Papua New Guinea (PNG) possesses one of the planet's largest
remaining tropical rainforest. At least seventy-five percent of its original
forest cover is still standing, occupying vast, biologically rich tracts over
100,000 square miles in all. Its forests provide the habitat for about 200
species of mammals, 20,000 species of plants, 1,500 species of trees and 750
species of birds, half of which are endemic to the island. It has been estimated
that between 5 and 7% of the known species in the world live in PNG. Rare plants
and animals like the largest orchid, the largest butterfly, the longest lizard,
the largest pigeon and the smallest parrot ever registered live in these
forests.
The forests also constitute the home of the indigenous peoples,
the Maisin. For the Maisin, forests provide everything from food and medicinal
plants, to materials for houses, canoes and tools. Under the Papua New Guinea
constitution, the Maisin are the legal owners of their traditional lands. But
these forests and forest peoples are under threat due to large-scale logging
activities and oil palm plantations. Almost the entire production of timber is
export-oriented, with unprocessed logs exported to China for processing.
Resource Exploited
Management issues involved
Groups For
Groups Against
Timber extraction e.g. Kiunga-Aiambak road
project located in previously intact rainforests in Papua New Guinea’s
remote Western Province.
Diseases spread amongst indigenous Maisin population through
contact with the timber cutters
Increase in viral diseases and malaria,
because of the ecological changes deforestation causes
Loss of game animals
Loss of clean water supply through sedimentation
PNG Government: who sold logging rights and
helped finance the project
Transnationals and their shareholders: Malaysian company bought
logging rights
Consumers in MEDCs who want cheap plywood and furniture
Landowners: not consulted and paid
very little in compensation for the loss of their cocoa smallholdings.
Environmental groups: e.g. Greenpeace
Australian Government: Australia lies too close to Papua New Guinea to
be isolated from its social problems
Indigenous population who object to the logging companies illegally
taking over their land and the cultural, social and financial problems
that followed
The
independent PNG Forestry Review Team (appointed by the World Bank) released a
damning audit of the project in October 2000. The results confirmed:
• The holder of the Timber Authority
claims to be a landowner company but is actually 50% foreign owned
• There is insufficient landowner
consultation on the project
• The logging contractor Concord
Pacific Ltd continues to pay less royalty than the legally mandated rate
• Landowners have been harassed and
threatened with firearms by loggers and by police
Ease of access resulting from the
incursion of a logging road has resulted in the complete loss of forest cover
and subsequent soil erosion
The effects of forest clearance on water quality
April
2003 Update
Dire predictions for Papua New Guinea's future
An Australian research team says Papua New Guinea is
sinking into chaos and poverty.
An analysis released by the Centre for Independent Studies says life for PNG's
five million people has barely improved since independence from Australia.
It says Australia has to re-engage to help confront Papua New Guinea's crisis.
One of the authors is the director of the Institute of National Affairs in Port
Moresby, Mike Manning.
He says the leaders know their country is on the brink.
"They know that the roads are collapsing. They know their people are not
being able to sell their produce. They know that our human development
indicators are falling down."
However, Mr Manning says they find themselves powerless to take any sort of
radical steps to fix it.
He points out that when nearly 25 percent of the budget goes to servicing debt
there is little room to move in.
The Centre for Independent Studies report predicts that the country could
degenerate into a patchwork of regions run by strongmen and criminals - a
violent trend already evident in the Highlands
It says Australia cannot quarantine itself from the problems.
Further reading on the role of China in the destruction of the
tropical forests of Southeast Asia including Papua New Guinea: Forests in Southeast Asia Fall to
China
