Customary land registration processes can easily be captured by local ‘big men’ and companies with disastrous consequences for local people. This is the conclusion drawn in a study on recent oil palm expansion in Papua New Guinea by academic Caroline Hambloch from the University of London.
This paper analyses the perceptions of 120 landowner-households of Nanadai Clan of Gaire Village in Central Province and Sek Clan of Madang Province concerning breaking apart of communal ownership of customary land in PNG.