Papua New Guinea

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    Papua New Guinea land governance profile

    Updated October 2026.

    Research updated: October 27, 2026. This profile examines customary and other tenure, land administration, women’s rights, investment, land conflict and natural-resource governance.

    Papua New Guinea’s customary land systems remain central to identity, food production and local authority. Much land is held through customary relationships, although a widely repeated estimate of 97 percent originates in older assessments and should not be treated as a new cadastral measurement. State land, leasehold, freehold and project-specific rights interact with customary interests in ways that require careful attention to legal status, consent and implementation. UNDP, 2025; USAID baseline, 2021.

    Legislation and institutions have changed since the earlier profile. The Land Commission Act 2022 established a new institutional framework, Parliament endorsed a report containing a proposed customary-land reform bill in March 2026, and the country has adopted new protected-areas and carbon-market instruments. The status of a proposal, passage of a law, its commencement and effective implementation are separate questions. Land Commission Act 2022; United Nations, 2026.

    Women’s rights and interests differ across matrilineal, patrilineal and other systems. Formal participation requirements cannot alone ensure that women influence decisions or receive benefits. In urban areas, informal arrangements may leave both customary owners and residents vulnerable when the person who negotiated access, the land’s status or the process for eviction is contested. Pascoe, 2025; United Nations, 2025.

    Logging, agricultural leases, mining, hydrocarbons, conservation and carbon finance can place different rights over the same land and resources. The important questions are whose claims are recognized, who can participate in decisions, how access and environmental harms are addressed and whether benefits reach affected people. The October 2026 EITI assessment identified continuing gaps in extractive-sector transparency, including contract disclosure and subnational transfers. EITI, 2026; USAID baseline.

    Historical and political context

    Land, society and political economy

    The National Statistical Office’s final 2024 census counted 10,185,363 people, including the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. Census counts describe where people were recorded, not the distribution of landownership. Population change and migration can increase demand for services and land in particular places, but national density does not by itself measure the pressure on a particular community or prove that land is available for allocation. National Statistical Office, 2024 census; UNFPA census publication, 2025.

    Land governance in Papua New Guinea cannot be understood as a simple division between titled and untitled property. Customary relationships connect land to descent, residence, cultivation, exchange, social obligation and authority. Their forms differ across the country and may change with migration, marriage, adoption, population pressure and economic opportunity. Colonial land acquisition created a separate body of alienated land, while independent Papua New Guinea retained legal recognition for customary arrangements. The result is an institutional system in which customary rights, government powers and the terms of resource projects overlap. Registration and leases developed as distinct mechanisms within this institutional system. USAID baseline, 2021; Land Portal baseline, 2021.

    Reform is politically sensitive because land is both a source of livelihood and a basis of identity and authority. Registration can help document claims and organize transactions, but a certificate cannot by itself resolve disagreements about group membership, boundaries, representation or the distribution of benefits. An analysis of the 2026 proposals by researcher Colin Filer emphasizes the difficulty of fitting locally variable customary arrangements into uniform categories and the limited uptake of existing customary title registration. These concerns should be considered alongside the government’s objective of making land administration more transparent and accessible. Filer, 2026; Department of the Prime Minister and National Executive Council, 2026.

    From colonial acquisition to group rights

    The early 1970s inquiry into land acquisition is part of the history behind today’s customary-land estimate. According to the 2021 USAID baseline, it put alienated land at about 2.8 percent of the national area. A later administrative count was lower, illustrating that a widely quoted residual percentage is affected by the completeness of records and the treatment of later leases. The 97 percent figure is useful as an indication of the importance of customary tenure but does not establish the exact boundaries or present status of every parcel. USAID baseline: land distribution.

    Post-independence policy did not resolve a basic tension between providing a legally recognizable entity for collective decisions and preserving the flexibility of customary membership and authority. The choice of who appears in records can affect access for people living away from their natal communities, people with ties through both parents, and people admitted through marriage or adoption. The strength of a record depends on the legitimacy and reviewability of the process through which it was made. Filer, 2026; Church, 2025.

    The institutional history matters because the rights in a present-day parcel may have arisen through several different legal processes. Colonial authorities acquired some land and treated it as alienated; the remaining customary estate continued to be governed through locally varied relationships. After independence in 1975, policy sought ways to recognize customary groups as legal entities while allowing them to negotiate over the use of land. The Land Groups Incorporation Act 1974 formed part of that approach. Later voluntary registration provisions created another route for documenting customary land interests. Their coexistence means that a decision about one procedure should not be confused with a decision to sell all underlying rights. USAID baseline, 2021; Land Registration Amendment Act 2009.

