Responses to a drought in the interior lowlands of Papua New Guinea: A comparison of Bedamuni and Kubo-Konai

The ways that people experience, respond to and pattern recovery from major climatic aberrations must be understood within the context of existing soc ioeconomic arrangements and the ethos that informs these. This paper descri bes immediate and longer term impacts of a major drought on two populations -Bedamuni and Kubo-Konai-in the interior lowlands of Papua New Guinea. Thou gh they occupy similar environments, are culturally related and reliant on similar technology and resources, these two populations differ in density, intensity of land use, and social complexity. The drought of 1997 affected one of the populations much more severely, than the other. A comparison of effects on subsistence regimes, mobility and social life in the two areas s uggests that these were mediated by understandings people held of relations hips with both the environment and other people. Bedamuni pattern their liv es around an expectation of favorable returns on effort, emphasising securi ty of tenure to protect those returns. Kubo-Konai, in contrast, pattern the ir lives around an expectation that availability of resources will be often in flux, and emphasise means of ensuring security of supply. These underst andings are reflected, respectively, in risk-prone and risk-averse strategi es of subsistence and sociality which directly influence vulnerability and responses to disruptive events.