Matschies tree kangaroo Dendrolagus matschiei at Bronx Zoo 1 cropped

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

together with the West Papua region of Indonesia (

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

) make up a major tropical

wilderness area Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

that still contains 5% of the original and untouched tropical high-biodiversity terrestrial

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

s. PNG in itself contains over 5% of the world's

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

in less than 1% of the world's total land area. The flora of New Guinea is unique because it has two sources of origin; the Gondwana flora from the south and flora with Asian origin from the west. As a result, New Guinea shares major family and genera with Australia and the East Asia, but is rich in local endemic species. The endemicity is a result of mountainous isolation, topographic and soil habitat heterogeneity, high forest disturbance rates and abundant aseasonal rainfall year round. PNG boasts some 15–21,000 higher plants, 3,000 species of orchids, 800 species of coral, 600 species of

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

, 250 species of

mammals Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur o ...

and 760 species of birds and 8 species of

tree-kangaroo Tree-kangaroos are marsupials of the genus ''Dendrolagus'', adapted for arboreal locomotion. They inhabit the tropical rainforests of New Guinea and far northeastern Queensland, along with some of the islands in the region. All tree-kangaroos ...

s out of which 84 genera of animals are endemic.

Ecosystems An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syst ...

range from lowland forests to montane forests, alpine flora down to coastal areas which contains some of the most extensive pristine mangrove areas in the world. Much of this biodiversity has remained intact for thousands of years because the ruggedness of the terrain made the interior lands inaccessible; furthermore low population density and restrictions on the effectiveness of traditional tools, ensured that these biodiversity was never

overexploited Overexploitation, also called overharvesting, refers to harvesting a renewable resource to the point of diminishing returns. Continued overexploitation can lead to the destruction of the resource, as it will be unable to replenish. The term ap ...

Biodiversity value

Even though this biodiversity is on just 1% of the world land mass, it has both global and local value. Most of the ecosystem service provided by the forests and oceans (e.g.

water cycling The water cycle, also known as the hydrologic cycle or the hydrological cycle, is a biogeochemical cycle that describes the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth. The mass of water on Earth remains fairly cons ...

, carbon cycling) is impartial to

political boundaries Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...

. New Guinea was identified as the world's most floristically diverse island in the world, with 13,634 known species of vascular plants. Within the country, about 79% of the PNG population depend on the biological resource to sustain their physical, spiritual and social livelihoods. The biological resources are a source of food, building material, medicine for minor ailments, logs for canoes. The traditional society revered, and respected nature because it was considered a gift from some ancestor". Currently, the harvesting of natural resource for export is a source of income that sustains the modern PNG economy.

Legal framework

Constitution

The PNG government recognized the relationship between the people and nature and at independence, provision was made in the constitution for "all necessary steps to be taken to give adequate protection to all our valued birds, animals, fish, insects, plants and trees".

Legislation

Currently, biodiversity is explicitly protected by the following legislation: ''Fauna Act/1982'', ''Conservation areas Act/1980, 1992'', the ''Crocodile Trade Act/1982'', and the ''International Trade Act/1982''. Legislation relevant to marine biodiversity includes the ''Fauna (Protection and Control) Act'' (1982), ''Fisheries (Torres Strait Protected Zone) Act'' (1978), the ''Dumping of Wastes at Sea Act'' (1981), the Environmental Contaminants Act (1978), and the ''Fisheries Management Act'' (1998), the ''Whaling Act'' (1974) and ''Prevention of Pollution of the Sea Act'' (1981).

International environmental law

PNG is also a party to international environmental protection conventions and treaties. These international treaties include the International Plant Protection Convention (1951); the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and other matter (1972); the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES); the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (1992); the Convention on Biological Diversity (1992) and the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals. PNG is also in partnership with other nations in the Oceania region and is a signatory to several regional conventions including, the Convention on Conservation of Nature in the South Pacific (APIA Convention) and the Waigani Convention (Convention to Ban the importation into Forum Island Countries of Hazardous and Radioactive Wastes and to Control the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous wastes within the South Pacific Region).

Institutions and organisations

Th
Conservation and Environment Protection Authority
(CEPA) which was formerly Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) until 2014 is the government agency responsible for biodiversity conservation. Its objectives, powers and authority are set out in the establishing Act, the ''Conservation and Environment Protection Authority Act 2014''. The act is expressed to bind the State of PNG (s.3). The PNG government's effort to conserve biodiversity is supported by international environment conservation

Non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from g ...

s (NGOs). The major government research organizations include the Forestry Research Institute (FRI), and the National Agriculture Research Institute (NARI). The government owned universities: the

University of Papua New Guinea The University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) is a university located in Port Moresby, capital of Papua New Guinea. It was established by ordinance of the Australian administration in 1965. This followed the Currie Commission which had enquired ...

(UPNG) and the

University of Technology An institute of technology (also referred to as: technological university, technical university, university of technology, technological educational institute, technical college, polytechnic university or just polytechnic) is an institution of te ...

