13. REGIONAL UPDATE FOR AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND, PAPUA NEW GUINEA AND THE PACIFIC by S. Midgley^[14]

AUSTRALIA

Policy and Institutional Issues

National Plantations Inventory

The official inventory of Australia’s plantations to September 2000 has been published. The combined standing plantation resource in Australia at that time is 1.5 million hectares, of which 972,170 hectares (65 per cent) are softwood species and 502,620 hectares (34 per cent) are hardwood species. An additional estimated 80 000 ha of hardwood has been planted since that time

Five per cent (66,980 hectares) of the total plantation resource is reported as farm forestry by the NFFI and 95 per cent (1,417,760 hectares) is reported as industrial plantations by the NPI. The NFFI contribution to the total regional plantation estate varies from one to 13 per cent. Of the industrial plantations, 293,000 hectares (20 per cent) represents a potential overlap of industrial and farm forest participation through leasehold and joint venture arrangements.

For further details on Australia’s National Forest Inventory visit:

www.affa.gov.au/nfi_plantations2001

PLANTATIONS FOR AUSTRALIA: THE 2020 VISION

The 2020 Vision is a partnership between the Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments and the plantation growing and wood processing industries. The Vision is that, by 2020, plantation forestry in Australia will be a sustainable and profitable long rotation crop with significant private sector investment. The target is to treble the effective area of Australia's plantations between 1996 and 2020. This target will be achieved by planting an average of 40 000 hectares a year. The figures from the National Forestry Inventory indicate that Australia ids making good progress towards this Vision.

For further details on the 2020 Vision refer to:

http://www.affa.gov.au/agfor/forests/2020/vision.html

State jurisdictions in Australia have offered support to plantation initiatives and details of the new hardwood initiatives from the Government of Queensland (as an example) can be found at: http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/hardwoodsqld

Access to forest genetic resources

The existing Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) used by the Australian Tree Seed Centre has met with general acceptance among ATSC stakeholders over the past 3 years. As a consequence of this an invited paper was presented to the South-east Asian Workshop on Conservation, Management and Utilization of Forest Genetic Resources, 25 February - 10 March, 2001, Thailand. Access issues in forest genetic resources - Experience in sharing and exchange of germplasm in Australia and the South Pacific. Lex Thomson, Stephen Midgley, Doug Boland and Kathy Whimp.

Draft Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

Australia’s federal Government has released draft regulations dealing with bioprospecting in Commonwealth areas. The regulations will provide for management of access to genetic and biochemical material found in native plants and animals in Commonwealth areas, such as Commonwealth National Parks. Members of the Panel will recall that almost all land in Australia is controlled and/or managed by the State (rather than the federal) jurisdictions.

Discoveries flowing from the examination of the genetic and biochemical make-up of plants and animal could lead to new products such as drugs to fight disease, enzymes for industrial processes, natural insecticides, or sunscreens.

The regulations will require bioprospectors to obtain a permit to ensure the collection of biological material in Commonwealth areas is ecologically sustainable. The regulations also provide that a benefit-sharing agreement must be entered into by the access provider and the bioprospector.

The purpose of the benefit-sharing agreement is to ensure an equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the bioprospecting. There is a particular focus on ensuring that any commercial benefits arising from the use of indigenous knowledge about plants and animals are shared with the relevant indigenous communities.

The draft regulations were designed to ensure clear and streamlined access arrangements for the biotechnology industry. The proposed regulations will minimise red tape and provide certainty for industry while safeguarding Australia’s unique biodiversity.

The draft regulations are available at:

http://www.ea.gov.au/epbc/about/amendments/biological.html

The regulations do not create new property or intellectual property rights. They have also been crafted to avoid creating conflict with existing property rights. The regulations involve the regulation of the exercise of property rights and do not effect an acquisition of property.

The draft regulations took into account the revision of the FAO International Undertaking. The flexible non-prescriptive approach taken to benefit-sharing means that any new system of Material Transfer Agreements created under the new FAO International Undertaking (IU) will be able to be taken into account. Australian native or wild relatives of the 30 crops currently listed to make up the scope of the IU will be outside of the Access regulations and will have minimal effect on it.

The Commonwealth scheme encourages other countries to avoid prescriptive benefit sharing regimes and to facilitate access to their genetic resources in accordance with the Convention on Biological Diversity. Australia is probably the first mega-biodiverse developed country with a regulatory scheme developed by its national government and it conscious that these regulations may influence development of regulations in other countries.

