Interactions Between Local-Indigenous Communities and the Natural Environment in Far North Queensland and Southern New Guinea

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Western Province

There is an apparent convergence of interest on the part of several key stakeholders in the need for an integrated, transboundary approach to sustainable development and resource management in the ‘ecoregion’ which includes Southern New Guinea and the adjoining parts of Northern Australia (here provisionally limited to Cape York Peninsula and Torres Strait). On the PNG side, the outer limits of this ecoregion correspond roughly with the boundaries of Gulf and Western Provinces. On the (West) Papua side, they encompass the whole of the Merauke Regency (Kabupaten) and parts of three neighbouring Regencies, including the whole of the Lorentz World Heritage Area (see Figure 1).