Land use, land care: a dilemma for conservation

We expect land tenure problems and customs. We knew land shortages would exist, for the rural areas, are diverse in size, population, culture, and history. Land must be apportioned with agricultural pursuits. This is often at the expense of forest development. Usually, land was gazetted by the Lands Department where it was stated that land by the Lands Department assessment was “Suitable for Agricultural or forestry development.” Often forestry would have its application accepted then lost on appeal. The other fly in the ointment in land is the misunderstanding of the land vacancy, as it may be declared “waste and vacant and therefore may be suitable only for agriculture and forestry development.” However, there were cases where the land may have been disputed and fought over, and to restore peace in the region, declared off limits, for a long time, to traditional garden, hunting or village development, by agreement between clan elders. I often encountered situations like this in extension development work, initially in the Bulolo, Wau and Watut and Highlands region but also in both coastal and islands regions. It pays to learn, understand, and respect, both customs and politics of land. Without this understanding, extension services in land use and that some ingrained habits such as slash and burn should become a thing of the past. This meant changes in thinking in both the Agriculture and Forestry Departments. There are instances where I encountered open opposition by expatriate agriculture officers in the Highlands using local landowners to lay claim to land being used by Forestry claimed through the Gazette system. To dig in on the forestry position I called on Kiap help. It worked. We still had to return some sections back to the Lands Department to have it re-allocated to the hands of Education so that schools could be established and agriculture. In our case we had to look at grazing animals other than pigs on land we were able to retain. I must add here that in those days both forestry and agricultural extension services were highly active. They played a particularly important active role in positive development in many parts of Papua New Guinea and its islands.

Land use, land care: a dilemma for conservation

New Guinea is considered to have the richest biota of the tropical Pacific. It has been subjected to continental changes climatically and biogeographically. This has served as a major source for another pacific biota. PNG is bounded by oceans, and biology including human presence. New Guinea is inescapably linked with other countries of the Indo Pacific region. It is ecologically and biogeographically resource rich. It has been subject to extensive scientific exploration, investigations, and collections (Jared Diamond 1984, also refer CSIRO, G. Keig et al 2019).

Land use changes here are subject globally to national and international governance, development, and land diversity. This then leaves us to determine what are we going to grow. We find agriculture wanting the same land as forestry. People must have land to produce food and they need forest goods and services.

Deforestation is usually not an issue until after the event. In foreign countries, this has been a long-term issue. Where the resource is abundant in their own countries, there is little incentive to ensure continuity and sustainability of land and forest from these foreign companies that commercial harvest the forest without respect and care.

In the past, forest removal without natural regeneration replacement was not uncommon in New Guinea. These days, removal for any type of development it is now a labour-saving exercise with a slash and burn mentality, for rural communities and where the damage out strips recovery of the relic soil and beneficial vegetation. Balancing both Forestry and Agriculture,