The new land grab in Papua New Guinea: case study from New Ireland Province

Abstract

"In this paper, I explain this episode [whole island of New Hanover (or Lavongai) was sold by a company called Tutuman Development Ltd (TDL) to a Singaporean company called Palma Hacienda Ltd] by reference to what I call the “new land grab” in PNG. I have already presented a general account of this phenomenon, along with case studies from Central and East New Britain provinces, in another publication (Filer 2011). A more detailed account of the way that customary land has recently been “grabbed” in New Ireland Province is partly warranted by public interest in the episode I have just recounted, and also by the fact that New Ireland is one of the provinces where this activity is both well entrenched and reasonably well documented. An examination of land grabbing in New Ireland can therefore help us to answer two of the key questions that have arisen in broader national debate about the land grab. The first is whether and why some customary landowners might have consented to the expropriation of their own land; the second is whether the formal unity of the legal process through which their land has been expropriated conceals a variety of motives and outcomes on the part of the actors who either support or oppose this process .. " - page 1