    Historical surveys described shifting cultivation as a system involving cultivated plots and forest fallows, not simply permanent fields. The older profile reported intensification and shorter fallows in some densely populated areas, alongside substantial local variation. Such historical observations remain relevant to the analysis of food security and land-use planning, but do not establish the current extent of cultivated land or the present rate of change. Classifying fallow as unused land can obscure its role in farming and in the reproduction of soil fertility. USAID baseline: land-use history.

    Legal and institutional developments

    The Land Commission Act 2022 establishes a Land Commission and provides for the merger of the former Land Titles Commission and National Land Commission functions. Its statutory objectives include customary land tenure conversion, consideration of historical settlement claims associated with pre-independence acquisitions, and a national land registry. The Commission describes itself as an independent, quasi-judicial body; the Department of Lands and Physical Planning retains wider land administration responsibilities. The precise jurisdiction of each institution, and the relationship between Commission determinations, courts and local dispute mechanisms, require attention in individual cases. Land Commission: About; Land Commission: FAQ.

    In June 2025, a parliamentary committee began a nationwide inquiry into customary tenure and resource governance. On March 12, 2026, Parliament endorsed the committee’s report, which included a proposed Customary Land Tenure Bill. According to the United Nations, the proposal contemplated clan and customary-land registers, rules for leases and changes to dispute resolution. Endorsement of a report is not the same as passage or commencement of its proposed bill. The source does not establish that the proposal became law. UNDP, 2025; United Nations, 2026; National Parliament: bills and legislation.

    In July 2025, Parliament reportedly passed amendments to six land-related laws, including the Land Act and Land Registration Act, intended in part to support electronic administration and state-lease processes. FAOLEX separately identifies both the Land Registration Amendment Act 2025 and a Land Amendment Act 2025. The certified texts, commencement notices and actual effects on customary land transactions still require review; an administrative digitization measure should not be presented as proof that all land records are reliable or accessible. The National, July 2025; FAOLEX: Land Registration Act.

    Government statements also describe a national land audit, electronic title registration and provincial capacity reviews. These are statements of government action and intent, not independent confirmation that records are complete or that every customary landholder can use the systems. The extent of implementation, public access, costs and correction procedures should be assessed separately. Prime Minister’s statement to Parliament.

    Customary tenure, leases and measurement

    Customary tenure encompasses collective and individual interests that do not always map neatly onto an incorporated group or a single parcel boundary. The 2009 amendments to the Land Registration Act created a framework for registration of customary land, while the earlier Land Groups Incorporation Act provided a way for customary groups to acquire legal personality. Incorporating a group and registering a title to particular land are distinct steps. Registration may assist some communities, but it also makes decisions about representation and documentary evidence especially consequential. FAOLEX: Land Registration Amendment Act 2009; Filer, 2026.

    The often-repeated estimate that approximately 97 percent of land is held under customary ownership is still used by UNDP, but the 2021 USAID baseline traces the estimate to a 1973 inquiry into alienated land. Estimates differ in their dates, methods and treatment of customary land subject to special agricultural and business leases. A lease can restrict control and use without necessarily meaning that underlying customary ownership has disappeared. The available evidence does not establish a current, definitive nationwide percentage. UNDP, 2025; USAID baseline; Land Portal baseline.

    The earlier profile’s analysis of special agricultural and business leases remains important because the legal existence of a lease does not answer whether all affected customary owners consented, who signed on their behalf, how long access was restricted or whether promised agriculture and compensation materialized. Historical inquiry findings and subsequent cancellations need to be distinguished from the present legal status of each lease; a general statement that all leases have been cancelled would be unsupported. Forest-clearing permissions, leases and timber permits are related but distinct instruments and should be examined separately. USAID baseline; BTI country report, 2026.

    Lease-leaseback and special agricultural and business leases

    A lease-leaseback arrangement involves rights over customary land being acquired by the state and then leased to a landowner-associated entity or another party. Its stated development purpose does not eliminate the need to establish who holds customary rights, whether representatives had authority and whether affected people understood the agreement. Where a lease or associated authorization permits forest clearing, an agricultural investment can also determine access to gardens, hunting areas, water and forest products. USAID baseline: tenure and forestry.