Wollemi Pine (report from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney)

In August, 2000, New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) confirmed that a third stand of Wollemi Pines had been discovered by bushwalkers in Wollemi National Park. Spread out over an area of 20 by 40 metres, there are five clumps of trees, individuals surrounded by suckers and offshoots, with the biggest of the five about 25 metres tall. The NPWS says the new trees are relatively young, judging by the absence of cones on them. They are in a deeper and narrower gorge than the first two stands discovered in September 1994 and in a different catchment area. Once again NPWS is keeping the location of the stands secret.

A component of the conservation strategy for Wollemi Pine involves commercial deployment of the species and this was reported to the panel’s last meeting.

For further details see: http://www.rbgsyd.gov.au/HTML/Wollemi.html

NIGHTCAP OAK (REPORT FROM THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, SYDNEY)

BOTANICAL SIGNIFICANCE

The Proteaceae is a very old family of flowering plants that probably originated while the ancient supercontinent Gondwana was still in one piece. Gondwana consisted of what are now the continents of Australia, Africa, South America and Antarctica, as well as smaller islands such as New Zealand, New Caledonia and Madagascar. Gondwana began splitting up over 120 million years ago and the fragments carried a diverse array of plants and animals with them, including a variety of lineages of the Proteaceae. Eidothea is the only relic of one of those early lineages that has barely survived in the rainforests of eastern Australia. Other lineages went on to diversify spectacularly, resulting in hundreds of descendant species.

A new species of Eidothea, a genus of rainforest trees that was only named in 1995, was discovered in the Nightcap Range, near Lismore in north eastern New South Wales in September 2000. Eidothea belongs to the Proteaceae, which also includes more familiar members such as the waratahs, grevilleas, banksias, macadamias and proteas. Eidothea zoexylocarya, the only other species, is known only from Mt Bartle Frere, near Cairns in North Queensland.

That Eidothea has been found at localities as far apart as Cairns, Lismore and Ballarat, also underlines the fact that Australia’s rainforests are tiny remnants of ancient rainforests that covered vast areas of Australia until only a few million years ago.

Based on a combination of fossil evidence, known evolutionary relationships, biogeography and known timing of continental drift) the estimated age of lineage for Eidothea is 90-130 million years

The oldest known fossil is estimated to be 15-20 million years (fossils of the very distinctive fruits from Western Victoria)

For further details see:

http://www.rbgsyd.gov.au/HTML/MEDIA/Pressrelease/mreidothea2.doc

http://www.rbgsyd.gov.au/HTML/MEDIA/Pressrelease/Eidotheahardeniana.htm

The Australian Tree Seed Centre (ATSC) (With thanks to Tim Vercoe, Officer in Charge, Australian Tree Seed Centre).

For further details visit:

http://www.ffp.csiro.au/tigr/atscmain/index.htm

Table 1. Distribution of seed from the ATSC by geographic region, 2000.

2002 marks 40 years of work on Australian Forest Genetic Resources by the Australian Tree Seed Centre. The Centre has grown from its origins as a part of Australia’s commitment to the UN ‘Freedom from Hunger’ campaign requested by FAO in 1962, into one of the worlds premier genetic resource centres. It became part of CSIRO in 1975 and is currently the largest research team within CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products. The Centre has evolved from a staff of three with an annual budget of less than $2K in 1962 to a current staff of 22 with an annual budget in excess of AUD$3.3M (US$1.7M).

More than 20,000 collection sites have been visited in this time, comprising many hundreds of thousands of trees from around Australia and neighbouring countries. More than 250,000 seedlots have been dispatched to 150 countries throughout the world. Table 1 provides a summary of the past year's dispatches.

Seed collection and dispatch remain core functions along with providing a central contact point for information about the woody component of Australia’s floral biodiversity and specialist training. The Centre is increasing its research on genetic diversity to support conservation and domestication activities.

For further details on the Centre and its projects, visit:

http://www.ffp.csiro.au/tigr/atscmain/index.htm

The ATSC continues to receive support from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and has received catalytic support from FAO for almost 40 years. ACIAR offers core support via the Domestication of Australian Trees Project (DAT).

See: http://www.ffp.csiro.au/tigr/atscmain/whatwedo/projects/dat/dat.htm

FAO’s Silva Mediterranea group - Acacia saligna.

Interest in this important species, a priority for FAO’s Silva Mediterranea group, is shared by both the Western Australian Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM) and the Australian Tree Seed Centre. These groups would welcome opportunities to further the exploration and characterisation of this species with colleagues from the Mediterranean region.

