"Special Agricultural and Business Leases" imperil forests in Papua New Guinea

Abstract

[Extract] THE native forests of Papua New Guinea (PNG) are among the most biologically diverse on Earth, with a high proportion of endemic species (e.g., Diamond 1973; Flannery 1995). They also constitute a major stock of terrestrial carbon (Melick 2010). These forests are being altered at a rapid rate, particularly by industrial logging and by the expansion and intensification of swidden farming as a result of substantial population growth (Shearman et al. 2009, 2011).