Research Fellow
Social anthropology, Melanesia, land and other natural resource use, management and tenure systems, community and rural development, institutions and institutional change, policy development, socio-economic persistence and change, climate change and associated issues.
Phone: +61 2 6125 8149
Fax: + 61 (0)2 6125 0746
E-mail: hartmut.holzknecht@anu.edu.au / hartmut68@hotmail.com

Hartmut Holzknecht is a social anthropologist with major interests in natural and human resource management issues, in resource use and tenure systems and property relations, in socio-cultural, socio-economic and socio-political persistence and change, in community and rural development issues and in the nexus between human societies and natural resource management. The new arena of climate change and its implications for customary resource owners (in particular in Melanesia) has more recently become a new area of focus, particularly the implications for both human societies and the environments within which they live, and the resilience of both sectors in adapting to changes. The main area of research-and-development activity is the Melanesian region of the southwest Pacific.

Professional Activities

Working with Professor Peter Kanowski as team leader and on a half-time basis, Dr Holzknecht coordinates and manages a four-year project, funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, entitled 'Value-adding to Papua New Guinea Agroforestry Systems [Integrating Commercial Tree Species into Papua New Guinea Farming Systems]'. This involves regular periods of fieldwork in Papua New Guinea [PNG]; project work is being carried out in conjunction with a number of PNG partner organizations and individuals as well as with a small group of Australian-based collaborating scientists. This is in addition to Dr Holzknecht's own R&D contributions to the project.

Dr Holzknecht also supervises graduate students in the Fenner School, at Independent Research Project, Masters Research Essay and at PhD levels.

In a private capacity Dr Holzknecht is also regularly involved as a consultant in a range of projects and 'research and development' activities in the Southwest Pacific region, but especially in Papua New Guinea.

Selected Publications

Bulai, S., Groves, K., Holzknecht, H., James, R. and Race, D in press A Review of the Use of Portable Sawmills in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands: 'Identifying the factors for success'. Final Report of ACIAR Project FST/2003/049.

Holzknecht, H. 2005 Models for successful rural development. Development Bulletin. No. 67: 30-32 [Effective Development in Papua New Guinea: Local Initiatives and Community Innovation]

Holzknecht, H. Presentation 'Oceania: islands of contrasts'. IUFRO-WFSE Policy Workshop, January 12-16, Victoria, B.C., Canada [preparing policy brief to accompany WFSE volume for the IUFRO World Congress, Brisbane, August 2005].

Kanowski, P., H. Holzknecht and C. Perley (leading convenors) 2005 'Oceania: islands of contrasts', Chapter 18 in G. Mery et al. (eds.), World Forests, Society and Environment Project. Helsinki: International Union of Forest Research Organizations.

Kanowski, Peter, Hartmut Holzknecht and Andrew McGregor in press Value-Adding to Papua New Guinea Agroforestry Systems through the Incorporation of High-Value Trees Species. ACIAR Project FST/2005/050 Scoping Study Report.

Mandan, T. and H. Holzknecht 2005 'Nanak mutuk': Development through self-reliance in the Burum Valley. Development Bulletin. No. 67: 33-36 [Effective Development in Papua New Guinea: Local Initiatives and Community Innovation].