Deforestation in Papua New Guinea (PNG)

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers the geographical characteristics, human drivers, impacts, and management responses related to deforestation in Papua New Guinea.

Papua New Guinea (PNG)

An island nation in Oceania located approximately $150\,km$ north of Australia's mainland with Port Moresby as its capital.

Customary Landowners

Indigenous groups who privately own or possess $97\%$ of the land in PNG, creating a complex management structure for forest resources.

Primary Forest

Intact forest systems that have not been significantly disturbed; in PNG, approximately $70\%$ of this land cover remains though it is under threat.

SABL

Special Agricultural Business Lease; a long-term ($99$-year) lease often used as a political loophole for logging companies to bypass environmental safeguards under the guise of agricultural development.

Rimbunan Hijau

A Malaysian-owned foreign company that is the largest logging operator in Papua New Guinea.

Ghost Roads

Illegal roads created to fragment forests and facilitate the movement of timber and other products to ports.

Subsistence Agriculture

Small-scale farming, often using slash-and-burn techniques, which accounts for approximately $45\%$ of forest loss in PNG due to the high rural population ($80\%$).

Ok Tedi Mine

A major copper mine in western PNG that discharged over $2\,\text{billion}$ tonnes of mine waste into the Fly River system, affecting over $1000\,km$ of the waterway.

Global Forest Watch (GFW)

An online geospatial platform launched in 2014 by the World Resources Institute that uses remote sensing and satellite imagery to track global forest loss.

Landsat

Satellite technology with $30\,m$ resolution used by geospatial platforms to monitor tree cover changes from national to local scales.

GLAD Alerts

Near-real-time satellite-based alerts used to detect and report illegal forest disturbance or clearing activities quickly.

Walkabout Sawmill

A community-based forestry initiative using portable sawmills to promote small-scale selective logging as an alternative to large-scale industrial clear-felling.

FORCERT

A non-profit organization that provides Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) eco-certification to ensure timber is harvested sustainably and yields higher market value ($4\text{--}20\times$ higher).

National Forest Inventory (NFI)

A national-scale forest monitoring program led by the PNG Forest Authority (PNGFA) to assess biodiversity, carbon stocks, and forest conditions.

REDD+

A global climate mitigation framework (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) that provides funding to PNG for forest conservation and inventory tasks.

Carbon Storage Capacity

The ability of a forest to store carbon dioxide; PNG's deforestation caused the loss of approximately $1.15\,Gt\,CO_2$ between 2001 and 2020.

Profit Repatriation

The economic process where foreign-dominated logging companies send profits back to their home countries (such as Malaysia) instead of reinvesting in the local PNG economy.

River Sedimentation

The increase of soil and debris in waterways caused by erosion from cleared slopes, which damages aquatic ecosystems and water quality.

Selective Logging

The practice of harvesting specific trees rather than clearing an entire area, aimed at reducing environmental impacts such as soil erosion and habitat loss.