ENVR101 Pacific Island Overview and Papua New Guinea

Pacific Island Overview

Focus on Pacific Island neighboring countries, particularly Papua New Guinea (PNG).

Research Background

Experiences at the Australian National University with a Pacific-focused research school.

Papua New Guinea

  • Largest Pacific Island neighbor in terms of population.
  • Shares Gondwanan flora and fauna with Aotearoa.
  • Contrasts with Aotearoa due to 40,000+ years of human settlement.

Environmental Focus

  • Extreme environments: high mountainous areas and remote atoll environments.
  • Deep human relationships with places like Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

Geographic Scope

  • West Papua and Papua New Guinea: the island archipelago.
  • High mountain peaks and intermontane basins.
  • Pacific Ocean: half the globe, diverse islands.

Colonial Constructs

  • Economic zones and nation-states in the Pacific.
  • Cultural, ethnic, and racial constructs influencing perceptions.

Cultural and Linguistic Diversity

  • Fluidity in cultural constructs (Melanesian, Micronesian, Polynesian).
  • Admixture of people over 40,000 years.
  • Many islands (Polynesia), complicated colonial constructs.

Scale of the Pacific Ocean

  • The Pacific Ocean can encapsulate all major continents.
  • Shift perception from tiny islands in a vast sea to a sea of islands.
  • Pre-colonization Pacific Island societies were interconnected.

Linguistic Diversity

  • Diverse language groups with close relationships.
  • Papua New Guinea: a thousand languages.
  • Local language names vary by language group.

Biodiversity Hotspots

  • Relationship between language diversity and biodiversity.
  • Papua New Guinea competes with the Amazon Basin for plant species diversity.
  • Thousands of species per hectare.

Population Density

  • Low population density in the Pacific compared to Asia.
  • High population density in the highlands of Papua New Guinea.

Population Statistics (2020)

  • Papua New Guinea: approaching 9,000,000.
  • High population growth rates in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu compared to Aotearoa.

Topography of Papua New Guinea

  • Mount Gilaway: 4,300 meters (higher than Aoraki/Mount Cook at 3,300 meters).
  • Intermountain basins in the Highlands provinces.
  • Evidence of settlement in these valleys dating back 40,000 years.

Bananas

  • The genetic foundation of the Cavendish banana is from Papua New Guinea.
  • Huge diversity of bananas genetically in Papua New Guinea.
  • Essential crop plants originating from Papua New Guinea.
  • Cavendish bananas are threatened by diseases, necessitating a look at the diversity of bananas in Papua New Guinea.

Shared Tree Species

  • Shares major tree species with Aotearoa from Gondwanan forest remnants (50,000,000 years old).
  • Familiar forest environments with villages and cultivation.

Agriculture Origins

  • Origins of food production and agricultural food in Papua Guinea date back at least seven thousand years.
  • Centered on Waihi Valley which is an inter montane basin at altitude between 1,200 meters and 2,000 meters in elevation.
  • Production fields for Kumara and Yam.
  • Karuka pandanus.

Extreme Environments

  • Punjak Jaya: highest peak in West Papua at 4,883 meters above sea level.
  • Immediately below Punjak Jaya is the Grasberg Mine, the largest open-cut gold mine on the planet.
  • The Grasberg Mine is the second largest copper mine

Resource Richness

  • Papua New Guinea: huge mineral wealth and natural resources.
  • Paradox: one of the poorest neighbors despite resource wealth.
  • Environmental and social issues: deforestation, mining contamination (resource curse).
  • Grasberg Mine impacts: glacier destruction.

Climate Patterns

  • El Nino and La Nina affect Papua New Guinea.
  • El Nino brings dryness, La Nina brings wetness.
  • South Pacific convergence zone: high moisture, heavy rainfall.

Rainfall

  • Some areas receive >4 meters of rain per year, with parts of highland ranges receiving >10 meters of rain per year.
  • Heavy rainfall affects food production.

Climate Events

  • SPCZ shifts cause expansion and contraction leading to drought or desert conditions.

Indo-Pacific Warm Pool

  • Changing temperatures impact climate, contributing to intense events.
  • We need more research in the Pacific to comprehend climate patterns.

Soil Fertility

  • Rich volcanic soils support nutritious and abundant crops.

Forest Fires

  • 1997 El Nino year: worst fire season recorded in the Pacific.

Main Crop Plants

  • Highland people living in Papua New Guinea cultivate the nuts known as flanges that are stored usually over the winter, the cooler or less productive months in in in these higher elevation provinces.
  • Pandanus trees have various uses throughout the community from food, to building material.

Production

  • It's very seasonal and complex in what they produce throughout the season with many fruits and nuts.

Comparative Approach

  • Aotearoa compared to Papua New Guinea.
  • Similarities and differences in size, population, language, indigenous population, crime rate, environmental protection, and forest types.

Urban Centers

  • Comparison of Otoutahi/Christchurch and Port Moresby.
  • Similar population but different rainfall and pollution levels.

Coastal Waterway and plastic waste

  • Major environmental issues in Port Moresby related to coastal waterways.
  • Infrastructure, pace of development and plastic waste issues are common in Port Moresby today.