    The 2021 USAID profile reported that more than five million hectares were covered by special agricultural and business leases by 2011, and described the subsequent commission of inquiry and moratorium. This historical estimate is not a current measure of land still subject to valid leases or proof that every lease was unlawful. Their present status must be established individually. USAID baseline: tenure types; FORCERT / ACT NOW: Tavolo case, 2025.

    Review of a proposed or existing project should examine the lease, survey and boundary map, evidence of community authorization, identities of the parties, forest and environmental permits, promised activities, compensation, duration and remedies. An incorporated company or certificate does not by itself demonstrate that customary rights holders were properly represented. The cancellation of one lease should not be generalized to other leases. USAID baseline; FORCERT / ACT NOW, 2025.

    Customary land, state land, freehold and leasehold

    Customary land is held and governed through customary relationships; its legal recognition is not dependent on issuing a conventional individual title for every member. State land includes land already acquired by the state, while freehold and leasehold interests can exist within the national legal framework. A lease gives specified rights for a period and purpose; its effect depends on the instrument and applicable law. A customary landholder, a registered land group, the state and a project operator can therefore have different interests in the same area. These are categories for analysis rather than a complete account of every local arrangement. Land Act 1996, historical consolidated text; USAID baseline.

    The older profile cautioned against assuming that an expired state lease automatically returns previously acquired state land to customary ownership. The legal basis of acquisition, the lease, subsequent transactions and any claims must be examined separately. Likewise, a customary owner’s agreement to a limited lease should not automatically be described as a permanent transfer of underlying ownership. These distinctions matter when assessing whether a community can recover access after a concession ends. USAID baseline: tenure types; Land Commission Act 2022.

    Land groups and decision-making

    Registration involves practical steps that can determine whether people are able to protect their interests: public notice, access to maps, a chance to raise objections, verification of membership and recording of decisions. A 2022 National Gazette notice concerning an incorporated group’s proposed survey illustrates a 90-day objection process under the registration framework. It is an example from one notice, not a substitute for the law or a current legal guide for every application. The accessibility of a notice, the location of survey records and the expense of making an objection matter as much as the existence of a formal procedure. National Gazette notice, 2022.

    The 2021 baseline reported that approximately 233,000 hectares had been registered under the amended customary-title arrangements by the end of 2018, much less than earlier reform advocates anticipated. That is a historical figure, not a current count. Incorporation figures and the area under registered customary titles are different indicators: a group can be incorporated without all land associated with it being surveyed and registered. USAID baseline: tenure types; Filer, 2026.

    Land-group incorporation creates an organization capable of acting under the law; the related process for registering interests in customary land involves additional requirements. In practice, the fairness of either process depends on how members and boundaries are identified, how decisions are recorded, whether affected families understand the consequences, and whether dissenting claims can be heard. Formal recognition of representatives may clarify dealings with outsiders but can also shift power within a community if those representatives do not communicate with or remain accountable to other rights holders. Filer, 2026; Church, 2025.

    Land administration and access to justice

    Land administration is distributed among institutions rather than concentrated in one registry. The national lands department handles broad administrative functions; the Land Commission has a distinct quasi-judicial mandate, including inquiry into certain customary claims and historical acquisitions. Village courts, customary mechanisms and the formal courts can be relevant to particular disputes. Authority and procedure depend on the nature of the claim and the applicable statute. Costs, distance, limited records and power imbalances can make an available legal remedy difficult to use, especially when a dispute involves several communities or a well-resourced company. Land Commission FAQ; USAID baseline.

    Women’s land rights and representation

    Inheritance and authority differ among patrilineal, matrilineal and other systems. Matrilineal descent should not be assumed to give women equal control over negotiations or compensation; conversely, a general description of women as having only use rights can erase local variations and women’s own authority. A study of a matrilineal community in Suau, Milne Bay, shows how women’s relationships to land coexist with men’s prominent public roles in negotiating land and climate-related projects. Such findings are locally grounded and should not be generalized to every community. Pascoe, 2025.

    Inheritance, household security and participation

    In the 2016–18 Demographic and Health Survey, the National Statistical Office reported that 44 percent of surveyed women and 65 percent of surveyed men owned land. The survey is historical and its self-reported ownership measure should not be equated with a current national measure of registered title or the security of all customary rights. National Statistical Office, 2016–18 DHS.

    A woman’s ability to use or inherit land may depend on the specific land, her relationship to a landholding group and the applicable customary and statutory rules. Marriage, separation or widowhood can affect where a person lives and the land available for cultivation. The older baseline’s discussion of male control over some negotiations and income remains an important starting point, but sweeping claims that all women lack decision-making authority or that matrilineal systems are identical would be misleading. The applicable rules and evidence for inheritance and marital-property disputes need to be assessed separately for customary and registered land. USAID baseline: gender and land; Pascoe, 2025.

