Eco-Timber from the Forests of New Britain, Papua New Guinea

by Pacific Heritage Foundation

Project Overview

The forests of the islands in Eastern Papua New Guinea (PNG), including New Britain and New Ireland, home to a number of rare and endemic plant and animal species, now face some of the most intense commercial logging operations in the region, if not the world. Large foreign logging companies have been able to persuade local landowners to sell the rights to their timber for a fraction of its true market value. PNG stands at an extremely critical juncture regarding its forestry policy, as factions within the forestry department seek to remove most existing environmental controls regarding the forestry sector. The country must develop sustainable alternatives to large-scale commercial logging that can also meet community development needs.

To counter this threat, PHF and its partners are expanding ongoing efforts to offer local communities an alternative to these commercial logging operations in the East and West New Britain, New Ireland, and Sepik Provinces of PNG. PHF's primary objectives for the Implementation Grant are to: 1) reduce the decline of forest resources by supporting community-owned small-scale logging enterprises as alternatives to large-scale industrial logging, 2) establish a central processing and marketing unit to generate high returns to communities and ensure long-term economic viability, and 3) increase capacities for extension, technical, social, and legal services. The project also will explore other smaller enterprises including the harvest of Galip nuts and other non-timber forest products. Finally, in conjunction with several collaborators, the project will support extensive social and biological monitoring activities.

Community-based ecoforestry has enormous potential as a tool for sustainable use of natural resources. This project will help to demonstrate the sustainability of such small-scale timber operations, and comes at a crucial time for the development of PNG's national forestry policy.

	Current Accomplishments
Successes and Challenges
"OK...So What?"

WHY BIODIVERSITY   FIELD STORIES   PARTICIPATE   RESULTS   MARKETSPACE ABOUT THE NETWORK   WHAT'S NEW   LEARNING MATERIALS   SEARCH   LINKS   SITE MAP   HOME