Biodiplomacy of the sago palm in Papua New Guinea – a systems thinking approach
Terence Miro Laufa and David Kavanamur
Abstract
Sago palm’s versatility to grow in hostile conditions and its ability to act as a natural carbon dioxide sink, in the light of environmental damage control, as stressed by Stanton (1993) and recent studies bordering on the morphological variability and genetic diversity of sago palm in Indonesia (e.g. Ehara et al., 2000), in the Pacific Island Countries of Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands (cf. Dowe 2001, 2002; Ehara et al., 2003), have all suggested a fresh multidisciplinary approach to promote sago as a multipurpose food crop and an indispensable industrial material for the 21st century. Adaptive research programmes into soil management, sago estate development and creating effective market distribution of sago-based products, of which networking between multidisciplinary academic communities and sago user groups are quite necessary.
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