The importance of fungi to the people of Papua New Guinea

Mycologist ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 199-201
Author(s):  
Magnus Shoeman
1998 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-122
Author(s):  
Christin Kocher-Schmid

AbstractBiodiversity is not exclusively a product of pristine natural processes but is also, to a considerable degree, caused by human activities. This is demonstrated by a detailed inspection of the use and classification of plants by the people of Nokopo village in the Finisterre Range of Papua New Guinea. Nokopo people recognise and value biodiversity on all its levels - genetic diversity, species diversity and diversity of ecosystems - and their activities enhance overall biodiversity. This can be partly explained by the usefulness biodiversity has to them, in terms of resource access and other utilitarian considerations. On the other hand, aesthetic concepts and values make a significant contribution. Both these intrinsically interwoven components - the utilitarian and the aesthetic component respectively - form the base for understanding the major role humans play in creating and maintaining biodiversity, the role of keystone species enhancing overall biodiversity in a given ecosystem.


Author(s):  
Benjamin Saimbel Barcson

The 1995 local-level government reforms undertaken in Papua New Guinea (PNG) were largely in response to increasing concern that the public service was failing in its responsibility towards the people.  As a result, the 1995 Organic Law on Provincial and Local Governments (OLPLLG) was established.  The prime purpose of this was to address this issue through deeper engagement of the lower levels of government, particularly local-level governments (LLGs). Almost two decades on, poor socio-economic conditions and deterioration in infrastructure/services suggest that the proposed change has not materialised.  The purpose of this paper is to address the question of whether the lower tiers of government are capable of implementing the development plans under the reforms.  The paper finds that the 1995 reforms have made LLGs dependent upon their Joint District Planning and Budget Priorities Committee (JDP & BPC) and their district administration, which have become the main impediment to local government effectiveness.  This in turn has greatly hindered LLG capacity and has reinforced unequal relations, rather than assisting service delivery in PNG.  There is therefore a need to make LLGs more effective players.


Author(s):  
Patrick S. Michael

This paper presents a synthesis related to the assessment of climate change and its impacts on productivity of staple crops in Papua New Guinea (PNG), paying close attention to the change in population in the next 80 years. As much as the changes in the climatic and environmental factors will affect agriculture, evidence available in the literature show increase in global and local population will put additional pressure on agriculture by competing with available land and other resources that support agricultural productivity. The developing and underdeveloped countries are considered to be largely vulnerable as more than 85% of the people depend on subsistence agriculture for rural livelihood. This synthesis showed more than 60–85% of the rural people in PNG depend on sweet potato, banana, Colocasia taro, and greater yam. Projection of the population showed there will be 22–31 million people by 2100 and will depend on narrow staple-based subsistence agriculture. The population projected means the density will be 42 people per km2, putting more pressure on limited land available. When that happens, PNG will not be prepared to mitigate, be resilient and adapt because of poor infrastructure, no development plans and lack of post-harvest technologies for loss management of the staples, most of which are root and tuber crops.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-48
Author(s):  
Samingun Samingun ◽  
Julianto Jover Jotam Kalalo

The state of Indonesia is a state of law, everything is regulated by law. The Indonesian territory from Sabang to Merauke has borders with other foreign countries. The West is bordered by other countries even though it is separated from the sea, in the north it is directly adjacent to the mainland area with Malaysia, in the south it borders on land with Timor Leste and in the eastern part it is directly adjacent to Papua New Guinea. The entire area bordering either directly or indirectly is regulated by immigration law. Immigration law regulations have been well regulated, starting from the highest regulations to the lowest regulations in their respective regions. In this case, in the border area of ​​Merauke district, which is directly adjacent to Papua New Guinea, there are immigration law regulations that are used based on positive Indonesian law, in this case laws and there are also customary laws from the local community. The occurrence of legal pluralism in the land border area of ​​Merauke district is due to the existence of customary law that is still thick in the lives of the people in this border area, resulting in an immigration law regulation that must conform to the policies of local indigenous peoples who always cross borders from Indonesia to Papua New Guinea or vice versa, known as the designation of traditional border crossers.


2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 248
Author(s):  
Scott MacWilliam

Review of: Press, Politics and People in Papua New Guinea 1950-1975, by Philip Cass. Auckland: Unitec e-Press, 2014, 205pp. ISBN 978-1-927214-09-1Press, Politics and People should be required reading for people who are concerned with the history and current trajectory of Papua New Guinea. It is also a book with much to offer for university courses in journalism, history and social science methodology. Philip Cass shows in considerable detail how to research and write a detailed study about an important topic by employing a wide range of research methods, including interviews, content analysis of newspapers, analysing academic and popular literature, and engaging in archival searches. Significantly, he does not waste any time ‘interrogating the Other’, but sustains several arguments about the place of the press during a critical moment when major change was in the air for the people of Papua New Guinea.


