History of Logging

Commercial logging in Papua New Guinea began in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Interest in the country´s forest resources grew rapidly in the 1990s as supplies from Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines became harder to access, leading to a considerable increase in harvests and export volumes. Log production increased until 1994, but has decreased since then due to the collapse in world markets following the Asian crisis (AusAID 1996, UNDP & FAO 1989, WTO 1999).

A new National Forest Policy was approved in 1990 and a new Forestry Act came into effect in 1992. The act promoted sustainable management, and the guidelines setting out the preferred implementation of the act were released in 1993. Related to this new forest policy, a moratorium on new logging projects was introduced in 1991 and later extended to 1995 (AusAID 1996).

There are indications that sustainable yields were exceeded significantly from 1993 to 1997. Some specific areas are logged-over, such as in the West New Britain and in the New Ireland Provinces, although there has been a gradual increase in the number of species logged since the 1950s (UNDP & FAO 1989, WTO 1999).

last updated: Thursday, October 28, 2004