So much literature has been written about PNGRIS (Keig and Quigley 1995) and the usage of its datasets for various analysis Nix, H. A et al (2000) even to this day. From these references it is known that PNG occupies approximately 464,100 km2 of landmass excluding the maritime area out of which Peat-soils occupy 17% (~78,830 km2). From visual inspection of the PNGRIS Peat-soils Map and Peat Depth obtained from Tropical SubTropical - CIFOR Peatlands Imagery showed degradation of Peat-soils especially in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Out of the total peatland area of 78,837 km2, the Highlands Region occupies ~15% or 11, 988 km2. The Southern Region occupies 47% or 37,337 km2, of which Western Province tops the lot with 20,849 km2 even though 4 out of the Total 7 Peat soil Types, namely Tropohemist, Tropofribists, Tropofolists and Cryofolists were represented. The Momase Region occupies 35% or 27,468 km2 of which East Sepik Province tops the lot with 19,703 km2 with 6 out 7 represented – no data for cryofribists were recorded. The New Guinea Islands Region occupied the lowest with 2.6% or 2032 km2 with North Solomons Province occupying just below a thousand km2.
Using ArcGIS Toolboxes (Clip, Reclass and Poly - Shapefiles), 1 to 10 metre shapefiles were derived. No further cleaning was done due to the crude resolution and accuracy of the data. It was however noted that although the area occupied by the pockets of peat-depth shapefiles was so minuscule, it also provided vital information for inclusion as updates for the outdated PNGRIS dataset.
Table 1: Presence / Absence
| Peatsoil | Tot Area km2 |
| Troposaprist | 2093.048 |
| Tropohemist | 35,701 |
| Tropfribists | 22,676 |
| Tropofolists | 7586.96835 |
| Sulfihemists | 385.73941 |
| Cryofribists | 99 |
| Cryofolists | 10,295 |
Table 1: Presence / Absence by Province