2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 541-555
Author(s):  
Satish Chand

Is fiscal decentralisation in a polity divided by languages, cultures, tribes, and geography a means to nation-building or a route to secession? I consider the case of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea to provide nuanced information on the above question. This case study reveals that fiscal decentralisation, agreed to as part of a peace agreement signed in 2001 following a decade-long civil war in Bougainville, provided the opportunity for national consolidation. However, tensions surrounding the implementation of arrangements for budgetary support of Bougainville are forcing further fracturing. A definitive answer to the question of whether fiscal decentralisation helped or hindered nation-building will be provided by the referendum, due by mid-2020, when the people of Bougainville will have the option to vote for independence from Papua New Guinea.


2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Jane Archbold

<em>Australia has a number of international legal obligations in relation to asylum seekers and refugees. In the scheme of things, the number of asylum seekers and refugees who attempt to reach Australia by sea without a valid visa is relatively small. Since 2012, Australia has restored its legal framework of processing asylum seekers and refugees who arrive by sea offshore in Papua New Guinea and Nauru. There are a number of concerns with the treatment of asylum seekers and refugees at these offshore processing centres, highlighting concerns Australia is not complying with its international legal obligations. The primary justification of the current policies has been that a strong deterrent is required to deter the people-smuggling trade. However, the deterrent justification lacks evidence to support it, and is unable to justify breaches of some of the most fundamental obligations owed to refugees and asylum seekers.</em>


Author(s):  
Masahiko Nose ◽  

This study attempts to clarify the tense systems in Madang Province, Papua New Guinea; particularly, the past tense and habitual past forms in the sample three languages in the area: Amele, Waskia, and Kobon. This study thus investigates past tense and habitual features, and discusses how the people in the area interpret past events. The study then discusses how these people map their temporal frames in their grammars (“anthropology of time”, Gell 1996). To aid analysis, I collected data through observing descriptive grammars and fieldwork, finding that Amele exhibits three types of past tense and habitual tense forms, as in (1). Kobon has two distinct simple and remote past tenses, as in (2). Kobon has habitual aspect with the help of the verb “to be.” Waskia, in contrast, has a distinction between realis and irrealis meanings, and the realis forms can indicate past and habitual meanings (two habitual forms: one is include in realis, another is with the help of the verb “stay”), as shown in (3). (1) Amele: Today’s past: Ija hu-ga. “I came (today).” Yesterday’s past: Ija hu-gan. “I came (yesterday).” Remote past: Ija ho-om. “I came (before yesterday).” Habitual past (by adding the habitual form “l”): Ija ho-lig. “I used to come.” (2) Kobon (Davies 1989): Simple past: Yad au-ɨn. “I have come.” Remote past: Nöŋ-be. “You saw” Habitual aspect (by using the verb “mid” to be): Yad nel nipe pu-mid-in. “I used to break his firewood.” (3) Waskia (Ross and Paol 1978): Realis: Ane ikelako yu naem. “I drank some water yesterday.” (simple past) Realis: Ane girako yu no-kisam “In the past I used to drink water” (habitual past) Habitual (by using the verb “bager“ (stay)): Ane girako yu nala bager-em. “In the past I used to drink water.“ Finally, this study claims that Amele and Kobon have remoteness distinctions; near and remote past distinctions, but there is no such a distinction in Waskia. The observed habitual usages are different to each other. Nevertheless, the three languages have a grammatical viewpoint of habitual past mapping.


2006 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Garrick Hitchcock

Saratoga Scleropages jardinii (Saville-Kent 1892) is a popular aquarium and sportsfish native to southern New Guinea and northern Australia. In recent years the people of the Bensbach River area in Papua New Guinea's Western Province have been harvesting wild fingerlings for sale across the nearby international border in Indonesia's Papua Province. From there the fish are sold to dealers in other parts of Asia. The species is protected by law in Indonesia, and subject to various regulations in Australia. In Papua New Guinea there are no controls on its exploitation. Uncontrolled harvesting of fingerlings from the Bensbach and other river systems in south New Guinea has had negative impacts on local fisheries, and led to a decline in the Australian export trade in wild-caught and farm-bred Saratoga.


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