The island of New Guinea hosts the third largest expanse of tropical rainforest on the planet. Papua New Guinea—comprising the eastern half of the island—plans to nearly double its national road network (from 8,700 to 15,000 km) over the next three years, to spur economic growth. We assessed these plans using fine-scale biophysical and environmental data. We identified numerous environmental and socioeconomic risks associated with these projects, including the dissection of 54 critical biodiversity habitats and diminished forest connectivity across large expanses of the island.
The development of Papua New Guinea National Oceans Policy is at an important juncture of the country’s history in that we recognize our land resources are gradually being exploited at a rapid pace in achieving our country’s Vision by 2050, responsible sustainable development measure; and, shift of the Government and our communities’ focus into the ocean sector must be embraced as the long term measure- “a No Regrets Option”
FAO, at the request of its member countries, regularly monitors the world´s forests and their management and uses through the Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA). This country report is prepared as a contribution to the FAO publication, the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2015 (FRA 2015).
With 3.8 million cubic meters of tropical wood exported in 2014, primarily to China, Papua New Guinea (PNG) has become the world’s largest exporter of tropical wood, surpassing Malaysia, which had held the top spot for the
past several decades.
Tropical forestry and logging are complex subjects, encompassing a range of diffi cult issues, including land ownership, the sustainability of natural resources, the impact on climate change, the social and economic impact of logging on isolated and relatively untouched, subsistence sector communities, and the protection of the basic rights of the people concerned.
Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) forests and forestry have played an important role in the livelihoods of the people of the country for many years. Forests have provided a source for food, fruits and nuts, building materials, medicinal plants, habitats for refuge and a wealth of other services.
A summary of various datasets on logging concessions, exports, forest cover are presented here.
Papua New Guinea (PNG) has one of the most significant areas of tropical forest in the world. These forests are, however, under threat from commercial logging, clearing of land for agricultural commodities, mining or the expansion of small-scale agriculture to meet the livelihood needs of the country's largely rural population.
The Papua New Guinea Resource Information System (PNGRIS) is a micro-computer-based georeferenced
database containing information on natural resources, population distribution, rural land use, small-holder economic activity and land use potential (Bellamy 1986). It is compiled at 1:500 000 scale for approximately 5000 Resource Mapping Units (RMUs) covering the entire land area of Papua New Guinea (PNG).
PNG has a diverse and rich resource base for plants, animal and aquaculture genetic resources used for food and agriculture. These resources suppor the livelihood of the majority of rural population in the country. The safeguarding, maintainence and sustainable uses of this genetic diversity is essential for the current as well as livelihood security
Food is made up of three major components – proteins, carbohydrates and fats – and each is necessary for growth and healthy living. Although all three provide energy, carbohydrates, which consist of starches and sugars, provide the highest proportion of the food energy (or fuel) that human bodies need to function. Protein, used for building and repairing the body, comes from animal products such as meat, fish, and milk, but also from grains and vegetable foods. Small quantities of fats and oils are also important in a balanced diet.
The history of agriculture in PNG is about 10 000 years old. This history is reviewed here in the context of 50 000 years of human occupation of the Australia – New Guinea region. 1 More is known about what has happened nearer to the present, especially since 1870, than about the distant past. Much of the early history (prehistory) of PNG was unknown until about 50 years ago, but since 1959 there has been a lot of research on the prehistory of PNG, with a major focus on agriculture. However, this is a rapidly evolving field of study and our understanding of
Oil palm prices may hold up in the medium term, with strong demand from India and China. Yet, like other non-oil commodities, oil palm prices are likely to remain volatile, and to experience a long term relative price decline. (Chapter 3). World prices are not the main problem for small farmers in PNG. Three factors are likely to place a ceiling on the economic benefits for small farmers: (i) small farmers remain at the highly competitive end of a large grower market, with little market power, keeping them as ‘price takers’; (ii) a large monopsony (all
Coupled climate and sea-level changes deduced from Huon Peninsula coral terraces of the last ice age
Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea, is a tectonically unstable, uplifting shoreline ringed by emergent coral terraces. The terraces were formed during episodes of rapid sea-level rise when corals constructed large, discrete coral platforms that were subsequently uplifted. Uranium series ages of four prominent Huon Peninsula last glacial (OIS 3) coral terraces coincide with the timing of major North Atlantic climate reversals at intervals of 6000^7000 yr between 30 000 yr and 60 000 yr ago.
An analysis of cultural change and generation gaps in the local community of the Nungon ethnic group in the state of Papua New Guinea will be the subject of the study. This ethnic group came into contact with Europeans for the first time in the mid-1930s. The pace of cultural changes within the community has been gradually increasing.
Midway up the slopes of the Andogoro, Moirutapa, and Kundiman mountains that rise up from the surrounding floodplains and separate East Sepik Province from Enga and Western Highlands Provinces in Papua New Guinea, are the traditional settlements of the Upland Arafundi people (Roscoe & Telban 2004:94). Galleries of stencils
In days gone by some of the Motu-speaking peoples around Port Moresby used to go on annual trading expeditions to the Gulf of Papua. There they would exchange with the inhabitants of that area pots and other valuables for sago and canoe logs. These expeditions were called hiri, and were not only spectacular in terms of the number, nature and size of the sailing craft involved and the cargoes they carried but also very important economically and in other ways to the Motu and others directly or indirectly involved.
For over forty years, archaeologists working along Papua New Guinea’s southern coastline have sought evidence for early ceramics and its relationship with Lapita wares of Island Melanesia. Failing to find any such evidence of pottery more than 2000 BP, and largely based on the excavation of eight early pottery-bearing sites during the late 1960s into the early 1970s, synchronous colonization some 2000 BP along 500km of the south Papuan coastline by post-Lapita ceramic manufacturers has been posited.
How can linguistics contribute to our knowledge about human dispersals in the distant past? We will consider the case of New Guinea and surrounding islands, one of the most linguistically diverse areas of the world. This study is a follow-up on the Eurocores OMLL project Pioneers of Island Melanesia, reported in Dunn et al. (2005).