Panels & Furniture Asia January/February 2021

ENVIRONMENT REPORT
Inside the forests of
Papua New Guinea
By Jo-Ann Teo
According to 2020 data, PNG has a population
of around 8,947,000, of which approximately
13% live in urbanised areas. Around 98% of
the population is Melanesian, while the rest
are Micronesian, Polynesian, Chinese and
Western. According to Ethnologue, PNG has
839 living indigenous languages, and the
official languages include English, Tok Pisin
and Hiri Motu.
Vector by: https://freevectormaps.com
Papua New Guinea is one of the most
culturally diverse countries in the world
yet one of the least explored. This article
provides readers with an introduction to
this island country, and summarises the
findings of a Chinese company’s research
endeavours to in a bid to develop 780,000
ha of land for large-scale agricultural and
forestry utilisation.
NATURAL RESOURCES
PNG is the world’s third largest island
country, and is culturally and geographically
one of the least explored. With such a vast
number of natural resources, researchers
believe that there are many species of
flora and fauna waiting to be discovered.
The country has an abundance of mineral
resources such as copper, gold, chromium,
nickel, submarine natural gas and oil, as well
as forest resources.
According to the Global Forest Resources
Assessment 2020 by the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations, PNG is
among the top ten countries in the world
with the highest percentage of forest area
compared to total land area, with almost 35.86
million hectares (76%). 1
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Papua New Guinea (PNG) is an Oceanian
island country located in the southwestern
Pacific Ocean, to the north of Australia and
east of Indonesia’s Irian Jaya Province. Made
up of the eastern half of New Guinea; the
Bismarck Archipelago; Bougainville Island;
Buka Island; as well as hundreds of small
offshore islands and atolls, PNG has a total
surface area of approximately 462,840 km 2 . Its
capital and largest city, Port Moresby, sits on the
southwestern coast of the island of New Guinea.
Photo: JulesR / Pixabay
Sitting on the Pacific Ring of Fire, Papua New Guinea
is home to a large number of active volcanoes
26 Panels & Furniture Asia | January / February 2021