PORT MORESBY (Pacnews) — Papua New Guinea’s forest resources are almost finished as far as commercial logging goes. That is the conclusion in a devastating new report published this week.
The report shows that PNG has already lost most of its high commercial value forests, and that most current logging operations are operating on an unsustainable basis.
“This report gives us the first clear picture of what is happening to our forests and shows us the truth behind industry claims that the logging industry is in decline,” says the PNG Eco-Forestry Forum. “The decline is not because of high taxes or low prices, but because the overseas loggers are cutting in an unsustainable way and using up the forest areas in just a few years.”
According to the Forum, “The logging industry has already finished most of our high value forest in the New Guinea island region and what we have left is only the low volume and inaccessible forests of Western and West Sepik Provinces.”
