ABSTRACT
This chapter reflects an attempt to determine the extent of local and regional variation in attitudes to forest management amongst PNG's indigenous people living in rural areas. The forest policy reform that followed the findings of a Commission of Inquiry into Aspects of the Forestry Industry informed the assessment of local and regional variations in community attitudes to forest management. First, it reviews the national policy context that informed the survey of local attitudes. Second, the chapter discusses the deployment of knowledge, attitudes and ideologies in assessing what local people want with forests. Third, it investigates some of the methodological issues that beset the design of the survey of local attitudes. Fourth, the chapter assesses the results derived from the survey. Finally, it reflects on the implications for understanding the relationship between methodology, ideology and public policy in the ongoing struggle over the state and fate of the national forest estate.