Proposed name change for Australian Acacia species to Racosperma.^[15]

The genus Acacia is the second largest in the family Fabaceae, with about 1200 species. It is distributed throughout the tropical and warm temperate areas, but the large concentrations of species in Australia (ca 960 species) and Africa. The genus has a long and convoluted history, with many genera being split or added to core Acacia over the last 250 years. Acacia is currently lectotypified by Acacia nilotica (L.) of tropical Africa and has become naturalised in the Indian sub-Continent. In the last 20 years considerable consideration has been given to the phylogeny of this group, and proposals to subdivide the genus into three, first seriously proposed by Pedley (1983, 1986) now have considerable support from studies in many fields.

Such an action, while probably strongly desirable from the point of view of presenting a more defensible phylogeny, would have considerable nomenclatural, economic and pragmatic repercussions. More than 75% of the species in this very large genus would require a new name or combination. Many of these species are of considerable ecological, environmental, social or iconic importance. It can confidently be anticipated that name changes on this scale will elicit a major commentary in the popular and semi-popular press, and it is inevitable that some of this comment will question the rationality of taxonomic process. Therefore, before proceeding, the taxonomic community has become engaged in careful consideration as to whether such wholesale change is really necessary and, if it is, to devise methods to minimise the impact of the change.

Lost Friends:

In May 2001, the ATSC saw the unfortunate and untimely death of Doug Boland, a champion of forest genetic resources and a world leader in the domestication of forest trees. At the time of his death, Doug was Project Director of the AusAID-funded South Pacific Regional Initiative on Forest Genetic Resources (SPRIG) and Project Leader of the Papua New Guinea Domestication and Conservation Project (a partnership between PNGFRI and CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products partially supported by ACIAR) and was involved as a Project Scientist in Development of Domestication Strategies for Commercially Important Species of Meliaceae Project (another partnership between CSIRO and research partners in SE Asia with support from ACIAR).

See http://www.ffp.csiro.au/tigr/atscmain/whatwedo/projects/melia/melia.htm.

Australian Low Rainfall Tree Improvement Group (ALRTIG)

In mid 1999, the Partners listed in Table 1 formed the Australian Low Rainfall Tree Improvement Group, (ALRTIG). The ALRTIG project is funded through its partners and attracts invaluable support from a number of initiatives of the federal Government - principally the Joint Venture Agroforestry Project (JVAP) a joint initiative of Rural Industries Research & Development Corporation (RIRDC); Land and Water Resources Research Development Corporation (LWRRDC) and; Forest Wood Products Research Development Corporation (FWPRDC). The program is also supported by the Murray Darling Basin Commission and the Natural Heritage Trust.

ALRTIG aims to support low rainfall plantation establishment in Southern Australia, through the production and provision of high quality hardwood, softwood and oil yielding mallee eucalypt genetic resources. ALRTIG's activities are divided into separate programs, based on these three product groups.

The target hardwood species are spotted gums (Corymbia spp); river red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) and its interspecific hybrids, red ironbark (E. tricarpa and E. sideroxylon); swamp yate (E. occidentalis) and; sugar gum (E. cladocalyx). Genetic improvement strategies have been developed for these species.

The softwood program concentrates on two exotic species, maritime pine (Pinus pinaster) and Brutian pine (P. brutia). The latter is a close relative of the relatively common Aleppo pine (P. halepensis). Maritime pine has already been intensively bred by project partner FPC, for planting in the low rainfall wheatbelt of Western Australia. Brutian pine has been tested in dry areas of Australia and overseas, and has demonstrated good growth, survival and the ability to produce commercial wood products.

The tree improvement strategies for the ALRTIG species are available from the CSIRO Web site and colleagues interested in these species are encouraged to visit for further information: http://www.ffp.csiro.au/alrtig/

Radiata Pine (with thanks to Dr Colin Matheson, CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products).

Plantings in Australia and New Zealand of trees derived from the 1978 collections of radiata pine are now reaching heavy thinning stage and will be at rotation age in a few years. The question of what to do with the plantings and how to make best use of them as an ex-situ conservation resource was addressed in the CSIRO 1998 CONSERVE Workshop. Harvesting some of these plantings will be delayed for some years and, ultimately, seed collections will be made from them when contamination from surrounding plantations is minimal. The question of how to make best use of seeds remaining in the seed store from the 1978 collection is being addressed in a new report by Dr Ken Eldridge. As viability of these seeds is dropping, this report will recommend prompt sowing the seeds in conservation plantings designed to last for many years.