    The 2021 baseline reported that the amended land-group law required at least two women on a management committee. Examples of 2022 and 2023 gazette notices list two female representatives, but those examples do not establish how effectively women participated or whether all groups complied. The current legal position may reflect later changes. Representation on paper is only one measure; meeting procedures, access to financial records and the ability to object also affect influence. USAID baseline; National Gazette examples, 2023.

    For any lease, forest agreement, carbon project or extractive operation, the practical questions include who receives notice, whose consent is sought, whether women and young people can participate without intimidation, who controls payments, and how those excluded can challenge decisions. The older baseline’s discussion of women’s agricultural work, cash-crop income and participation in land-group management remains relevant, but customary practices and women’s roles vary locally. USAID baseline; Pascoe, 2025.

    Urban tenure, displacement and public services

    Urban residents occupy a range of situations, including registered leases, informal arrangements on state land and agreements involving customary owners. These arrangements should not be treated as interchangeable. A household may have paid for access without holding a legally enforceable title, while a customary group may dispute whether an individual had authority to make the transaction. Rapid urban growth, insufficient housing and uneven public services intensify pressure over land. UN-Habitat: Papua New Guinea; USAID baseline.

    Tenure insecurity also concerns the process by which authorities enforce land claims. In February 2025, the United Nations expressed concern about reports of forced evictions and burned homes in the Baruni informal settlement in Port Moresby, allegedly involving police. The UN called for due process and protection of affected residents. This is a reported incident, not evidence that all evictions follow the same pattern. United Nations, February 2025.

    Section 79 of the Environment Act 2000 vests rights to the use, flow and control of water in the state subject to stated exceptions, while preserving customary rights to use water for citizens resident in the area where those rights are exercised. Section 80 addresses public access to water for domestic and other specified purposes. These provisions coexist rather than establishing an unrestricted state monopoly over every customary use. In a mining, logging, agricultural or hydropower project, the practical issues include how access, pollution risks, permits and compensation are handled for affected users. Environment Act 2000, sections 79–80.

    Freshwater, fisheries and competing uses

    Distribution and livelihoods

    Papua New Guinea’s rainfall, river systems and water availability differ markedly by location. Mountain catchments support major rivers, while the area around Port Moresby is comparatively dry. The 2021 profile described widespread small-scale freshwater fishing and limited irrigation, as well as groundwater’s importance to some communities and towns. These observations help explain why water governance is not limited to the supply systems serving major cities. The older fisheries production and household-access figures are historical estimates, not current measurements. USAID baseline: freshwater resources.

    Fishing and water collection can be central to subsistence even where they generate little recorded commercial output. A decision about a dam, road, mine or logging operation may change water quality or access downstream, with impacts distributed differently among landowners, residents and other customary users. Impact assessment and compensation therefore need to consider customary users and places beyond the immediately leased parcel, as well as measurable harm and the applicable legal procedures. USAID baseline: freshwater tenure; Environment Act 2000.

    Institutions, permits and enforcement

    The Environment Act supplies the framework for environmental permissions and water regulation. The Conservation and Environment Protection Authority has environmental responsibilities, while water supply, health, fisheries and energy institutions have different roles. A permit and its conditions should be read together with the law in force and the facts on the ground; the existence of an assessment or permit does not establish that conditions were met throughout a project’s life. Public access to monitoring results and responsive complaint mechanisms are relevant to evaluating enforcement. Environment Act 2000; Conservation and Environment Protection Authority documents.

    Hydropower can expand electricity supply, but reservoirs and associated infrastructure can also affect customary use, waterways and settlements. The 2021 baseline records plans and external support for a range of projects; those historical plans should not be read as proof that a dam was built or a service target met. Project status, land acquisition, consultation and benefit arrangements vary by scheme. USAID baseline: freshwater interventions.

    The 2021 baseline describes freshwater as a resource used for domestic supply, fishing, agriculture, energy generation and industrial development. Rights to land adjoining a river, customary rights to use water, state authority over water and rights under environmental permits must be considered together. A project may affect people outside the area over which it holds a surface lease, for example when river pollution or changes in flow affect downstream users. Questions of compensation require attention to the nature of the damage, the people affected, the governing legal instrument and available evidence. USAID baseline: freshwater; Environment Act 2000.

