Associate Professor Colin Filer
BA, PhD (Cantab)
Crawford School of Public Policy
ANU College of Asia and the Pacific
Areas of expertise
- Natural Resource Management 050209
- Anthropology Of Development 160101
Research interests
The social context, organisation and impact of policies, programs and projects in the mining, petroleum, forestry and conservation sectors, with particular reference to Papua New Guinea and other parts of Melanesia.
Biography
Colin has a PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of Cambridge. Between 1975 and 1994 he taught anthropology and sociology at the Universities of Glasgow (1975-82) and Papua New Guinea (1983-94). From 1991 to 1994 he also managed the UPNG business arm, Unisearch PNG. From 1995 to 2000, he was head of the Social and Environmental Studies Division at the PNG National Research Institute. From 2001 to 2012 he was Convenor of the Resource Management in Asia-Pacific Program in the College of Asia and the Pacific. He is now a member of the Resources, Envirinment and Development group in the Crawford School.
Career highlights
- Member of WWF Australia’s Scientific Advisory Committee (2002–07)
- Member of Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Sub-Global Working Group (2002–04)
- Member of Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development Project Assurance Group (2001–02)
- Member of PNG National Economic and Fiscal Commission (1998–99)
- Member of PNG National Forestry and Conservation Action Program Steering Committee (1990–92)
Publications
- Filer, C & Gabriel, J 2018, 'How could Nautilus Minerals get a social licence to operate the world's first deep sea mine?', Marine Policy, vol. 95, pp. 394-400.
- Filer, C & Numapo, J 2017, 'The Political Ramifications of Papua New Guinea's Commission of Inquiry', in Siobhan McDonnell, Matthew G. Allen, Colin Filer (ed.), Kastom, Property and Ideology: Land Transformations in Melanesia, ANU Press, Canberra, pp. 251-282.
- Filer, C 2017, 'The Formation of a Land Grab Policy Network in Papua New Guinea', in Siobhan McDonnell, Matthew G. Allen, Colin Filer (ed.), Kastom, Property and Ideology: Land Transformations in Melanesia, ANU Press, Canberra, pp. 169-204.
- Filer, C, McDonnell, S & Allen, M 2017, 'Powers of Exclusion in Melanesia', in Siobhan McDonnell, Matthew G. Allen, Colin Filer (ed.), Kastom, Property and Ideology: Land Transformations in Melanesia, ANU Press, Canberra, pp. 1-56.
- Gabriel, J, Filer, C, Wood, M & Foale, S 2017, 'Tourist Initiatives and Extreme Wilderness in the Nakanai Mountains of New Britain', Shima, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 122-143.
- Gabriel, J, Nelson, P, Filer, C & Wood, M 2017, 'Oil Palm Development and Large-Scale Land Acquisitions in Papua New Guinea', in Siobhan McDonnell, Matthew G. Allen, Colin Filer (ed.), Kastom, Property and Ideology: Land Transformations in Melanesia, ANU Press, Canberra, pp. 205-250.
- McDonnell, S, Allen, M & Filer, C (ed.) 2017, Kastom, Property and Ideology: Land Transformations in Melanesia, ANU Press, Canberra.
- Filer, C, Andrew, M, Imbun, B et al 2016, 'Papua New Guinea: Jobs, Poverty, and Resources', in Gordon Betcherman and Martin Rama (ed.), Jobs for Development: Challenges and Solutions in Different Country Settings, Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 102-138.
- Filer, C 2015, 'How April Salumei Became the REDD Queen', in Joshua A Bell, Paige West & Colin Filer (ed.), Tropical Forests of Oceania: Anthropological Perspectives, ANU Press, Canberra, pp. 179-210.
- Bell, J, West, P & Filer, C 2015, 'Introduction', in Joshua A Bell, Paige West & Colin Filer (ed.), Tropical Forests of Oceania: Anthropological Perspectives, ANU Press, Canberra, pp. 1-21.
- Bell, J, West, P & Filer, C (ed.), 2015, Tropical Forests of Oceania: Anthropological Perspectives, ANU Press, Canberra.
- Filer, C 2014, 'The Double Movement of Immovable Property Rights in Papua New Guinea', Journal of Pacific History, vol. 49, no. 1, pp. 76-94.