A new collection of seeds was made from both Guadalupe and Cedros islands in May 2001 by an expedition led by scientists from CSIRO, the University of California at Davis and the Colegio de Postgraduados in Mexico, with some financial support from FAO. On Guadalupe island, where the situation is regarded as critical, seeds were collected from 85 radiata pine trees out of the total of 220 +/- 20 live trees counted on the island, and 97 trees were mapped with GPS. There is now a program of translocating the goats from Guadalupe to the mainland and around 2000 have been removed. However, finishing the job may take some years during which time there will be further attrition among the remaining old trees. It is understood that some fencing of accessible trees in the south of the distribution on Guadalupe has taken place and that some natural regeneration within the fences may occur. Fencing further north is not practicable. Seeds were collected from Guadalupe primarily to provide for the possibility of regenerating the stand artificially, should the need occur. The 2001 expedition to Cedros was aimed at examining the conservation status and making a seed collection with a view to testing for within-population differentiation. There is a great deal of regeneration in all stands visited on Cedros with seedlings of many ages being observed. There was much evidence, however, of the effects of several fires over the last few years, one so recent that the smell of wet cinders was evident and green cones present were observed to be singed. There are many thousands of trees still living on Cedros and seeds of 100 trees were collected. All trees from which seeds were collected were mapped with GPS.

Seeds from the 2001 expedition were taken to Ensenada where they are currently being extracted by the Mexican Program for National Reforestation (PRONARE) on behalf of the expedition. Before the expedition, it was agreed that most of the seed would remain in Mexico, but that some would be made available to Australia and some to the USA for long-term storage. There was no evidence of pine pitch canker on either island. Samples were taken by a forest pathologist expert in identifying the disease (Dr Jesus Guerra Santos) who was unable to isolate any evidence of Fusarium on any samples from the islands when samples were placed on Fusarium-selective media."

Pines for the dry country

As part of the ALTRIG program of work, Australian agencies are re-evaluating their interest in Pinus species for Australia’s dry zones (400 - 600 mm pa). A wide collection of P. brutia and Pinus eldarica has been imported following collaborative collection in West Asia and the Middle East.

CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products and its domestic research partners are working towards an assessment of P. eldarica. Contact has been made with forestry agencies in most countries of natural distribution (Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Greece. Syria, Lebanon, Iran) and we have been grateful for positive help and collaboration with seed collection and supply. In addition to the various national agencies involved we thank IPGRI for their valuable discussions regarding the conservation of P. eldarica. A more detailed proposal has been prepared to seek support for further work on this species.

Biotechnology and forest genetic resources

Australia has recognised the importance of application of modern technologies towards the better understanding of its "icon" species. With this in mind, there is a strong push towards establishing the Eucalypt Genome Project. A consortium has been formed including the Australian Genome Research Facility (AGRF), CSIRO, Universities of Queensland, Melbourne, Monash, Tasmania and Southern Cross, Cooperative Research Centre for Sustainable Production Forestry, State forest agencies, and the private forest genetics company Saltgrow Pty Ltd, to advance the project.

The Project will seek to identify and track significant genes that control tree physiology and wood production. Eucalypt genomics will also offer knowledge to help understand the ecological diversity and conservation of eucalypts.

There has been considerable enthusiasm for the concept - the complete eucalypt genetic blueprint, about one sixth the size of the human genome, would revolutionise conservation biology and tree improvement research, and will be a resource for research and breeding of better trees for a long time

The national Eucalypt Genome Initiative would cost approximately $60 million and take three to four years to complete.

Regional Commitment

CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products has a strong commitment to partnerships in the Asia Pacific region. In addition to membership of the Asia Pacific Association of Forest Research Institutions (APAFRI), CSIRO contributes to a number of projects with forest genetic resources components primarily related to the theme of species domestication. These are funded by AusAID (SPRIG) and supported partly by ACIAR (Seeds of Australian Trees Project, Domestication of Meliaceae, Development of germplasm and production systems for cold tolerant eucalypts for use in cool regions of southern China and Australia). CSIRO has helped establish seed orchards with national partners in Laos, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, India, the Philippines, and Malaysia. It now has formal Memoranda of Understanding with forestry authorities in Papua New Guinea, Malaysia (Sarawak), Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. Recent structural changes within CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products have had a minor impact on the high level of forest genetic resources work and have increased the capacity to rapidly assess wood and fibre properties (See Attachments 4 and 5).

