Drivers of deforestation in New Guinea

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Here we explore the drivers of deforestation in New Guinea

New Guinea is a large island separated by the shallow Torres Strait from the rest of the Australian continent. It is the world's second-largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 785,753 km2 (303,381 sq mi), and the largest island wholly or partly within the Southern Hemisphere and Oceania. The eastern half of the island is the major land mass of the independent state of Papua New Guinea. The western half, known as Western New Guinea or Papua,  forms a part of Indonesia and comprises the provinces of Papua and West Papua.

This region harbors one of the Pacific’s last remaining expanses of old-growth tropical forest. The recent expansion of industrial plantations and road developments indicate that change is on the horizon.