A new ‘New Guinea syndrome’ and the utility of geography: a review

Human geographers working in Papua New Guinea and elsewhere in Melanesia are tending to work in multidisciplinary teams. This reflects the utility of geography where the specialist‐synthesis and a fieldwork approach is wanted and needed by consultants, lending and aid agencies, and government departments. Work on the Less Developed Areas program and integrated rural development planning in Papua New Guinea are used as examples of the sort of work geographers are doing.