Priority lists for 1999

Pinus radiata (ex situ conservation), P. brutia, P. eldarica, P. pinaster

NEW ZEALAND

(with thanks to Dr Rowland Burdon, Forest Research New Zealand)

Current events within New Zealand’s Forestry Sector

The New Zealand plantation forestry sector is continuing to face considerable challenges, partly in the nature of longer-term effects of the east-Asian economic recession. One of the major forestry corporates, Fletcher Challenge Forests (FCF) is up for sale, with shares trading at very depressed prices. A key subsidiary, the Central North Island Partnership (with CITIC, a Chinese government agency) has gone into receivership and this has compromised the sale of FCF. The other main corporate player, Carter Holt Harvey (effectively controlled by International Paper) is consolidating following a major corporate reorganisation. Prices for forest products have not really been buoyant, although the situation has been helped by exchange-rate movements.

Government funding of research has a declared focus on new technology to serve commercial ends, with the qualifier "[Plant Gene Technology] needs to maintain an effective platform of breeding and production research to deliver products to market." What this means for funding work on genetic resources remains to be seen.

RADIATA PINE

The reorganisation of the NZ Radiata Pine Breeding Cooperative, which has now become a Limited Liability Company, is still incomplete. At least, partly as a result, work on genetic resources of the species remains essentially in a 'holding pattern'. Crosses made using selections from ex-situ material of native populations continue to be raised and tended in progeny-trial plantings. However, some more significant major gene resource plantings have been or are being felled with only the collection of wood specimens to preserve research opportunities. Management of the existing breeding population continues apace, with increasing differentiation of specialised elite "breeds" for different sites and markets.

A study has been completed and published on the stiffness and bending strength of small clear timber specimens from an ex-situ planting of material from the three Californian mainland populations of radiata pine. Population differences were observed, but could be interpreted as entirely incidental to population differences in wood density.

New Zealand is participating in the IMPACT project (mentioned under the Australian component) which seeks to examine resistance to pitch canker.

Secondary Species

We have had two important changes of personnel. One involves Luis (Luigi) Gea taking over as Project Manager, "New Plantation Species". The other involves the retirement of Gerry Vincent who had been working on the documentation of genetic resources of secondary or 'alternative' species [to radiata pine]. While he has not been replaced, work has continued on these species, largely in the way of producing new generations of material, even though various considerations have limited the population sizes that could be maintained.

Action taken, which has tended to as occasion has arisen for individual species, has included:

• Establishing 2nd-generation progeny trials of Cupressus macrocarpa and

• C. lusitanica have been established, each on two sites. (Also, a levy on sales of genetically improved nursery stock of cypresses is being used for research funding in this area).

• A broadly based collection of Pinus lambertiana from North America has been established on two sites, albeit with major losses that reflect the state of the sector.

• Top-ranked hinoki (Chamaecyparis obtusa) clones from Japan have been established on one trial site and two woodlots.

• With Eucalyptus nitens, two seed orchards and a very large clonal archive have been established, involving over 200 families.

• With E. fastigata, a clonal archive and a seed orchard have been established.

• With E. regnans, a seedlot form Moogara, Tasmania, is being perpetuated from a logging collection,

• With E. saligna, a similar operation has been conducted from a progeny test.

• With E. delegatensis seed has been collected from 30 top families in a progeny test.

• Species trials of various eucalypts have been assessed, data analysed, and results reported.

• Stands of Larix spp. that are of genetic interest have been identified and documented.

• A new generation of land-race stands is being produced from a seed collection of high-quality P. nigra var. laricio. Sales and plantings from the seed collection are being monitored.

• A seed collection has been made during felling of a stand of P. patula.

• Acacia dealbata - Utilisation study completed.

• A. melanoxylon - Provenance introduction from NSW.

• Sequoia and Sequoiadendron - Provenance trials (small) assessed.

• Eucalyptus fastigata - replanting from local seed collections of Barrington Tops and Oberon provenances.

• Pinus pinaster - Regrafting of clonal archive of select Western Australian clones, in conjunction with Proseed.

• P. muricata - Collection of seed from 3rd-generation stand of Mendocino Co origin.

• P. pseudostrobus - Collection of seed before felling of plantation.

• P. contorta - Regrafting of select clones of var. contorta.

