Identifying and addressing ‘wicked’ social problems in community forestry in Papua New Guinea

Abstract

We explore the link between the social and biophysical aspects of a community forestry project in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Despite widespread acknowledgement in the literature of the importance of social aspects, less attention has been paid to how severely they can affect project outcomes. We use the heuristic of ‘tame’, ‘complex’ and ‘wicked’ problems', adapted from the urban policy and planning literature, to illustrate the compromises and trade-offs in project objectives which may be required to accommodate the social context of traditional governance and land tenure. In a case study of three communities, we show how the criteria by which problems can be judged to be wicked or incapable of an objective solution, provide a framework for devising solutions to the problems which inevitably arise during project planning and implementation. In our cases, clan power structures and traditional customs reduced our ability to either progress extension activities, restricted our access a wide community clientele or diverted project activities away from agroforestry towards cash crops. Our solutions ranged from a reluctant withdrawal of support to compromises which required trade-offs in project objectives. As a qualitative and subjective approach to addressing social aspects of community forestry or forest landscape management, we suggest that the concept of wicked problems provides a valuable qualitative framework which complements objective or biophysical aspects of project planning and implementation.