The context of the project relates to National Environmental Law and the New Organic Law on Provincial and Local Level Government (1994) and the Total Environment Catchment Management (TECM) concept (1993). These two laws and the TECM empowers the Department for Environment and Conservation, the principal Government organization responsible to ensure environment protection and conservation of flora and fauna, local resource owners who own at least 97% of the land and NGOs that are instrumental in implementing environmental conservation programes to be involved in the planning conservation and sustainable development programmes.

The rationale of the project was to establish a Wildlife Management Area (WMA) which under the law recognises it as a legally protected area. The proposed WMA would be in the Managalas Plateau in the Oro Province.

The project area is home to the world's largest birdwing, the Queen Alexandra birdwing. The idea to
establish the WMA was initiated by the local people and the CBO, Partners with Melanesia to conserve the environment and protect the birdwing and other terrestrial biodiversity in the Managalas Plateau.

The objective of the project was to secure community-based tenurial rights and establish a national legal precedent that enhances local incentives that will promote biodiversity conservation, sustainable community - based national resource management and eco-enterprise development.

The activities included land boundary survey and gazetting of the WMA, legal drafting of development guidelines in English and Tok Pisin, stregthening of CBO and NGO capacity on legal strategies to promote biodiversity conservation etc. etc.

The CBO divided the landowners into ten zones and these ten zones according to their clans. Some members of the clans were undecisive about the project and therefore delayed the MOU signings.

The project funding period was completed without the completion of activities to acquire land tenurial.