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Abstract
Papua New Guinea, with an area of about 46.7 million ha and population of 3.7 million, is blessed with a large natural forest resource. Over 80 percent of the land is covered with forests of various types, ranging from swamp and lowland rain forests in coastal plains to alpine vegetation and moss forests in the highlands, most of which are owned by the people. About 15 million ha are considered commercial, with about 400-500 million cubic meters of high value timber. Current logging concessions are spread over 3.1 million ha. All the projects except one are based on selective cutting with a minimum cutting limit of 50 cm d.b.h. The current system of resources acquisition and allocation, extraction of timber, and its effect on the environment, including biodiversity is described. Possibilities of management options of these heterogenous forests on a sustainable basis are discussed.
Parent Publication
Citation
Srivastava, P.B.L. 1992. Management and utilization of forest resources in Papua New Guinea. In: Conrad, Engene C.; Newell, Leonard A., tech. cords. Proceedings on the session on tropical forestry for people of the Pacific, XVII Pacific Science Congress; May 27-28. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-129. Berkeley, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station: 26-30