- Allen, B. and Filer, C 2015. 'Is the "Bogeyman" Real? Shifting Cultivation and the Forests, Papua New Guinea', in Malcolm Cairns (ed.), Shifting Cultivation and Environmental Change: Indigenous People, Agriculture and Forest Conservation, London, Routledge, pp. 517-545.
- Filer, C 2014, 'Asian Investment in Papua New Guinea's Agroforestry Sector: Some Facts and Figures', in Paul Darcy, Linda Crowl, Patrick Matbob (ed.), Pacific-Asia Partnerships in Resource Development, DWU Press, Papua New Guinea, pp. 42-51.
- Sillitoe, P & Filer, C 2014, 'What Local People Want with Forests: Ideologies and Attitudes in Papua New Guinea', in Emma Gilberthorpe and Gavin Hilson (ed.), Natural Resource Extraction and Indigenous Livelihoods Development Challenges in an Era of Globalization, Ashgate Publishing Ltd, United Kingdom, pp. 201-220.
- Filer, C 2013, 'Logging', in Moshe Rapaport (ed.), The Pacific Islands: Environment and Society, Revised Edition, University of Hawaii Press, Hawaii, pp. 355-364.
- Filer, C 2013, 'Asian Investment in the Rural Industries of Papua New Guinea: What's New and What's Not?', Pacific Affairs, vol. 86, no. 2, pp. 305-326.
- Mahanty, S, Dressler, W, Milne, S, Filer, C, 2013, 'Unravelling property relations around forest carbon', Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 188-205.
- Nelson, P, Gabriel, J, Filer, C et al 2014, 'Oil palm and deforestation in Papua New Guinea', Conservation Letters, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 188-205.
- Carr, P & Filer, C 2011, 'Plans to Close the Ok Tedi Mine in Papua New Guinea', Exploitation et Gouvernance Miniere dans le Pacifique, Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement, Noumea, pp. 1-15.
- Filer, C & Wood, M 2012, 'The Creation and Dissolution of Private Property in Forest Carbon: A Case Study from Papua New Guinea', Human Ecology, vol. 40, no. 5, pp. 665-677.
- Filer, C 2011, 'How Can the Mining Industry Contribute to Sustainable Development in the Pacific?', Exploitation et Gouvernance Miniere dans le Pacifique, Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement, Noumea, pp. 1-10.
- Filer, C 2012, 'The Commission of Inquiry into Special Agricultural and Business Leases in Papua New Guinea: Fresh Details for the Portrait of a Process of Expropriation', Global Land Grabbing, Land Deals Politics Initiative, New York, United States, p. 19.
- Filer, C 2012, 'The Development Forum in Papua New Guinea: Evaluating Outcomes for Local Communities', in M. Langton and J. Longbottom (eds), Community Futures, Legal Architecture: Foundations for Indigenous Peoples in the Global Mining Boom, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, Abingdon, pp. 147-162.
- Filer, C 2012, 'Why Green Grabs Don't Work in Papua New Guinea', Journal of Peasant Studies, vol. 39, no. 2, pp. 599-617.
- Mahanty, S, Milne, S, Dressler, W, Filer, C, 2012. 'The Social Life of Forest Carbon: Property and Politics in the Production of a New Commodity', Human Ecology, vol. 40, 661-664.
- Filer, C & Lowe, M 2011, 'One Hundred Years of Land Reform on the Gazelle Peninsula: A Baining Point of View.', in V. Strang and M. Busse (ed.), Ownership and Appropriation, Berg Publishers, Oxford, pp. 149-170.
- Filer, C 2011, 'Interdisciplinary perspectives on historical ecology and environmental policy in Papua New Guinea', Environmental Conservation, vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 256-269.
- Filer, C 2011, 'New Land Grab in Papua New Guinea', Pacific Studies, vol. 34, no. 2/3, pp. 269-294.
- Tomich, T, Argumedo, A, Baste, I et al 2010, 'Conceptual Frameworks for Ecosystem Assessment: Their Development, Ownership, and Use', in N.Ash, H.Blanco, C.Brown, K.Garcia, T.Henrichs, N.Lucas, C.Raudsepp-Hearne (ed.), Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: A Manual for Assessment Practitioners, Island Press, Washington (DC), pp. 71-113.
- Filer, C 2010, 'Impacts of Rural Industry on the Native Forests of Papua New Guinea', Pacific Economic Bulletin, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 135-153.
- Filer, C, ed., 1997, The political economy of forest management in Papua New Guinea, National Research Institute PNG, Boroko, PNG.
