Unequal Lives in the Western Pacific

Abstract

as Papua New Guinea (PNG) prepared to host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Port Moresby, journalists reported on stark disparities that were drawing the ire of the nation. News headlines announced that the national government had just splurged on 40 Maseratis for APEC leaders (Beldi, 2018). Photos showed cargo planes unloading carefully sheathed luxury cars, each one valued at more than 100 times PNG's per capita gross domestic product (GDP). Government officials claimed these were needed to transport visiting dignitaries in 'comfort and safety' (if not style). In a nation where most roads are in disrepair and four-wheel-drives are a transport necessity, rather than a luxury, many people were outraged by the purchase. Meanwhile, in Enga Province, hundreds of kilometres from the APEC hype, a young child died of polio, more than 20 years after the last polio death and 18 years after the country was declared free of polio. His death was not an isolated case; approximately 140 other Papuan New Guineans were reportedly suffering from severe polio symptoms (Murray-Atfield, 2018). The outbreak of this once-vanquished disease, contrasted with such ostentatious displays of wealth in the nation's capital, was a vivid manifestation of a failing health system, entrenched inequalities and perverse political priorities.

Paying attention to pigs: negotiating equity and equality in global environmental governance in Suau, Papua New Guinea

“…Relationships, of course, may be far from equal, and gender relations in much of PNG are deeply fraught, as Macintyre has long sought to demonstrate (see discussions in Bainton, McDougall, Alexeyeff & Cox 2021). To argue that there are no structural inequalities in Suau that might warrant redress is to fall into the same stereotypical tendencies of those we have been critiquing.…”

Uneven development and its effects: Livelihoods and urban and rural spaces in Papua New Guinea

“…Perhaps the most egregious example of national inequality was the building boom and purchase of luxury vehicles for dignitaries attending the 2018 APEC meeting. While the government made preparations for hosting international guests, building new infrastructure and conference facilities in Port Moresby, polio re-emerged after decades of suppression: a sign of a severely under-resourced health system under enormous pressure (Bainton and McDougall, 2021). Inequality in PNG has become far more acute than would be expected given the egalitarian aspirations outlined in the preamble to the nation's constitution.…”

The energy‐extractives nexus and the just transition

“…The rising popularity of the idea signals a growing awareness about deepening inequalities between the rich and poor of the world (Alston, 2020; Bainton & McDougall, 2021), and how the climate and environmental crises, and efforts to address them, are accentuating these inequalities (Jasanoff, 2018; Stevis et al, 2019, p. 4; Svobodova et al, 2020). Over the past decade, the concept of a just transition has been mainstreamed within the United Nations and throughout a range of other international, multi‐national, national and sub‐national policy frameworks.…”