Developing a villager-focused strategic plan for food security in the areas impacted by the Ok Tedi Mine

摘要

Ok Tedi Mining Limited (OTML) operates in the remote Star Mountains of the Western Province of PNG. Since the mine started exploration in the late 1960s, local indigenous communities of hunter-horticulturists have been transformed by money, training, opportunities and travel. Approximately 10,000 people have moved closer to both the mining town of Tabubil and along the Kiunga-Tabubil highway corridor as a result of vastly improved health services, availability of store goods and opportunities for marketing garden produce. With mine closure planned for 2010, the majority of these communities, as well as a large number of local OTML employees, will have little option but to return to their remote villages and seek to provide for their families through gardening. However, a greatly increased population, reduced land available for gardening, the long-term effects of deforestation and soil erosion combine to make this transition a difficult challenge. A strategic plan for food security is being developed in conjunction with a wide range of stakeholder groups in Western Province and Telefomin District, Sandaun (West Sepik) Province, but the most important challenge is for local communities to develop unique village-based plans for their own food security.