James Fingleton, "This unique law proceeds along participatory and consensual lines." It states that the government should set up a National Conservation Council to identify sites for conservation. Each site will have a committee, including local landowners, to prepare the management plan, direct rangers and approve and coordinate development.

At the CNA workshop, many participants stressed that conservation initiatives in PNG must build on local conservation values. But several expatriates were sceptical about landowners valuing and promoting conservation. However, lawyer Allan Marat said, "The sceptics reflect perspectives of past colonial overseers and view customary ownership as an obstacle." These expatriates, arguing that landowners are more eager to improve their material well-being, correlated this eagerness with the need to pay people to conserve. But several NGOs and landowner representatives argued to the contrary.

New ideas
The absolute imperative of involving people is throwing up new ideas. One campaign to make landowners aware of the consequences of logging has resulted in a people's recommendation to establish a decentralised network that will provide information on natural resource development options and their consequences. Another idea is to adopt integrated conservation and development projects that use techniques like participatory rural appraisal.

A third idea is that of conservation covenants, under which "conservation interests" could be acquired just like mineral, oil or timber rights. Fingleton says landowners can be asked to commit customary land to conservation in return for services or goods. However, he believes that the Conservation Act is adequate: it can involve landowners in decision-making and protect their ownership, but they will need information, advice and organisational assistance.

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