PNG SFM Endeavours

PNG SFM Endeavours

Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) forests and forestry have played an important role in the livelihoods of the people of the country for many years. Forests have provided a source for food, fruits, and nuts, building materials, medicinal plants, habitats for refuge and a wealth of other services. Increasingly throughout the years, and more so since the end of the Second World War, forests in the country have been exploited for their wood products, more particularly the timber. While still maintaining the main role of sustaining the livelihoods of rural people, forests have increasingly become the main source of revenue for the people (landowners), the Government and the timber industry.

There are many factors that have impacted on forests and forestry, but the key ones are the increasing population and people’s demands for development – due to lack of basic goods and services in the rural areas where most or all the forests are found. The increasing numbers of people need to be fed and hence more forests are being cleared each year, through shifting cultivation, to make gardens for food. Forests are also seen by many people to bring development to their undeveloped or lesser developed communities – development in the sense of cash income, infrastructure, and basic services, especially health and education. These developmental needs often force landowners to seek Government assistance to bring in timber companies to harvest the trees in their forest. In return, landowners earn an income through timber royalties, employment, create access to urban areas through roads, jetties, or airstrips, and can access health and education services and other basic services that are generally non-existent in rural communities.

The system of land and resource ownership in PNG is unique and the natural forests that grow on it is owned by tribal communities in clan groups. This age-old arrangement is not expected to change, although there is an emergence of fragmentation within clan groups where individual families are demanding to be recognized as separate landowners despite being members of the same clan.

Forestry continues to play a significant role in the economic development of the country; being among the top 3 sectors in terms of its contribution to the economy. It provides direct employment to over 10,000 people, mostly in rural communities, constructs infrastructure such as roads and bridges, and provides a source of income through timber royalties to people, and other developmental levies. By 1975, the PNG Dept of Forests followed a forest development model of large-scale, industrial operations strongly supported by the World Bank from the early 1960s. The longevity of the JANT Project Madang, has demonstrated that industrial-sized wood production for export is possible in PNG, although it comes with a social cost7 . Equally, forestry projects provide tangible benefits in terms of rural service provision in many areas, filling a gap caused by the non-provision of such services by the State.

7 ODI 2007. Papua New Guinea Forest Studies 1. What can be learnt from the past? A history of the forestry sector in Papua New Guinea.