(UNITECH) also contribute to novel researches into the PNG biodiversity. The government research organizations tend to place emphasis on species with economical value to PNG. The NGOs, on the other hand are the driving force for biodiversity conservation for the sake of conservation. The major international NGO's assisting in biodiversity conservation include: Conservation International (CI), The Binatang Research Centre (BRC),

Wildlife Conservation Society The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is a non-governmental organization headquartered at the Bronx Zoo in New York City, that aims to conserve the world's largest wild places in 14 priority regions. Founded in 1895 as the New York Zoological ...

(WCS),

World Wildlife Fund The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wo ...

(WWF) and

The Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US. Founded in 1951, The Nat ...

(TNC). Some indigenous PNG NGO's remain active, including Partners with Melanesians (PwM), (notably in Managalas in Oro Province and Karimui), Research and Conservation Foundation of PNG (RCF) (operating primarily in Crater Mountain WMA and on environmental education), Tenkile Conservation Alliance(in Sandaun Province), and PNG Institute of Biological Research, but others which had active conservation programmes (Conservation Melanesia, Melanesian Environment Foundation, Village Development Trust, Pacific Heritage Foundation), have largely faded from the scene, leaving conservation today mostly to the PNG offices of the large international conservation organisations; blame for the demise of the homegrown organisations has, in at least one instance, been placed partly on the afore-mentioned international conservation organisations.

Status of biodiversity protection

The effort by the PNG government to protect biodiversity has resulted in 44 existing terrestrial

protected areas Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

using the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources ( IUCN) categories. These protected areas account for 1.6% of the total land area. A study of biodiversity identified a further 398 areas as candidates for conservation. This would increase the total protected areas to 16.8% of the total country area. Included in the PNG protected area list, but not formally recognized by IUCN is the terrestrial Wildlife Management Area (WMA). WMA is an Integrated Conservation and Development Project (ICAD), which seeks to conserve biological diversity by involving landowners. The idea behind the project is that income generating activities, from the biological diversity would encourage people living in these areas to conserve, because such projects would link the value of these resources to living standard and also access to markets. The progress of WMA's is yet to be evaluated. Papua New Guinea's first conservation area, the YUS Conservation Area, was established in 2009 on the

Huon Peninsula Huon Peninsula is a large rugged peninsula on the island of New Guinea in Morobe Province, eastern Papua New Guinea. It is named after French explorer Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec. The peninsula is dominated by the steep Saruwaged and Finisterr ...

Morobe Province Morobe Province is a province on the northern coast of Papua New Guinea. The provincial capital and largest city is Lae. The province covers 33,705 km2, with a population of 674,810 (2011 census), and since the division of Southern Highlands ...

. Apart from local conservation efforts, PNG is also a signatory to international conventions and treaties. These international treaties include: the

International Plant Protection Convention The International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) is a 1951 multilateral treaty overseen by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization that aims to secure coordinated, effective action to prevent and to control the introduction and ...

(1951); the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping Wastes and Other Matter (1972); the

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora CITES (shorter name for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of intern ...

(CITES); the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (1992); the

Convention on Biological Diversity The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), known informally as the Biodiversity Convention, is a multilateral treaty. The Convention has three main goals: the conservation of biological diversity (or biodiversity); the sustainable use of its ...

(1992) and the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals. PNG is also in partnership with other nations in the Oceania region and is a signatory to the regional convention, The Convention on Conservation of Nature in the South Pacific (APIA Convention). PNG has two listed

Ramsar Ramsar may refer to: * Places so named: ** Ramsar, Mazandaran, city in Iran ** Ramsar, Rajasthan, village in India * Eponyms of the Iranian city: ** Ramsar Convention concerning wetlands, signed in Ramsar, Iran ** Ramsar site, wetland listed in ...

sites:

Lake Kutubu Lake Kutubu is the second-largest lake in Papua New Guinea,Lake Kutubu
at Ramsar site after Tonda Wildlife Management Area.

Challenges to the conservation efforts

Despite the provision for conservation in the legal framework, as well as interest shown by the international organizations, it is still a challenge to carry out conservation in PNG.

Land ownership issues

The

land tenure In common law systems, land tenure, from the French verb "tenir" means "to hold", is the legal regime in which land owned by an individual is possessed by someone else who is said to "hold" the land, based on an agreement between both individual ...

, wherein the communities own 97% of the land makes it difficult for the government or any conservation organisation to procure land for conservation. The land is believed to be an inheritance from some mystical ancestor and therefore, cannot be sold to foreigners. Therefore, involving communities in

Wildlife Management Area A Wildlife Management Area (WMA) is a protected area set aside for the conservation of wildlife and for recreational activities involving wildlife. New Zealand There are 11 Wildlife Management Areas in New Zealand: * Horsham Downs Wildlife Man ...

s (WMA) was identified as being compatible with the PNG land tenure system. The PNG constitution recognised this and empowered the landowners to be involved with conservation on their own land. However, the progress of WMA's is yet to be evaluated. The national government can acquire land and land leaseholds are gaining acceptance in PNG.

