Terra Australis reports the results of archaeological and related research within the region south and east of Asia, though mainly Australia, New Guinea and Island Melanesia - lands that have remained terra australis incognita to generations of prehistorians. Its subject is the settlement of the diverse environments in this isolated quarter of the globe by peoples who have maintained their discrete and traditional ways of life into the recent recorded or remembered past and at times into the observable present .
Two of the unanswered questions of Papua New Guinea prehistory are: (1) whether agriculture was present
in the mid-Holocene not only in the highlands but also in the lowlands and Bismarck Archipelago and (2)whether the presence of agriculture might have been influenced by interaction between these regions. This paper addresses these questions through an analysis of prehistoric stone mortars, pestles and figures, which hold information on both style and function.
This chapter provides a brief description of Papua New Guinea, its past and present climate as well as projections for the future. The climate observation network and the availability of atmospheric and oceanic data records are outlined. The annual mean climate, seasonal cycles and the influences of large-scale climate features such as the West Pacific Monsoon and patterns of climate variability (e.g. the El Niño‑Southern Oscillation) are analysed and discussed.
UNDP has been working during the last decade to support countries to transition to green, inclusive, climate-resilient development paths. More than US$790 million in grant financing from the Global Environment Facility-managed Least Developed Countries Fund and the Special Climate Change Fund, as well as the Kyoto Protocol’s Adaptation Fund and bilateral finance, have been mobilized to assist countries to achieve their adaptation
priorities. These resources build on and complement over US$2.5 billion in co-financing that has also been invested.
The project Mangrove Rehabilitation for Sustainably Managed Healthy Forests (MARSH) commenced on October 1st 2012 and ended on September 30th 2015. The project was initially supposed to be implemented over five years in Papua New Guinea (PNG), Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. In the first quarter of Year 3 the donor decided to change the focus from community based to national interventions for greater impact and to limit the rest of the activities of the third year to PNG alone. The project life span was thus shortened and there was nothing started in Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.
The belief that illness, death and misfortune of all sorts is frequently caused by the deliberate interventions of individuals with special powers or magical knowledge is pervasive throughout Melanesia. As a result, sorcery and witchcraft beliefs and practices exert a powerful influence on many aspects of day-to-day life, as well as being significant vectors for community tensions, conflict and violence.
Our cultures and traditions are deeply entrenched in every Papua New Guinean, in our families, our homes and basically in our way of life. Our cultures and traditions are also preserved and kept alive through our arts, paintings, sculptures, carvings, dances and songs, folklores, architecture and literature. In fact, our cultures and traditions apply in all aspects of our lives. Culture is the very essence of our existence - it reflects our history, language, tradition and our beliefs.
A four-week mission was undertaken in Papua New Guinea to evaluate the work of the National Cultural Council and the Provincial Cultural Centres and the relationships between them, and to advise on the development of cultural centres with special regard to their structures, functions and programmes, as well as to their coordination.
This is an economic evaluation of the compensation to which Papua New Guinea’s customary landholders -
wrongly dispossessed through Special Agricultural Business Leases (SABL) - might be entitled if they successfully sued the government. The evaluation involves the calculation of commercial loss but also, and probably more importantly, economic equivalent value loss. The framework identifies the relevant heads of value (not just priced transactions) and demonstrates appropriate methods for valuation. It does not pretend to be a price calculator but rather a tool for advocacy.
This volume reports the results of studies carried out in the Southern half of the Simbu Province of Papua New Guinea (Fig. 1.0 by the Simbu Land Use Project (SLUP) between 1980 and 1982.
Massive overhunting of wildlife for meat across the humid tropics is now causing local extinctions of
numerous species. Rural people often rely heavily on wild meat, but, in many areas, this important source of
food and income is either already lost or is being rapidly depleted. The problem can only be tackled by looking at
the wider economic and institutional context within which such hunting occurs, from household economics
to global terms of trade. Conservation efforts must be placed within a landscape context; a mosaic of hunted
Escalating anthropogenic impacts on tropical biodiversity have increased the vulnerability of endemic species. Selective harvesting of species is one of the major threats to birds and mammal species in the tropics. Many indigenous cultures, however, have long established cultural associations with certain species. The hunting and trade of species have been mainly for subsistence and socio-cultural ties within their communities.
Hunting is a major driver of biodiversity loss, but a systematic large-scale estimate of hunting-induced defaunation is lacking. We synthesized 176 studies to quantify huntinginduced declines of mammal and bird populations across the tropics. Bird and mammal abundances declined by 58% (25 – 76 %) and by 83% (72 – 90%) in hunted compared to unhunted areas. Bird and mammal populations were depleted within 7 and 40 km from hunters’ access points (roads and settlements). Additionally, hunting pressure was higher in areas with better accessibility to major towns where wild meat could be traded.
THE present paper discusses a form of social classification which may be referred to provisionally as sex affiliation. The essence of it is that male children are classed with their father's group and female children with their mother's. I shall first endeavour to give an account, in its more or less relevant aspects, of the social organization of the people among whom this sex affiliation is practised; after that we may discuss the practice itself in greater detail and consider its implications.
The Kokoda Initiative is a partnership between the Government of Papua New Guinea and Australia to sustainably develop and protect the Kokoda Track and the surrounding Owen Stanley Ranges. The Initiative reflects the strong commitment of both governments to continue to enhance the quality of life of communities living along the track, to protect the environment, cultural values and to keep the track open and well managed.
This dataset contains all studies conducted related to Kokoda Iniative.
The proposed Sustainable Highlands Highway Infrastructure Program (SHHIP) is envisaged as a ten- year, multi-partner, multi-tranche financing facility aiming to restore and upgrade the Highlands Highway in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The executing agency is the PNG Department of Works (DoW). The initial climate screening of SHHIP using AWARE determined the Investment Program to be at medium risk to climate and climate change. As a result, ADB procedures require that a climate risk and vulnerability assessment (CRVA) be undertaken during the design stage.
The gross domestic product (GDP) of Papua New Guinea (PNG) grew at an annual average rate of nearly 7% between 2007 and 2010, and is expected to perform even better in 2011. Moreover, the economy remained unaffected even at the peak of the global economic crisis, when most other major Southeast Asian and Pacific economies recorded low or negative GDP growth rates. Sound macroeconomic management in the recent past and planned initiatives such as the PNG LNG Project indicate that the economy will continue to perform well in the medium to long run.
This technical note is intended to support climate risk assessment (CRA) experts, in particular, those undertaking the early stages of project development. Time and resources could be saved by attaching this document to terms of reference issued to CRA consultants. However, there is a limit to which globally accessible, open source
data can meet the detailed information needs of local adaptation projects. This note supplements rather than replaces efforts to gather relevant climate information from government agencies and counterparts, especially during the project concept phase.
The Economics of Fisheries and Aquaculture in the Coral Triangle (EFACT) is the first report of its kind that consolidates primary and secondary information on fisheries and aquaculture using a regional lens and analytical tools from economics. The EFACT is an output of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) technical assistance—Regional Cooperation on Knowledge Management, Policy, and Institutional Support to the Coral
Triangle Initiative (CTI).