    Water abundance at national scale does not guarantee that a household has a reliable, safe or affordable supply. In rural settlements, dispersed populations and the cost of maintaining systems can complicate service delivery; in urban and peri-urban areas, settlement growth and degraded catchments place pressure on infrastructure and water quality. A profile of water governance should therefore distinguish national freshwater resources from household service indicators, and distinguish basic service from safely managed drinking water. UN SDG country profile; UN-Habitat country information; USAID baseline.

    Water access is a separate issue from ownership of the surrounding land, although development and pollution can affect customary users. UN SDG data report that 53.3 percent of the population used basic drinking-water services in 2024; this indicator does not measure safely managed drinking water, and it does not establish equal rural and urban access. The historic profile’s discussion of the interaction between public authority over water, customary use, water infrastructure and compensation remains relevant. UN SDG country profile; WHO country data; USAID baseline.

    Conflict, disaster and displacement

    Conflicts over land can concern boundaries, competing inheritance claims, representation, acquisition, benefits or the interaction of customary and state institutions. They can also intersect with disputes about political influence, migration and access to services. It is therefore misleading to assume that every conflict is caused by a single tenure rule or to characterize all community disputes as ethnic conflict. The form of dispute and the people affected determine the institutions that may be involved. USAID baseline; ACAPS, 2024.

    The Land Disputes Settlement Act provides a framework in which mediation and land courts have roles in customary land disputes. A government resettlement framework describes mediation as an initial step, with court processes if agreement is not reached. Mediation may be more accessible than litigation, but customary authority and local social relationships can also influence whether women, migrants and less powerful claimants can present their cases. Papua New Guinea agriculture project resettlement policy framework.

    For people displaced by violence or disasters, restitution is not simply the physical return of a family to a previous site. It may require resolving overlapping claims, ensuring safety, restoring access to gardens and water, and agreeing how land used for relocation will be held. IOM’s Enga assessment notes that some people affected by the 2024 landslide had already been displaced by violence, showing how successive crises can compound tenure insecurity. IOM, 2025.

    Violent conflict and disasters can both disrupt access to land, homes and livelihoods. In its 2024 displacement overview, IOM recorded 30,970 people displaced in the events it assessed: 21,878 in connection with natural hazards and 9,092 with conflict. These figures describe the assessment period and its coverage, not a census of everyone living in displacement. In Enga, a landslide affected communities already facing violence, and some people experienced repeated displacement. A response that finds temporary shelter without resolving safe access to land, food production, services and receiving-community rights may leave people exposed to further insecurity. IOM displacement overview, 2024.

    In East New Britain, the Tavolo Community Conservation Association challenged the Mukus Melkoi special agricultural and business lease. A 2025 account published by ACT NOW reports that National Court orders cancelled the lease after landowners contested consent. The case illustrates both the availability and the cost of legal challenge; the implications for the lease and associated forest permissions depend on the original orders and their implementation. FORCERT / ACT NOW, June 2025.

    Forests, conservation and climate

    Forests are central to customary livelihoods and to national debates about logging, biodiversity and climate finance. The baseline’s distinction between selective logging, forest conversion, forest management agreements and the customary ownership of land remains essential: a forest permit, a land lease and an agreement over timber rights are not identical. Measurements of forest extent and loss also depend on definitions, dates and methods, so historical and current statistics should not be compared without those qualifications. USAID baseline.

    Papua New Guinea adopted the Protected Areas Act, No. 9 of 2024. Its stated purposes include management of a protected-area network and biodiversity conservation, and it provides for repeal of earlier conservation legislation. FAOLEX notes that commencement depends on a National Gazette notice. UNDP subsequently reported that the Act had commenced, but the notice date and transitional provisions remain unclear. UNDP commencement announcement. Formal designation must also be assessed against local participation, management capacity, funding and the rights of customary owners. FAOLEX: Protected Areas Act 2024.

    Carbon finance creates another potential layer of rights and obligations over customary land. PNG imposed a moratorium on new voluntary carbon schemes in 2022 and lifted it in April 2025. The IMF reports that authorities issued a notice in August 2025 that they were not accepting carbon projects while the legal framework was being operationalized. The Climate Change (Management) (Carbon Markets) Regulation 2025, Statutory Instrument No. 5 of 2025, establishes a framework for permits, carbon rights, free, prior and informed consent, benefit sharing and grievance mechanisms. The current status of project applications and implementing guidelines remains unclear; the lifting of the moratorium should not be confused with permission to operate a particular project. Pacific Environment Information Network, 2022; IMF, 2026; Carbon Markets Regulation 2025.