Recent assessments of young Douglas-fir trials have corroborated results of earlier provenance trials, and indicated general superiority of plus-tree progenies.

Work that is planned, but not definitely scheduled includes: collection of seed from selected seedlots of coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) and Thuja plicata, and cuttings of hinoki.

There have, in the last year or so, been some unfortunate losses of gene-resource material in 'land-race' plantings and provenance trials. They have arisen in varying ways, ranging from forest owners with changing management personnel felling material in blithe ignorance, to our own people getting caught flat-footed when knowing that the owners wanted to fell material, and not fully waking up to the urgency and/or the potential importance of the material. Significant losses have involved high-quality plantations of Pinus monticola and P. lambertiana, and two important provenance trials, of Larix and Douglas fir respectively. Material of southern populations of P. muricata has been lost to disease in a field collection; while these populations are not of commercial interest they would not be widely available in collections.

ROYAL COMMISSION ON GENETIC MODIFICATION

On another front, there has been the widely publicised Royal Commission on Genetic Modification. It adopted a very broadly consultative approach, holding numerous hearings, including a travelling 'road show' around the country. Needless to say there were vehement and diverging opinions. One 'expert witness', with high scientific credentials, who produced a witness brief from overseas for the Green Party of New Zealand, cited a paper in a reputable journal, and checks revealed that the paper was actually non-existent, a matter that has been reported in several publications. In the event, the Commission's verdict was to recommend "Proceed with caution"; this was based on a strong perception that the country needs to preserve its technological options, despite a lot of strong opposition. The political decisions are in the process of being made, the expectation being that Government will give a go-ahead for tightly controlled field trials of transgenic material to proceed, but impose a moratorium on commercial field release.

Species priorities for 1999: Unchanged from 1999.

Papua New Guinea (With thanks to Terry Warra, Director, Papua New Guinea Forest Research Institute and Brian Gunn, CSIRO Project Leader, Domestication of Papua New Guinea’s indigenous forest species).

About 60% of the approximately 470 000 square kilometres of land in Papua New Guinea (PNG) is estimated to be forested and the country is floristically rich with more than 400 000 plant species. PNG is also renowned for its diverse and valuable tropical forest genetic resources including over 200 major commercial timber species. Forest genetic resources have an as yet largely untapped potential to make a major contribution to socio-economic development of the country, especially in rural areas. This resource can be used to underpin future developments in native forest management, agroforestry, non-wood forest products (NWFPs) and commercial forestry plantation development. The challenge PNG now faces is how best to develop these forest genetic resources on an economic and ecologically sustainable basis.

As a partial means of addressing this challenge the PNG National Forest Service through the Forest Research Institute (FRI) and CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products, with financial support from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) have jointly developed a cooperative Research and Development programme to strengthen PNG’s capacity to conserve and better utilize the country’s forest genetic resources. The project ‘Domestication of Papua New Guinea’s indigenous forest species’ commenced on 1 January 2000 and will run for four years.

THE PROJECT

The project objectives are divided into five components with each comprising a number of activities. The focus is on training and capacity building which aims to enhance the skills of FRI and National Tree Seed Centre staff in tree domestication and conservation. Domestication activities will focus on assessing provenance variation in four species through the establishment of provenance field trials to assess for desirable quantitative and qualitative traits. Conservation work will relate to the development of a conservation strategy for two important community species under threat through over exploitation. The project components and associated activities are as follows:

Component I - Domestication of indigenous species:

• Assess and document existing and old field trials of non-domesticated PNG native species.

• For the four priority species for domestication, viz. Pometia pinnata, Casuarina oligodon, Dracontomelon dao and Calophyllum euryphyllum, determine their natural distribution, undertake seed collections and establish field trials to assess field performance.

• Establish an Acacia mangium seed production area.

• Conduct isozyme studies on Toona ciliata to assess genetic variation using seed collected from Australia, PNG and other sources within the species natural distribution.

Component II - Germplasm conservation strategies:

• Develop conservation strategies for two indigenous high-value tree species Santalum macgregorii (PNG sandalwood), and eaglewood or gaharu (Gyrinops ledermanii) which are considered to be threatened. The strategies will be based on biogeographical and community information. Community information will be gathered through Rapid Rural Appraisals.

Component III - Propagation:

• Assess the vegetative propagation potential of the four domestication species listed above. An assessment will be made of the potential of these species for mass clonal propagation for plantation development.

• Develop effective propagation techniques (vegetative and seed) and seed storage protocols for about 20 different tree species.

