DO THEY KNOW THEY ARE ECOLOGICALLY RATIONAL - ECOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN PAPUA-NEW-GUINEA

Studies of ecological anthropology in Papua New Guinea have been quite successful in showing that the peoples under study have developed various adaptive mechanisms in relation to their environmental settings. Their basic assumption, that it does not matter at all whether the peoples are aware of their adaptive mechanisms or not, however, poses a problem concerning development. As my data obtained from the Fasu of the Southern Highlands show, Papua New Guineans are aware of their adaptation in relation to environmental settings. It is the people concerned, not those who are responsible for the introduction of a development project, who should assess whether the project is sustainable or not; their assessments in their own terms are ecologically rational.