Deforestation in Papua New Guinea
Open-knowledge reference entry
Deforestation in Papua New Guinea has been extensive and in recent decades from 2001 to 2020, Papua New Guinea (PNG) lost 1.57 Mha of tree cover, equivalent to a 3.7% decrease in tree cover since 2000, and 1.15 Gt of CO₂e emissions.
Deforestation in Papua New Guinea is mainly a result of illegal logging, which contributed to 70-90% of all timber exports, one of the highest rates in the world. Illegal logging is linked to corruption, environmental issues and human rights concerns.
The PNG Government is interested in turning the asset into carbon trading revenue through the REDD programme.
April Salome Forest Management Area is a pilot project for REDD initiative by United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Deforestation by region
In Papua New Guinea, the top 5 regions were responsible for 53% of all tree cover loss between 2001 and 2020. Western had the most tree cover loss at 205 kha compared to an average of 71.4 kha
Western, 205 kha
West New Britain, 179 kha
Madang, 158 kha
East New Britain, 156 kha
Sandaun, 139 kha
Legislation, institutions and governance
Legislation
The main legislation governing forestry sector is the Forestry Act 1991, as amended by the Forestry Amendment Act 2019, with additional detail provided in regulations including the Forestry Regulation 1998. Other relevant legislation concerns environmental impact assessment and the collection of royalties.
Institutions
The exportation of timber and the licensing of logging activity in Papua New Guinea is managed by the Papua New Guinea Forestry Authority.
Compliance
International NGOs such as Global Witness have questioned the legality of administration of forest harvesting.
“Deforestation in Papua New Guinea” enters the record as open-knowledge reference entry. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Deforestation, Papua and Guinea can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Deforestation in Papua New Guinea” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Deforestation, Papua and Guinea provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5251687. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2001, 2020, 2000 and 1991.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Deforestation in Papua New Guinea”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Deforestation in Papua New Guinea primary sources, Deforestation in Papua New Guinea archive and Deforestation research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Deforestation in Papua New Guinea”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Deforestation in Papua New Guinea” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.