J. Dobunaba
1and T. Kosi
1Abstract
Papua New Guinea is largely covered with forest (78% of land area) of which 3% has been com- mercially logged and about one-third is inaccessible to conventional logging techniques. Forestry accounts for 20% of the Nations export earnings. Two species of Toona (T. ciliata M. Roem. and
T. sureni (Blume) Merr.) are harvested in a sustainable manner from native forests with less than
800 m3 of each species extracted each year. None of these species are grown in plantations. No
exotic species of Meliaceae are grown in plantations in Papua New Guinea, largely because of the presence of Hypsipyla robusta (Moore). No research is currently being undertaken on this pest.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA is well forested with more than 78% of the total area dominated by natural forest. Of the forest area, only about 3% has been influenced by industrial logging operations. However, because of the extremely mountainous terrain which is typical of most of the country, it is probable that no more than 42% could be harvested by conventional techniques. The total accessible area of forest is about 12.6 million ha, of which 3.75 million ha is not productive and a further 0.88 million ha is a buffer area around productive forest areas. Therefore, the total area of accessible productive forest is about 7.97 million ha with an estimated gross volume of about 170 million m3. The best current estimate of annual
sustainable yield is 4.9 million m3. Harvesting
operations will leave sufficient advanced growth to enable an equivalent volume to be harvested at the end of a 35-year cutting cycle.
Forestry has recently assumed a much greater level of importance to the national economy. Throughout the 1980s and the early 1990s, forestry contributed an average of less than 100 million kina (PGK) in annual export earnings. This represented around 6%–8% of the nations total export earnings. Howeve,r this has increased markedly due to the sig- nificant rise in the price of timber in 1993, with forestry contributing an anticipated 20% of the export earnings in 1994 (approximately 512 million PGK). The value of forest products exceeded all
other agriculture and fisheries exports by more than 50% and was second in export revenue only to the non-renewable resources sector of oil and minerals (Figure 1). The total volume exported during 1994 was 3.1 million m3 of sawn timber valued at
5.9 million PGK which was exported mainly to Australia and New Zealand. Woodchip sales to Japan amounted to 4 million PGK.
While Papua New Guinea is ninth among tropical countries in terms of forest area, its timber output is relatively low due to the large areas of inaccessible forest. Currently, the main consumers of logs are Japan (68%), Korea (22%) and Hong Kong (5%).
Relatively small but significant areas of plantations are found in several localities (Table 1). The most important is the 13 000 ha of government owned and managed plantations of Araucaria cunninghamii Aiton ex D. Don and A. hunsteinii Schumann in the Wau/Bulolo area. These support a plywood mill and associated processing industries at Bulolo. In the Madang area, 11 000 ha of privately owned hardwood plantations of predominantly Acacia mangium Willd. contribute to the wood supply for a chip mill. Other significant areas of industrial plantations are at several localities in New Britain where 17 600 ha of plantations (mainly Eucalyptus deglupta Blume) have been established and are approaching maturity.
Plantation establishment rates are not expected to exceed the present target of 4000 ha per year for the foreseeable future. Lack of funds and the risks associated with land tenure security are significant problems in expanding the plantation resources. 1Papua New Guinea Forest Research Institute, PO Box
34
Figure 1. Contribution of the three major export sectors to Papua New Guinea total exports.
Economic Importance and Success of
Swietenioideae Species
Two species of the subfamily Swietenioideae of the family Meliaceae, Toona ciliata M. Roem. and T. sureni (Blume) Merr. occur in native forest in Papua New Guinea. These scattered trees are harvested by large private companies, producing a total of less than 800 m3 per year of timber. The exact amount
harvested of each species is not known since both species are harvested under the trade name of ‘Toona’. The current rate of harvesting of these species from native forest is considered sustainable. There are no commercial plantations of Toona spp. or any other species of Swietenioideae in Papua New Guinea due to the severe damage caused by Hypsipyla robusta (Moore).
Hypsipyla robusta Research and Future
Directions
There is no current research into H. robusta in Papua New Guinea and only limited research has been undertaken in the past year because the focus has been on harvesting Toona spp. from native forest rather than growing these and related species in plantations.
In the Bulolo area (Morobe Province) in 1974, three line plantings of T. ciliata were established (3 m between lines) for experimental purposes on an area of open grassland dominated by Imperata cylindrica (L.) Beauv. Trees were established from cuttings treated with indole-acetic acid and indole- butyric acid (Merrifield and Howcroft 1975) since seedlings were unavailable. The trial was aborted
Kina (million)
Oil & Minerals Forestry Agriculture & Fisheries
1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 2000 1500 1000 500 0