    Forestry agreements and conversion

    The 2021 baseline traced the Forestry Act 1991 to an earlier inquiry into corruption and described a sequence in which officials first acquired timber rights through a forest management agreement and then allocated harvesting rights through a project agreement and timber permit. It also described the continuation of older permits and the use of forest-clearing authorities for agricultural projects. Those historical descriptions should be read alongside later amendments and the conditions of the particular instrument. USAID baseline: forestry law and administration.

    The historical profile reported that, by the end of 2018, 42 forest-conversion concessions covered almost two million hectares and had contributed a substantial share of log exports during 2007–18. These are dated figures, not an inventory of current permits, cleared land or the status of every proposed agricultural project. A present-day assessment would need current permit boundaries, expiry dates, independent monitoring and evidence of whether promised agricultural activities occurred. USAID baseline: forest conversion.

    Long-term agreements also pose questions of representation over time. A community may have changed, a land group’s leadership may have turned over, and different families may experience different impacts. Monitoring must therefore consider continuing access to information, whether rights holders can inspect agreements and payments, and whether complaints can lead to effective remedies. Parliamentary inquiry into log-export monitoring, 2026; USAID baseline.

    The 2021 baseline describes forest management agreements as a mechanism through which timber rights are acquired before timber permits are granted to operators. It distinguishes this selective-logging route from forest clearing for proposed agricultural development. The distinction is consequential: the geographic scope, consultation process, duration, conditions for retaining forest and forms of compensation can differ. A community’s interest in forest products, water and gardening land may extend beyond the timber rights recorded in an agreement. USAID baseline: forests.

    Transparency requires more than publishing a permit. Affected people need access to the agreement, maps, environmental conditions and the identity of the entities entitled to benefits, as well as information on harvesting and enforcement. In its March 2026 report to Parliament, the Special Parliamentary Committee on Public Sector Reform and Service Delivery reported weaknesses in log-export monitoring and raised land-rights concerns. These are committee findings and recommendations; the committee’s findings do not establish the outcome of individual allegations. Parliamentary committee report on log-export monitoring, 2026.

    Forest statistics and community livelihoods

    The older profile showed why an apparent change in national forest area cannot always be read as a change on the ground: assessments used different definitions, satellite methods and treatment of secondary growth, plantations and degradation. Logging can affect ecosystem quality without immediately producing the same result as a conversion from forest to another land use. Forest cover, intact primary forest and tree-cover loss measure different things. Reliable comparison requires the year, geographic coverage and definition of each series. USAID baseline: forest definitions and trends.

    Conservation policy likewise affects customary rights holders in different ways. A boundary on a map does not by itself establish who manages a protected area, whether customary harvesting or residence continues, who bears costs, or what benefits local people receive. The 2024 protected-areas framework should be evaluated with its implementing instruments and local agreements, including safeguards for customary interests, women’s participation and dispute resolution. Protected Areas Act 2024.

    Land information and indicators

    The distinction between mapped parcels, registered titles, legally recognized customary claims and perceived tenure security matters in Papua New Guinea. Administrative title counts do not include every customary relationship to land and should not be used alone to infer how secure customary owners feel. SDG indicator 1.4.2 has separate components on legally recognized documentation and perceived security; its methodology also calls for disaggregation by sex and tenure type. A current, nationally representative PNG estimate is not available here. FAO: SDG indicator 1.4.2; UN SDG country profile.

    Mining, hydrocarbons and public accountability

    Resource projects bring opportunities for employment, infrastructure and revenue but can also intensify disputes about the identity of landowners, representation and the distribution of benefits. The older profile describes a critical distinction between state claims to subsurface resources and the rights and interests of customary landholders at the surface, as well as the role of development forums, social mapping and landowner identification. These processes depend on current law and project-specific agreements. Research on the proposed Wafi-Golpu mine documents how competing groups use affidavits, court declarations and incorporation certificates to advance claims, demonstrating that documentation can become part of a dispute as well as a means of settling one. USAID baseline; Church, 2025.

    The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative’s October 2026 assessment scored Papua New Guinea 63.5 out of 100, classified as limited progress under the 2023 EITI Standard. The assessment covers November 2022 to April 2026 and evaluates financial data for 2024. It identified continuing weaknesses in contract transparency, data assurance and disclosure of subnational transfers. A national score is not proof that any particular payment was withheld or misused; project-level payment and recipient records are needed to determine what communities actually received. EITI 2026 validation report; EITI summary, October 2026.

