Social environment overview Clause Samples

Social environment overview. 4.1.3.1 Papua New Guinea Highlands and the Kikori River Basin The Hela and Southern Highlands Provinces occupy approximately 25,700 square kilometres in the central western part of Papua New Guinea. The total population of the Province in 2000 was 546,265. Population densities are highest in the Tari Basin at about 190 persons per square kilometre, while areas around Lake Kutubu support about 40 persons per square kilometre. In the western part of the Komo-Margarima District, the population density is less than 20 persons per square kilometre. The Gulf Province occupies some 13,500 square kilometres on the south coast of Papua New Guinea, where the estuaries of six major rivers converge into one large delta of islands, swamps and channels. The total population of the Province in 2000 was 106,898. Population densities range from 25 to 35 persons per square kilometre in the most densely settled areas, to less than ten persons per square kilometre in other areas. Papua New Guinea is an overwhelmingly rural country, with almost 85 percent of the population living in a rural setting. Delivery of rural health care services is extremely difficult and recent national level surveys indicate that major health performance indicators are significantly worse in rural versus urban settings. Key social aspects in the Papua New Guinea Highlands and the Kikori River Basin areas are: customary land ownership and use; predominant livelihood dependency on land and natural resources; high incidences of communicable diseases, including pneumonia, malaria, tuberculosis, diarrhoeal diseases, meningitis and, increasingly, Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome; maternal and child morbidity and mortality, under-resourced and largely ineffective rural health and education systems; limited health facilities, limited educational opportunities and limited infrastructure and transportation routes; project induced in-migration; and a significant number of archaeological and cultural sites.