- Filer, C & Imbun, B 2009, 'A Short History of Mineral Development Policies in Papua New Guinea, 1972-2002', in R J May (ed.), Policy Making and Implementation: Studies from Papua New Guinea, ANU ePress, Canberra Australia, pp. 75-116.
- Filer, C 2009, 'A Bridge Too Far: The Knowledge Problem in the Millennium Assessment', in James G. Carrier and Paige West (ed.), Virtualism, Governance and Practice: Vision and Execution in Environmental Conservation, Berghahn Books, New York USA, pp. 84-111.
- Filer, C, Keenan, R, Allen, B et al 2009, 'Deforestation and forest degradation in Papua New Guinea', Annals of Forest Science, vol. 66, p. 813.
- Filer, C 2008, 'Development Forum in Papua New Guinea: Upsides and Downsides', Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 120-150.
- West, P, Campbell, L, Gray, N et al 2008, 'Tourism as Science and Science as Tourism: Environment, Society, Self, and Other in Papua New Guinea', Current Anthropology, vol. 49, no. 4, pp. 612-613.
- Filer, C, Burton, J & Banks, G 2008, 'The Fragmentation of Responsibilities in the Melanesian Mining Sector', in C. O'Faircheallaigh and S. Ali (ed.), Earth Matters: Indigenous Peoples, the Extractive Industries and Corporate Social Responsibility, Greenleaf Publishing Ltd, Sheffield, pp. 163-179.
- Filer, C 2007, 'Local Custom and the Art of Land Group Boundary Maintenance in Papua New Guinea', in J.F. Weiner and K. Glaskin (ed.), Customary Land Tenure and Registration in Australia and Papua New Guinea: Anthropological Perspectives, ANU ePress, Canberra Australia, pp. 135-173.
- Filer, C 2006, 'Custom, Law and Ideology in Papua New Guinea', The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 65-84.
- Filer, C & Macintyre, M 2006, 'Grass roots and deep holes: Community responses to mining in Melanesia', The Contemporary Pacific, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 215-231.
- Lebel, L, Thongbai, P, Kok, K et al 2005, 'Sub-global Scenarios', in Doris Capistrano (ed.), Ecosystems and human well-being: multiscale assessments; findings of the Sub-global Assessments Working Group of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, Island Press, Washington DC, pp. 229-259.
- Filer, C 2005, 'The role of land-owning communities in Papua New Guinea's mineral policy framework', in E. Bastida, T. Walde, J. Warden-Fernandez (ed.), International and Comparative Mineral Law and Policy: Trends and Prospects, Kluwer Academic Publishers, The Netherlands, pp. 903-933.
- Gitay, H, Raudsepp-Hearne, C, Blanco, H et al 2005, 'Assessment Process', in Doris Capistrano (ed.), Ecosystems and human well-being: multiscale assessments; findings of the Sub-global Assessments Working Group of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, Island Press, Washington DC, pp. 119-140.
- Filer, C 2005, 'Bridges and Escalators: Metaphorical Engagements with Non-Scientific Knowledge in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment', Sustainable Environments, Sustainable Communities Symposium 2004, ed. Monica Minnegal, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia, pp. 79-88.
- Filer, C 2004, 'The knowledge of indigenous desire: Disintegrating conservation and development in Papua New Guinea', in A. Bicker, P. Sillitoe, J. Pottier (ed.), Development and Local Knowledge: New approaches to issues in natural resources management, conservation and agriculture, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, London, USA, Canada, pp. 64-93.
- Filer, C 2004, 'A serious case of conditionality: The World Bank gets stuck in the forests of PNG', Development Bulletin (Canberra), vol. 65, pp. 95-100.
- Filer, C & Kalim, K 2003, 'The Water Resource Management Regime in Papua New Guinea', Development Bulletin (Canberra), vol. 63, pp. 79-83.
- Filer, C 2002, 'Should mining companies break new ground in Papua New Guinea?', Development Bulletin (Canberra), vol. 58, pp. 115-118.
- Filer, C 2001, 'Between a rock and a hard place: mining projects, indigenous communities, and Melanesian states', in B.Y. Imbun, P.A. McGavin (ed.), Mining in Papua New Guinea: analysis and policy implications, University of Papua New Guinea Press, Waigani, Papua New Guinea, pp. 7-23.