Economic drivers

PNG raises most of its revenue from the extraction of natural resources; as such environmental destructive developmental projects have always taken precedence over

environmental protection Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment by individuals, organizations and governments. Its objectives are to conserve natural resources and the existing natural environment and, where possible, to repair dam ...

Forestry

The logging industry in PNG has been identified as the main source of widespread overexploitation of forest as well as species dependent on the forests. About 23% of the 50,000-60,000 ha cleared permanently is done by industrial logging. The forest that took millions of years to evolve is deforested at an average rate of 1% per year. The reluctance of government support for conservation can be seen in government documents containing recommendations which are very general with no defined goal for the future of conservation. Papua New Guinea had a 2018

Forest Landscape Integrity Index The Forest Landscape Integrity Index (FLII) is an annual global index of forest condition measured by degree of anthropogenic modification. Created by a team of 48 scientists, the FLII, in its measurement of 300m pixels of forest across the globe ...

mean score of 8.84/10, ranking it 17th globally out of 172 countries.

Population growth rate

The increase in human population (3.2% children per child bearing female) has increased the per capita

consumption Consumption may refer to: *Resource consumption *Tuberculosis, an infectious disease, historically * Consumption (ecology), receipt of energy by consuming other organisms * Consumption (economics), the purchasing of newly produced goods for curren ...

of the biological resources. For instance, the pressure to

hunt Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/ hide, bone/tusks, horn/antler, e ...

big game for food has increased with the growth of population, this situation is exacerbated by the fact that when these animals become rarer, their value will resulting in added pressure to acquire them. The rate and efficiency of

harvesting Harvesting is the process of gathering a ripe crop from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper. On smaller farms with minimal mechanization, harvesting is the most labor- ...

has also increased, aided by modern and efficient harvesting implements. Furthermore, is the misconception by the populace that natural resource is infinite. For instance, some coastal communities practice "

dynamite fishing Blast fishing, fish bombing, dynamite fishing or grenade fishing is a destructive fishing practice using explosives to stun or kill schools of fish for easy collection. This often illegal practice is extremely destructive to the surrounding eco ...

", without knowing that this practice not only kills fish and other marine organisms indiscriminately, it also destroys the coral reefs. Most coastal communities have little understanding how fish stocks are recruited and maintained in the oceans. On the side of forests,

Criticism of international NGOs

There has been strong debate about whether conservation driven by international NGOs is truly sustainable in PNG; certain large integrated conservation-development projects operated by the local offices of these international NGOs has come under fire, and broader complaints have surfaced. The criticism is that international conservation NGOs have become corporate entities in a way that no longer mirrors the way indigenous conservation initiative has naturally evolved in countries prior to their existence.

Climate change

The

effects of climate change The effects of climate change impact the physical environment, ecosystems and human societies. The environmental effects of climate change are broad and far-reaching. They affect the water cycle, oceans, sea and land ice ( glaciers), sea le ...

and the introduction of exotic species add another dimension onto the challenge of conservation. The potential impacts from climate change (changes in geographical range, morphology, physiology and phenology) on terrestrial species are shown to be happening elsewhere; however no formal studies have been conducted on PNG terrestrial species as yet. However, the effects of climate change are definitely showing on the coastlines. Rise in sea level is starting to displace people in low-lying islands. Furthermore,

coral bleaching Coral bleaching is the process when corals become white due to various stressors, such as changes in temperature, light, or nutrients. Bleaching occurs when coral polyps expel the zooxanthellae ( dinoflagellates that are commonly referred to as a ...

, an effect of high temperatures and increased carbon dioxide in oceans was observed from the PNG waters in 1996.

Invasive species

In the case of the introduced species, since the 1950s, 26 species of fresh water fish were introduced into PNG, out of which 11 species are now established in the fresh water systems and competes for resources with the 214 native fresh water species. The Mozambique

tilapia Tilapia ( ) is the common name for nearly a hundred species of cichlid fish from the coelotilapine, coptodonine, heterotilapine, oreochromine, pelmatolapiine, and tilapiine tribes (formerly all were "Tilapiini"), with the economically most ...

(''Oreochromomis mossambica'') was introduced in 1954, as a protein supplement. Currently, the tilapia is very widespread and important as food for some communities. However, it has a negative effect on indigenous fauna in lakes and rivers because of its prolific breeding and bottom feeding habit. Furthermore, studies have shown that the over the years that there has been a decrease in the native fish catch and an increase in the introduced tilapia.Dudgeon, D 1994. The influence of riparian vegetation on macroinvertebrate community structure and functional organization in six new Guinea streams Hydrobiologia 294 : 6 5-85

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conservation In Papua New Guinea Biodiversity Biota of Papua New Guinea Protected areas of Papua New Guinea