    Mining and petroleum law

    Section 5 of the national Mining Act 1992 states that minerals on, in or below land are property of the state. This legal claim is distinct from customary ownership or use of the surface and from rights to compensation and project benefits. The Mineral Resources Authority describes the mining tenement system as the mechanism through which exploration and mining rights are administered. A tenement, the rights to enter or use particular land, an environmental permit and an agreement on compensation are separate legal instruments; each is governed by the instruments for the project concerned. Mining Act 1992, section 5; Mineral Resources Authority: mining framework.

    The Oil and Gas Act 1998 provides a separate system for petroleum licenses, development forums and benefit arrangements. In the departmental consolidated text prepared through November 2024, section 47 addresses social mapping and landowner identification, section 48 deals with development forums, and later provisions address benefits. The consolidated version has a defined cutoff; later amendments and project terms may alter the position. Oil and Gas Act 1998, departmental consolidated text; Asian Development Bank: Oil and Gas Act.

    These frameworks create recurring questions about the relationship between formal project boundaries and customary land, the identification of legitimate representatives, and the meaning of consultation. Royalties and equity benefits may be negotiated or administered through different channels from compensation for damage. Delays in identifying beneficiaries can postpone payments, while disputes over membership and boundaries may persist even after project development has begun. The PNG LNG experience described in the 2021 baseline illustrates the importance of checking both legal entitlement and actual distribution rather than assuming that announced benefit streams reached every affected person. USAID baseline: minerals and hydrocarbons; EITI validation, 2026.

    How project benefits reach communities

    The 2021 baseline describes development forums as a mechanism for negotiating benefit-sharing arrangements for major resource projects. Payments can take several forms: compensation for disturbance or damage, royalties, equity-related benefits, employment, business opportunities and transfers to subnational governments. They are not interchangeable. A project’s announced value to the country does not establish how much reaches an affected household, when it is paid, whether women participate in its allocation, or whether it offsets the loss of land, water and livelihood. USAID baseline: minerals and hydrocarbons; EITI validation, 2026.

    Identifying project-area landowners can itself generate disagreement. Boundaries drawn for licenses may not coincide with customary landscapes, and people outside a project boundary may experience downstream or other effects. Affected groups may also differ from the people recognized as eligible to receive a specific payment. Transparent social mapping, accessible appeals and disclosure of how payments are calculated are therefore as important as an agreement’s headline terms. Church, 2025; USAID baseline.

    Porgera and the consequences of overlapping pressures

    The Porgera gold mine reopened in December 2023 after a closure beginning in 2020, according to a 2024 humanitarian assessment. The assessment connects tensions in the wider valley to the mine, population movements, competition over economic opportunities and broader violence. It also documents how natural hazards can compound the effects of insecurity. The experience cannot be reduced to a single land dispute, and any current assessment must distinguish landowners, other residents, workers, informal miners, the state and the operator rather than treating them as uniform groups. ACAPS, October 2024.

    The Autonomous Bougainville Government lists the Bougainville Customary Land Act 2024, Government Land Act 2024, Land Registers Act 2024 and Planning and Development Act 2024. The certified Customary Land Act provides for mapping customary interests and the granting and registration of interests; section 2 ties its commencement to commencement of the Land Registers Act. Section 2 of the Land Registers Act in turn requires a Bougainville Gazette notice by the minister on advice of the Bougainville Executive Council. The commencement notice, implementing rules and relationship with national law remain unclear. Bougainville Land Registers Act 2024, section 2. Enactment should not be equated with full implementation. Bougainville Customary Land Act 2024, sections 2–3; Autonomous Bougainville Government: land department and legislation.

    The Bougainville Mining Act 2015 provides a distinct framework for minerals and customary land, including provisions on customary ownership, landowner rights and disputes. The earlier profile describes a role for landowner consent in decisions about mining development. The provisions, their amendments and the circumstances of each license should be reviewed directly; it would be inaccurate to apply the national Mining Act’s state-ownership rule automatically to Bougainville. Bougainville Mining Act 2015, sections 7–13; USAID baseline: Bougainville.

    Later amendments are significant for the status of individual tenements. Bougainville’s mining department lists a Bougainville Mining (Amendment) Act 2026. Bougainville Copper Limited reported in June 2026 that the regional registrar had advised it that the Bougainville Executive Council approved a 25-year large-scale mining lease over the area of its exploration license and that the company’s rights were suspended and subordinated while that lease remained in force. The company said it was considering its response. These are attributed statements about a specific case; the amended law, the lease, landowner participation and any subsequent decisions must be examined before drawing conclusions about rights or operations. Autonomous Bougainville Government: mining legislation; Bougainville Copper Limited, June 2026.

