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Countries Appendix PAPUA NEW GUINEA (81.6%) The island of New Guinea, the second largest in the world, has one of the last great expanses of tropical rainforest. Although much of this area is still untouched and in some remote regions natives may have never seen a white-skinned person, the rainforest is rapidly being developed. Today the island is divided into two parts: the independent country of Papua New Guinea (eastern half), and the Indonesian province of Irian Jaya (western half). This summary regards the eastern half, Papua New Guinea. Each year 20,000-30,000 ha are cleared totally and permanently: 50% for agriculture, 25-30% for industrial logging, and the rest for infrastructure. However, up to 100,000 additional ha are affected by selective logging. The rainforests of New Guinea are most threatened by Asian, predominantly Malaysian, timber companies that reap the forest of all trees with lumber value and leave the rest of the vegetation of ruins. These companies pay landowners very little (about $4 per cubic meter) for logs, but charge top dollar (up to $160 per cubic meter) to their customers like Japan, which imported over 6,435,000 cubic meters of tropical hardwood from Papua New Guinea from 1992-1995. In 1995, the government promised to raise the price of wood to about $18 per cubic meter in order to increase revenue, decrease deforestation, and help the landowners whose land was being exploited. Nothing came of this promise until 1996 when the government decreed that the price per cubic meter would be raised to about $8. The timber companies were outraged and not only refused to pay the new tax, but also threatened to quit Papua New Guinea altogether (which would have been great for the island's rainforests). However, the government, in close coalition with the loggers, has neither plans nor the means to enforce the tax and the price per cubic meter will remain the same and deforestation will continue. In 1997, 2.5 million acres (1 million ha) of lowland forest were approved for industrial logging under questionable circumstances. As Papua New Guinea loses its logs, it also loses its diversity of plants and animals and indigenous people. The tribesmen are forced to choose between their native way of life or selling their lands to the loggers. Often these peoples do not understand that the agreement they sign will take away their livelihood and spell an end for their culture. They often believe that loggers merely wish to "use" their lands, not convert the forest into savanna or desert. A second major cause behind rainforest destruction in Papua New Guinea is the mining industry. The celebrated 1997 PNG political fallout after the arrival of foreign mercenaries hired to end the decade long crisis on Bougenville Island, brought some of the issues of commercial logging in PNG to the front page. PNG's rich mineral endowment, coupled with petroleum, accounts for 25% of GDP and 72% of export revenue. Recently the Ok Tedi Gold and Copper Mine made news when the primary developer, Broken Hill Proprietary of Australia, disclosed that mine wastes had polluted more than 1000 km of the Ok Tedi and Fly Rivers and had damaged agricultural land bordering the rivers. The mine accounts for 10% of the country's GDP. Overall, PNG's rich mineral endowment, coupled with petroleum, accounts for 25% of GDP and 72% of export revenue. The highland rainforest and tribal people of Papua New Guinea have been hard hit be 1997's El Niño, which has caused the longest drought in more than a century. Drought has caused crops failures and people are deserting villages to forage in the forest for berries and game. Forest fires, started by local people burning fields and forest for cropland, are burning out of control in the dried-out forest. Thousands of people died from famine. The Southeast Asian financial crisis brought some good news - from an ecological standpoint - to the forests of Papua New Guinea. The Asian currency crisis made imported equipment prices higher, while demand for tropical timber decreased in other Asian countries. More than 75% of timber projects had scaled back in a January 1998 survey and there have been heavy layoffs. The temporary reprieve gives forestry planners more time to consider their choices, difficult as they may be. In December 1999, the government imposed a moratorium on all new forest concessions and plantations and announced plans to review all existing logging licenses. Citing unsustainable logging by transnationals, the government said it would work towards ecologically sound forest management. The government also restored the logging export tax to increase revenue and slow logging. . . . . . For current information I highly recommend trying the CIA and FAO links below. CIA-World Factbook Profile FAO-Forestry Profile |
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