In 1984 the OK Tedi Mining Company Limited began mining copper and gold mineralization from Mt. Fubilan, which is located at the headwaters of the OK Tedi. Subsequent mining in the region followed in 1990. Since this time there has been intense monitoring of the environment undertaken by those in the field in order to better understand the possible impact of mining. This book assembles and summarizes research spanning two decades undertaken by leading experts with firsthand experience. Much of this research is contained in internal company reports, giving the reader rare insight and firsthand knowledge. - Documents physical and biologic change in a large tropical river system brought about largely by mining in an otherwise pristine environment - This book brings together a broad rand of disciplines to provide a comprehensive overview of change in a complex and dynamical tropical river system based largely on previously unpublished company reports - The book provides examples of state-of-the-art strategies and methodologies for monitoring environmental impact in a large river system

Combining a wealth of information, a descriptive and story-filled narrative, and more than 200 stunning color photographs, the book unlocks New Guinea's remarkable secrets like never before

The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide is part of the multi-volume reference work on the languages and linguistics of all major regions of the world. The island of New Guinea and its offshore islands is arguably the most diverse and least documented linguistic hotspot in the world - home to over 1300 languages, almost one fifth of all living languages, in more than 40 separate families, along with numerous isolates. Traditionally one of the least understood linguistic regions, ongoing research allows for the first time a comprehensive guide. Given the vastness of the region and limited previous overviews, this volume focuses on an account of the families and major languages of each area within the region, including brief grammatical descriptions of many of the languages. The volume also includes a typological overview of Papuan languages, and a chapter on Austronesian-Papuan contact. It will make accessible current knowledge on this complex region, and will be the standard reference on the region. It is aimed at typologists, endangered language specialists, graduate and advanced undergraduate students, and all those interested in linguistic diversity and understanding this least known linguistic region.

Archaeological Science meetings will have a personality of their own depending on the focus of the host archaeological fraternity itself. The 8th Australasian Archaeometry meeting follows this pattern but underlying the regional emphasis is the continuing concern for the processes of change in the landscape that simultaneously effect and illuminate the archaeological record. These are universal themes for any archaeological research with the increasing employment of science-based studies proving to be a key to understanding the place of humans as subjects and agents of change over time. This collection of refereed papers covers the thematic fields of geoarchaeology, archaeobotany, materials analysis and chronometry, with particular emphasis on the first two. The editors Andrew Fairbairn, Sue O'Connor and Ben Marwick outline the special value of these contributions in the introduction. The international nature of archaeological science will mean that the advances set out in these papers will find a receptive audience among many archaeologists elsewhere. There is no doubt that the story that Australasian archaeology has to tell has been copiously enriched by incorporating a widening net of advanced science-based studies. This has brought attention to the nature of the environment as a human artefact, a fact now more widely appreciated, and archaeology deals with these artefacts, among others, in this way in this publication.

This book brings together new studies on regional disparities in the provision and maintenance of health in Asia. Specifically, the individual chapters shed light on the various health challenges that Asian regions face with regard to environmental health, communicable and non-communicable diseases, reproductive health, and the development of health systems. The book departs from the existing literature on this subject in three ways. First, it explicitly recognizes that health is essential to the daily lives of human beings. Second, it underscores the fact that good health improves learning, employee productivity, and incomes. Third, the book demonstrates the ways in which an understanding of the preceding two points contributes to our grasp of economic growth and development. Because Asia is now the fastest-growing and most dynamic continent in the world, the respective chapters provide practical guidance concerning two key questions: First, how do we effectively address the health challenges in individual regions of Asia? Second, how do we ensure that the proposed health interventions lead to sustainable economic growth and development? To this end, the book emphasizes modeling and illustrates the role that sound empirical modeling can play in developing measures that sustainably address the health challenges confronting disparate Asian regions. All chapters were written by international experts who are active researchers in their respective fields. Hence, this book is highly recommended to all readers seeking an in-depth and up-to-date perspective on some of the most important issues at the interface of human health and regional growth and development in Asia.

New Guinea, the world's largest tropical island, is a land of great contrasts, ranging from small glaciers on its highest peaks to broad mangrove swamps in its lowlands and hundreds of smaller islands and coral atolls along its coasts. Divided between two nations, the island and its neighboring archipelagos form Indonesia’s Papua Province (or Irian Jaya) and the independent nation of Papua New Guinea, both former European colonies. Most books on New Guinea have been guided by these and other divisions, separating east from west, prehistoric from historic, precontact from postcontact, colonial from postcolonial. This is the first work to consider New Guinea and its 40,000-year history in its entirety. The volume opens with a look at the Melanesian region and argues that interlocking exchange systems and associated human interchanges are the "invisible government" through which New Guinea societies operate. Succeeding chapters review the history of encounters between outsiders and New Guinea's populations. They consider the history of Malay involvement with New Guinea over the past two thousand years, demonstrating the extent to which west New Guinea in particular was incorporated into Malay trading and raiding networks prior to Western contact. The impact of colonial rule, economic and social change, World War II, decolonization, and independence are discussed in the final chapter.