    In the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, mining governance and the political future of the region require separate treatment from the national framework. The Panguna mine’s history links environmental damage and unequal benefits to a long conflict, while proposals for its future remain contested. The region’s autonomous institutions and Bougainville’s mining legislation should therefore be examined in their own right rather than assumed to mirror national rules. USAID baseline; The Guardian, October 2026.

    Recent developments

    • 2022: The Land Commission Act created a framework for an independent land commission combining functions of earlier bodies. Land Commission Act 2022.
    • 2024: Papua New Guinea adopted a Protected Areas Act. Bougainville also enacted a set of land laws, with commencement dependent on the relevant legal notices. FAOLEX: Protected Areas Act; Autonomous Bougainville Government: land legislation.
    • 2025: A parliamentary committee began an inquiry into customary land and resource governance. Parliament also passed land-related amendments intended in part to support electronic administration; their commencement and full effects remain unclear. The government issued a carbon-market regulation. UNDP; The National; Carbon Markets Regulation.
    • 2026: Parliament endorsed the customary-land committee’s report, including a proposed bill. The available source confirms endorsement of the report, not that the proposed bill had become law. EITI’s October assessment found limited overall progress against its 2023 standard. United Nations, March 2026; EITI, October 2026.

    Key challenges and reform priorities

    Strengthen consent and representative decision-making

    Land-related decisions require an accurate understanding of the people and interests affected, including people who use or hold rights through more than one customary relationship. A sound process should provide accessible information before decisions are made, give women and men meaningful opportunities to participate, document disagreement as well as agreement, and allow independent review of contested representation. Safeguards must be evaluated in practice and against the law applicable to the particular transaction. Filer, 2026; Pascoe, 2025.

    Make land administration transparent and accountable

    Digitization can make it easier to search records, but a digital system is only as reliable as the records and procedures behind it. Priorities include opportunities to correct errors, accessible records, impartial resolution of competing claims, transparent decisions about leases and protection against fraud. A national register should not be taken as a substitute for the recognition of existing customary rights. Land Commission Act 2022; Prime Minister’s statement to Parliament.

    Protect livelihoods during investment and environmental change

    Communities need practical remedies when projects restrict cultivation, damage water or undermine access to forest resources. Contract and benefit disclosure should make it possible to compare the commitments made to affected communities with payments and services actually delivered. Conservation and carbon finance similarly need safeguards covering land rights, participation, benefits and grievance procedures. EITI validation, 2026; Carbon Markets Regulation 2025.

    Address urban insecurity and displacement

    Urban land policy must account for both customary rights holders and people living in informal settlements, including those who may have paid for occupancy without a registered title. Evictions require due process and attention to the consequences for housing, safety and livelihoods. Disaster response and relocation require secure access to land and agreement with receiving communities as well as immediate shelter. United Nations, 2025; IOM, 2025.

    Evidence gaps

    The status of the proposed 2026 customary-land bill; commencement of relevant amendments and Bougainville laws; the current extent and legal status of individual agricultural leases; implementation of carbon-market safeguards; and recent sex-disaggregated tenure data remain uncertain. An absence of an accessible notice is not proof that a law has not commenced.

    Sources and research record

    Sources

    Baseline sources

    Primary legal and government sources

    International organization sources

    Academic and research sources

    Civil society and expert sources

    Data and indicator sources

    Media or other contextual sources

    Update log

    • Retained and redrafted: historical land acquisition, customary tenure and group rights, freshwater, forestry agreements, extractive benefits, women’s rights and Bougainville’s distinct institutions.
    • Revised: land administration to reflect the Land Commission Act 2022; recent transparency analysis to reflect the October 2026 EITI assessment; and population and basic water-service figures to use dated sources.
    • Added: the 2025 parliamentary inquiry and 2026 report, the 2025 carbon regulation, 2024 Bougainville land legislation, displacement data and reports concerning urban evictions.
    • Removed or dated: donor-centered recommendations, historical program descriptions presented as current, old projections and estimates without contemporary support. The complete 2021 baseline remains available through the source link.

    Confidence assessment

    Confidence: medium. Core historical analysis and major developments are supported by identified sources, including legislation and institutional reporting. Information on commencement, project implementation and comparable national land data remains limited.

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    Historical 2021 USAID Profile (PDF)

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