At least six species of marine turtle,are found in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The only survey of their distr~butiQn known to me was done by Sylvia Spring, ten years ago. This report records the' reslilts of a survey on turtles which I conducted 'between Februaryartd June 1989.
Tourism to the Pacific is increasing and will be a key driver of economic growth in the coming decade. Yet despite more visitors to the Pacific, tourism growth is not inevitable for all countries in the region.
People have adequate food security when households have the capacity to access sufficient food at all times, either through self-production or through market purchases. Overall, food security is high in PNG as most rural people have access to land and can grow most of their food requirements. The food security situation is considerably better in PNG now than it was before the Pacific war. This is because high-yielding staple crops have been adopted and people have access to cash income that can be used to purchase food.
The Hindenburg Wall, along with the Muller Range and Nakanai Mountains, is a part of a proposed UNESCO World Heritage Site called The Sublime Karst of Papua New Guinea (Hamilton-Smith 2006). This survey document reports on a biodiversity assessment undertaken by the Wildlife Conservation Society Papua New Guinea (WCS), financed by the Papua New Guinea Sustainable Development Program Ltd (PNGSDP), and undertaken in partnership with the Papua New Guinea Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC).
The first European to succeed in entering the highlands of central New Guinea was Richard Thurnwald, a member of the Kaiserin-Augusta-Fluss Expedition of 1912-13. He arrived at the source basin of the Sepik River (in the Telefomin vicinity) on 19 September 1914. It was either Richard Thurnwald or Walter Behrmann, the expedition geographer, who named the high mountains south of the source basin of the Sepik, the Hindenburg Range.
Much of the world’s tropical forests have been affected by anthropogenic disturbance. These forests are important biodiversity reservoirs whose diversity, structure and function must be characterized across the successional equence. We examined changes in structure and diversity along a successional gradient in the lowlands of New Guinea. To do this, we measured and identified all stems ≥5 cm diameter in 19 0.25 ha plots ranging in age from 3 to >50 yr since disturbance. We also measured plant functional traits related to establishment, performance, and competitive ability.
Biosafety issues are becoming very contentious today given the uncertainty of the impact of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on the environment, biodiversity and the people. There are those that view GMOs as an answer to alleviating world hunger and mitigating global health problems through the introduction of new and technologically advanced GMO for food, feed, food processing and pharmaceuticals. Then there is the other group that argue that GMOs pose a risk to the environment, biological diversity and the safety and health of the people.
The relatively remote islands of Manus and Mussau, located in the northern portion of the Bismark sea have been long identified as key biodiversity areas in Papua New Guinea and within greater Melanesia. Manus Island has long been known for its endemism and relatively intact forest, while Mussau Island, although relatively unstudied, has been ecognised as an Endemic Bird Area.
Coral bleaching events around the world appear to be increasing in frequency and severity, with the 2002 bleaching events reportedly causing greater coral mortality than those in 1998. The primary driver is global (i.e. excessive CO2 production in industrial countries), while the impact is local, and highly variable. Ecological, and consequent socio-economic impacts of coral bleaching may not be measurable in relatively lightly bleached areas, such as Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea, for perhaps 10 or more years, though medium to long term (10-50 years) impacts might well be dramatic.
Papua New Guinea (PNG) is the largest Pacific Island country in total land area (some 460,000 square kilometers (sq
km) and second in respect to ocean area (some 3 million sq km within its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). PNG’s
population of over some 6 million people is sparsely distributed: population density strands at about 9 people per
sq km which is the lowest in the south pacific region.
The corals reefs of Australia and Papua New Guinea cover 19% of the world’s total reef area and contain levels of biological diversity approaching the ‘hot spots’ of the Philippines and Indonesia. Human pressures on these reefs are lower than in other parts of the world (particularly SE Asia). The reefs of eastern Australia, particularly the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), have a long history of research and monitoring and world leading management.
Coral Reefs, Seagrass beds, mangroves, sand and mud shore and intertidal flats, Barrier dunes and their associated lagoons, deltaic floodplains and estuaries, rocky shorelines, reef walls and drop-off areas, sea mounts form the complex marine habitats of PNG. Marine organisms associated with this array of habitats are important components of the rich marine biodiversity of Papua New Guinea.
In the New Guinea region, the late-Quaternary environment since humans arrived 40,000- 60,000 years ago was affected by altitudinal fluctuations of vegetation zonation in the highlands and sea-level changes around the coasts, both linked to the glacial cycle, with significant changes around the Last Glacial Maximum and less dramatic adjustments consequent on the high-sea-level stand in the mid Holocene.
This first BUR presents an overview of PNG’s national circumstances relevant to climate change, summary results of the inventory of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks for years 2000 through to 2015, and also presents information related to identified mitigation actions; constraints and gaps; the financial support received in relation to climate change activities and related financial, technical and capacity needs, including a description of support needed and received; information on national circumstances and institutional arrangements relevant to the preparation of n
This Initial National Communication contains a series of activities implemented by the Government of Papua New Guinea (GoPNG) in consultation with communities and nongovernment organisations since 1998. The Office of the Environment and Conservation (OEC) was tasked to co-ordinate the implementation of the initiative with UNDP and the appointed Coordinator to manage the project.