For seven million people their customary land is their supermarket, their hardware store and cash machine. Dispossession means they lose their livelihoods and independence.
Customary land sustains a huge economy based around subsistence agriculture and the informal sector that is worth at least K40 billion a year
Corporations are eager to address the ‘omissions’ of the colonial era and take control of customary land. In pushing this neo-colonial agenda they rely on many false claims.
Corruption is a huge problem in PNG. Once land is registered it can easily be stolen through unlawful transactions that local people are totally unaware of