• Conduct studies into methods for assessing seed characteristics of two rainforest species through determining their desiccation and storage tolerances.

Component IV - Human resource development:

• Provide training to develop skills associated with activities under the project focusing on project staff at PNGFRI and NTSC.

Component V - Infrastructural strengthening:

• Provide equipment and improve facilities to ensure the effective implementation of project activities to include, improvements to the FRI nursery, extension to the NTSC facility, vehicles and computers.

Conservation work undertaken

1. Sandalwood

Field surveys through the use of Rapid Rural Appraisals have been conducted at representative villages across the species natural distribution along the coastal strip of PNG’s Gulf and Central Province. The surveys aims to map the distribution of S. macgregorii obtain information on sandalwood trade, obtain villager information on genetic variation, biological issues and their attitudes to conservation and development of this species in a village context. Preliminary investigations indicate that this species has been severely depleted and only remnant stands and isolated trees remain. This has resulted in virtually no trade in PNG sandalwood. A few villagers are attempting to establish plantings of the species as a stand or in an agroforestry system. Several villages visited, expressed a keen interest to be involved in establishing stands either from seedlings or from digging up saplings under existing trees. In recent discussions, D. Lea (pers. comm. 2001), confirmed the presence of a stand of sandalwood which occurs to the south of the Fly River. There is also a report that the species has been found north of the Fly River.

Work is also underway to establish an ex situ conservation stand of sandalwood. Germplasm collections of seed, root and shoot cuttings from individually selected naturally occurring trees were made in August 2001. A follow-up collection focusing on seed will be made to coincide with peak seeding time in approximately May 2002 with the plan to establish the ex situ conservation stand with between 50 - 100 families represented.

2. Eaglewood

Eaglewood (or Gaharu, the Indonesian name) is a strongly scented wood product derived from trees of the Gyrinops and Aquilaria genera. It is highly valued by Asian Buddhists and Moslems for its incense, which is used in religious, medicinal, ceremonial and domestic activities.

In the mid 1990s traders established eaglewood (Gyrinops ledermannii) harvesting operations in Sandaun and East Sepik Provinces of Papua New Guinea. The trade has the aura of a modern day gold rush with PNG being the last known frontier of discovery. The species is presently being utilised in an uncontrolled, often illegal, and unsustainable manner. The extremely high prices paid for high quality agar wood and for the essential oil produced from it encouraged the practice of excessive, and indiscriminate cutting of both diseased and healthy trees. This poses a very real threat to PNG populations of eaglewood. Accordingly, development of a conservation and management strategy for the species is now urgently needed.

TRAFFIC Oceania in conjunction with WWF South Pacific Program recently undertook a field survey in the Hunstein Wildlife Management Area in Eastern Province. The purpose of the survey was similar to that for sandalwood and included an awareness campaign. TRAFFIC are presently implementing an awareness campaign to encourage sustainable management of the resource, develop a village based grading strategy and to ensure that the villagers receive the full market price for the wood. As part of the field survey a botanical study determined that the species involved is Gyrinops ledermannii rather than Aquilaria falaria. It still has to be determined whether this is the only species of eaglewood involved in PNG.

Under the PNG domestication and conservation project, FRI in conjunction with CSIRO FFP are planning a series of field surveys covering villages associated with the natural distribution of eaglewood in the Sepik Basin. These surveys have a similar set of aims to those details for sandalwood. Following completion of the surveys, a report will be prepared for submission to the PNGNFS on recommendations for the conservation and management of eaglewood in PNG with application for West Papua. A paper has also been drafted on ‘Aspects of the eaglewood trade in Papua New Guinea’ to be submitted to FAO, Forest Genetic Resources newsletter.

Future possibility

PNG has a rich natural and cultural heritage of indigenous nuts and fruit as for example Canarium, Terminalia and Pometia. Through collaboration with various PNG agencies including the national Agricultural Research Institute and FRI linking with international partners, there is the opportunity for scientific researchers to work along side those with traditional knowledge to further develop these potential important fruit and nut species in order to improve food resources for communities.

ESSENTIAL OILS

CSIRO continues to work with the Papua New Guinea Forest Research Institute and Australian research partners on the project Development of a Sustainable, Community-Based Essential Oil Industry in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea Using the Region's Woody-Plant Species. This receives support from ACIAR, CSIRO, the PNG Government and others.

