Papua New Guinea Environment - 2024

Environment - current issues

rain forest loss as a result of growing commercial demand for tropical timber; unsustainable logging practices result in soil erosion, water quality degredation, and loss of habitat and biodiversity; large-scale mining projects cause adverse impacts on forests and water quality (discharge of heavy metals, cyanide, and acids into rivers); severe drought; inappropriate farming practices accelerate land degradion (soil erosion, siltation, loss of soil fertility); destructive fishing practices and coastal pollution due to run-off from land-based activities and oil spills

Environment - international agreements

party to: Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified: Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban

Climate

tropical; northwest monsoon (December to March), southeast monsoon (May to October); slight seasonal temperature variation

Land use

agricultural land: 2.6% (2018 est.)

arable land: 0.7% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 1.5% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 0.4% (2018 est.)

forest: 63.1% (2018 est.)

other: 34.3% (2018 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 13.7% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization: 2.91% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Revenue from forest resources

2.08% of GDP (2018 est.)

Revenue from coal

0% of GDP (2018 est.)

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 8.89 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 7.54 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 11.05 megatons (2020 est.)

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 1 million tons (2014 est.)

municipal solid waste recycled annually: 20,000 tons (2016 est.)

percent of municipal solid waste recycled: 2% (2016 est.)

Major rivers (by length in km)

Sepik river source and mouth (shared with Indonesia) - 1,126 km; Fly river source and mouth (shared with Indonesia) - 1,050 km

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 220 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

industrial: 170 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

agricultural: 1 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

Total renewable water resources

801 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)