Land relations, resource extraction and displacement effects in island Papua New Guinea

ABSTRACT

We examine the relationship between dispossession, customary land relations, and involuntary displacement. Attention to customary land relations is the key to understanding how some households experience the extremities of extractive capitalism. By decoupling involuntary displacement from the acquisition of land, it is possible to surface indirect or secondary effects that are otherwise illegible. We conclude that ‘messy’ land relations and disputes are not simply a consequence of capital intensive projects acquiring rights over land and displacing people. Our findings highlight the dangers in assuming that issues and conflicts over land are readily resolved by resorting to ‘customary procedures’.

KEYWORDS:

• Large-scale mining
• resettlement
• dispossession
• simple reproduction squeeze
• matrilineal land tenure
• climate change

Acknowledgements

We are thankful to our two anonymous reviewers who provided encouraging and detailed comments that improved this paper. We also thank Luke Kabariu, and members of the Kapit community, who have patiently helped us to understand Lihirian land tenure.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 In 2000 an estimate of the Total Fertility Rate (average number of births per woman) was 4.4. In 2016 it was 4.6. This is comparable to Cameroon or Senegal, considered high birth rate countries.

2 Approximately USD 3.5 million and USD 31,555 respectively.

3 The Relocation Committee, a subcommittee of LMALA, was made up of the hamlet representatives for Maron, Lativis, Labarai and Latadal (which formed the old Putput village). As Kapit wasn’t going to be relocated when this committee was formed, they at best had observer status; in reality they had no representative on the committee.

4 Women, especially those without brothers, can assert ownership of land, but the normative rule is that ownership is highly gendered.

5 Samuel Karabus (1953-1996) was from Tinetalgo clan and was the first chairman of Lakaka Pty Ltd, the primary landowner company. Lakaka has since been rebranded as The Anitua Group (http://www.anitua.com.au).

6 Vance Gaoro was the (non-Lihirian) government Lands Officer assigned to deal with Lihir land matters between his arrival on the island c1990 and his retirement due to ill-health c2012. He died shortly afterwards.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nicholas Bainton

Nicholas Bainton is an Associate Professor and Principal Research Fellow at the University of Queensland. His research spans the anthropology of resource extraction, with attention to large-scale mining in Melanesia. His latest books are: Unequal Lives: Gender, Race and Class in the Western Pacific and The Absent Presence of the State in Large-scale Resource Extraction Projects.

John Burton

John Burton obtained his PhD from the Australian National University in 1985. His recent research covers development and the social impacts of mining in Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia, and Native Title research in Torres Strait and North Queensland. He was lately Professor & Deputy Vice President Research, at Divine Word University, Papua New Guinea, and is currently Principal Research Fellow at the University of Queensland.

John R. Owen

John R. Owen is a Professorial Research Fellow at the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining at the University of Queensland, Australia, and an Honorary Professor at the Centre for Development Support at the University of the Free State, South Africa.