Further details can be found at:

http://www.ffp.csiro.au/tigr/atscmain/whatwedo/projects/pngoil/pngoil.htm

ACCESS ISSUES

Over the years the approaches to conservation and protection to the biodiversity have resulted in a number of fundamental problems. Most of these problems are related to resource ownership, including land, forests, coral and other marine resources which are traditionally owned and not by the state. This can place long-term security in jeopardy. Compounded with this problem is the dilemma of accessing quick economic gains. To resource owners the development or exploitation of their resources is only a means by which they can gain benefit. In response to meeting the challenges of managing PNG’s mega biodiversity, the Papua New Guinea Institute of Biodiversity (PINBio) has been established with the aim to ensure that the countries conservation objectives are met and at the same time that the potential use of the rich biodiversity is fully explored for the good of the country.

In accordance with managing PNG’s resources a proposed agreement has been drafted relating to the access, collection, transfer/export and use of PNG Marine Biological Materials was signed between PNG Biodiversity Network (PNG BIONET) and CSIRO. Under the proposal, PNG BIONet and CSIRO acknowledge the importance of the biological resources and biological diversity in PNG and any biological research and related studies to be carried out in such a way that it enhances the knowledge, appreciation, conservation and sustainable use of these Resources. CSIRO will also assist PNG in the development of a system for protection of and commercialisation of intellectual property rights legislation.

SPRIG (South Pacific Regional Initiative on Forest Genetic Resources) (With thanks to Dr Lex Thomson and SPRIG partners from Vanuatu, Tonga, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Fiji)

(http://www.ffp.csiro.au/tigr/atscmain/whatwedo/projects/sprig/index.htm)

SPRIG PHASE 2

SPRIG Phase 2 is a five-year regional project in the South Pacific, which commenced on 1 May 2001, and a continuation of the 3-year pilot phase of SPRIG which ran from 1996-2000. The proposal for a second phase followed a strongly supported recommendation from the eighth Pacific heads of Forestry (HoF) meeting held in Nadi, Fiji, in September 1998 that the project should continue beyond the initial pilot phase. A second phase of SPRIG was also strongly endorsed at the Pacific Sub-Regional Workshop on Forest and Tree Genetic Resources held in Apia, Samoa in April 1999.

The project goal of SPRIG Phase 2 is "to help PICs conserve, improve and better promote the wise use of the genetic resources of priority regional trees species to enhance environmental protection and to promote economic and rural development" and its purpose "to strengthen the capacity of the participating Departments and Regional Organisations to conserve, improve and better promote the wise use of priority genetic resources in order to promote sustainable rural development".

The main implementing agencies are CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products (Managing Agent), Queensland Forestry Research Institute and FORTECH Pty Ltd in Australia, relevant South Pacific Regional Organizations (Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) Forestry Program, South Pacific Regional Environmental Program (SPREP) and University of the South Pacific, and the Forestry Departments or equivalent in Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu. The project also work closely with FAO’s Sub-Regional Office for the Pacific Islands (SAPA).

The five components of SPRIG 2 and their objectives are as follows:

Component 1. Institutional strengthening and regional networking:

The main objective is to strengthen the capacity of participating national and regional organisations in the South Pacific in the conservation and development of priority forest and tree genetic resources. Complementary objectives include:

- Facilitating networking of information and germplasm exchange among those working on South Pacific forest and tree genetic resources (including national, regional and international agencies, NGOs, industry, communities and individuals).

- Progressively integrate appropriate SPRIG conservation, tree improvement, training and information activities within national and regional organisations egg SPC, SPREP and USP and national institutions.

Component 2. Conservation and sustainable management of priority species:

The objective of this component is to help target Pacific Island Countries (PICs) to conserve, improve, and better promote the wise use of the genetic resources of priority regional tree species to enhance environmental protection and to promote economic and rural development.

Component 3. Tree improvement:

The objective of this component is to support and enable target PICs in the improvement of priority indigenous and exotic tree species and incorporate tree germplasm into commercial and smallholder plantings.

Recognising the importance of national sovereignty in the exchange of forest genetic resources, the SPRIG partnership has maintained (with small modification) its Code of Conduct for Sharing Germplasm within SPRIG.

Component 4. Demonstrating linkages between conservation, tree improvement and enhanced rural incomes:

The objective of this component is to demonstrate the linkages between conservation of forest and tree genetic resources and tree improvement in maintaining and enhancing sustainable rural incomes.

Component 5. Project Management:

The purpose of this component is to meet stated objectives of the four other components and complete project on time and within budget.