About Papua New Guinea (PNG)

PNG is a 28 year old democracy occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea. Due to its incredibly rough terrain it is home to over 600 distinct cultures and languages with an equally rich biodiversity.

Ecosystems from mangroves to alpine meadows are among the most pristine in the world, thanks to the low human population and short history of foreign exploitation. PNG is one of the last places on Earth where there is a reasonable hope of conserving large tracts of rainforests intact. But there is little time to fulfill this opportunity. Logging is denuding much of the island and mines are silting and poisoning the rivers; economic growth must become more ecologically sound or PNG's future generations will pay the price.

Because of the ruggedness and isolation, development in PNG is far behind most of the world. Although this may be good for the flora and fauna, it means the people of PNG suffer from poor education and lack the capacity to sustainably manage resources in the face of foreign interests.

Despite a strong constitutional guarantee to protect natural resources, PNG lacks the data and trained conservationists needed to do this. Basic ecological research in PNG lags far behind most tropical countries. There are only a handful of Papuan biologists and few have the resources to undertake field studies. The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), with generous funding from the MacArthur Foundation and the Christensen Fund, is striving to correct these deficiencies with its conservation, research and capacity-building program.
 

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Wildlife Conservation Society's PNG Program
P.O. Box 277, Goroka EHP
Papua New Guinea
dwright@wcs.org

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