"Compendium of Discussion Papers in the Oceania region" Brian D. Brunton, Forest Campaigner, Greenpeace Pacific Pacific Bioweb, Nadi, Fiji 28 & 29 September, 1998
In Papua New Guinea, we are still in a position where a very large area of the planet's natural forests can be saved. We have about five to ten years to bring forest loss under control. After that time population growth will make forest planning and management very difficult. Current policies and practices point to us loosing this struggle. It is likely that during the lives of our children, the accessible production forests will vanish. Our children will be left with forests on mountains, in wet-lands, in parks and in a few other inaccessible places.
Large areas of the country will become degraded secondary-growth, gardens, and agricultural land.
The extent of deforestation in Papua New Guinea is under question, because there is an intense political struggle over the issue of sustainability in mixed species tropical forests, unchallenged statistics are hard to come by, and the public have difficulty accessing the most recent assessments in the Forest Inventory Mapping System ( paid for by Australian aid). One view is that Papua New Guinea has a total millable forest area of 70,000 sq.km. Under existing regulations, which may be changed, about 100,000 sq.km of forest is considered unsuitable for industrial logging because of inundation (swamp), or elevation (mountains). Each year, it is claimed, we clear 2 percent of our millable forests. By the end of the century we will have cleared 18 percent of our millable forests. At current rates a total clearance of millable forests will be achieved in the year 2032. (FAO State of the World's Forests, Rome, 1997). The Papua New Guinea Forest Authority disputes these figures, says that the FAO statistics are outdated and over-blown, preferring figures of their own that indicate the forests are being logged at a "sustainable rate".
FULL STORY HERE
http://www.wrm.org.uy/deforestation/Oceania/Papua.html
In Papua New Guinea, we are still in a position where a very large area of the planet's natural forests can be saved. We have about five to ten years to bring forest loss under control. After that time population growth will make forest planning and management very difficult. Current policies and practices point to us loosing this struggle. It is likely that during the lives of our children, the accessible production forests will vanish. Our children will be left with forests on mountains, in wet-lands, in parks and in a few other inaccessible places.
Large areas of the country will become degraded secondary-growth, gardens, and agricultural land.
The extent of deforestation in Papua New Guinea is under question, because there is an intense political struggle over the issue of sustainability in mixed species tropical forests, unchallenged statistics are hard to come by, and the public have difficulty accessing the most recent assessments in the Forest Inventory Mapping System ( paid for by Australian aid). One view is that Papua New Guinea has a total millable forest area of 70,000 sq.km. Under existing regulations, which may be changed, about 100,000 sq.km of forest is considered unsuitable for industrial logging because of inundation (swamp), or elevation (mountains). Each year, it is claimed, we clear 2 percent of our millable forests. By the end of the century we will have cleared 18 percent of our millable forests. At current rates a total clearance of millable forests will be achieved in the year 2032. (FAO State of the World's Forests, Rome, 1997). The Papua New Guinea Forest Authority disputes these figures, says that the FAO statistics are outdated and over-blown, preferring figures of their own that indicate the forests are being logged at a "sustainable rate".
FULL STORY HERE
http://www.wrm.org.uy/deforestation/Oceania/Papua.html
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