SHP, one of Papua New Guinea’s largest provinces, and its most populous, comprises eight districts — Koroba-Lake Kopiago, Tari-Pori, Komo-Magarima, Nipa-Kutubu, Mendi, Imbonggu, Ialibu-Pangia and Kagua-Erave — occupying 25,700 km². It is presently home to an estimated 500,000 people.^[3] Much of the province is poorly suited to agriculture and more than half the province presently remains unoccupied for this reason (Hanson et al 2001 and see Allen, this volume). The Southern Highlands accounts for 11 per cent of Papua New Guinea’s rural population (ibid:91) and 10.6 per cent of Papua New Guinea’s total population (National Census 2000).

For the most part, the peoples of SHP are concentrated in the central and eastern parts of the province. They tend to live in dispersed households rather than in nucleated settlements or villages, and this makes service delivery somewhat more difficult than in other areas. The Tari Basin and Nembi Plateau are the most densely populated parts of the province (190 persons/km²), closely followed by the Upper Mendi and Lai Valleys (120 persons/km²) (Hanson et al 2001:91; Bourke et al 1995:27). High density populations (61-100 persons/km²) are also found around Ialibu, between Mendi and Kagua, between Nipa and Magarima, in the Wage Valley, on the Paijaka Plateau and in the Koroba, Komo and Benaria areas. By contrast, the Erave, Bosavi, Kutubu and Lake Kopiago areas, located to the south and northwest of the province, are only moderately populated, while the Lebani Valley, Yeru/Bogaia and Hewa areas are only very sparsely populated (less than 5 persons/km²). The highest populations are found where land potential is the greatest, so there is limited potential for further agricultural growth within the province.