Community-based Conflict Management and Environmental Change: A Case Study from Papua New Guinea

　

Phillip Scott Jones

　

Abstract

　

        Effectively confronting environmental change in East Asia will require the involvement of the international community. But doing so cannot be divorced from the priorities of people on the ground, their group interests and their everyday conflicts. Bearing this in mind, we conclude our look at strategies for sustainable development in East Asia with a study of how community-based conflict management has assisted environmental protection in Papua New Guinea (PNG). In Chapter 14, Phillip Scott Jones describes projects in ‘sustainable livelihoods’ related to the implementation of international environmental objectives. He is particularly interested in policy approaches that enable local people and vulnerable groups to participate in policy-making, thereby improving policy formulation and implementation. He argues that the tools and principles of conflict management, appropriately applied within a framework of sustainable livelihoods, provide flexible methods for managing environmental conflicts and for developing appropriate policy mechanisms. Well-designed, locally relevant conflict management and sustainable livelihood training can be powerful entry points for bringing stakeholders at all levels into the process of confronting and managing environmental change in East Asia.