Issues re Species Selection

Pterocymbium beccarii (Amberoi) Sterculiaceae

Santalum macgregorii (Sandalwood)* Santalaceae

Syzygium buettnerianum (Water Gum) Myrtaceae

Terminalia spp (T. brassii) Combretaceae

Toona ciliata/ T. sureni (Red Cedar) * Meliaceae

Vatica papuana Dipterocarpaceae

Weinmannia spp (NG Mahogany) Cunoniaceae

Note: Species marked with an asterisk (*) have already been proposed as high value PNG species which have not previously been the target of domestication programs.

To this list of prospect species should be added Sandalwood which is more suited to villagebased commercial activity rather than industrial projects.

ISSUES re SPECIES SELECTION

However, there cannot be one simple set of priorities for PNG. The country is too large and too diverse for such an approach to have any validity in the eyes of the landowners. Rather, it is suggested, there should be several priority sets to accommodate such biophysical and ethnic/social diversity. This is particularly important where the national policy for forestry development is one of involving the people in the development process – the landowners, villages, and communities. If a species being promoted in an area is alien to that area, whether it originates elsewhere in PNG or overseas, then there will be little local sense of ‘belonging’ and hence at best an indifferent acceptance of the development. The exception may be where, through judicious extension and education, the promotion of a species captures the national imagination, both culturally and financially. Such is the case with Sandalwood or Kauri in different areas of Vanuatu.

Those who have live in PNG are aware of the contrasting differences between the Highlands and the Lowlands. Both are different from island scenarios, such as Manus, and New Ireland. And then there are different ecosystems within lowland regions on the northern and southern coasts of the PNG mainland, and in New Britain and Bougainville.

I have suggested elsewhere that the Highlands need species which can reclaim degraded grasslands. These might include Agathis, Palaquium, Dacrydium or Podocarpus. However, grassfires are a real threat.

The supply of firewood for cooking is now at a premium so Yar should be a priority firewood species for the Highlands, not Australian eucalypts. Different sets of priorities need to be built for the various regions of PNG and subsets within them for differing sites.

While the issues addressed by a selection matrix can be engineered to apply across the nation, the weightings applied will vary from region to region. Where Calophyllum spp have always