Seminar Series: Abstract

Observations on the rural political economy in Papua New Guinea
Mike Bourke, Adjunct Senior Fellow, Department of Human Geography

Mike Bourke recently returned from five weeks in PNG working with the World Bank, Business for Millennium Development, the PNG Australia Business Forum, and an ACIAR-funded University of Queensland research project. The trip covered the Southern Highlands Province (SHP) oil and gas fields, Goroka and Aiyura in Eastern Highlands Province, Madang and the Ramu Valley, and Gazelle Peninsula in East New Britain. The talk addresses: some issues of governance; community and resource company relations in SHP and Madang Province; immediate effects of climate change; the serious impact of a new pest on cocoa production in East New Britain and Bougainville; and current and potential developments in agriculture and forestry.