Imbalance of information power between the state and the resource owners in the development of natural resources

Abstract

There is a famous saying that “knowledge is power”. This saying is very true today as we are all famaliar with the power of knowledge. Without knowledge a person stands to lose at the hands of his opponent. And knowledge comes through accessing information that is available to the user. In Papua New Guinea (PNG) the power of knowledge is easily identifiable as we see the exercise of this power almost everyday in the markets, shops, meeting places, villages and towns. This is imperative as PNG has one of the lowest literacy rates in the South Pacific.1 In PNG, those with access to information that is not readily available to the majority of the people, have been able to utilise their knowledge to their own adavantage.2 This situation is very common in the natural resources sector. This is very apparent in the forestry and to some extent in the mineral resources sector.3