Testing the utility of the north Queensland rainforest growth and timber yield model in Papua New Guinea

• Center for International Forestry Research, Indonesia
• Papua New Guinea Forest Management Institute, Papua New Guinea

With an appropriate management system, timber extraction can proceed in many types of tropical rainforest with relatively little impact on the forest ecosystem, biological diversity and other non-timber services. A management system developed for north Queensland used a computer model that could make projections for forest growth and the sustainability of planned levels of timber harvesting as well as assess the impact of timber removals on forest diversity and structure. Papua New Guinea has an extensive timber industry and researchers in PNG need the capacity to measure and model forest growth. This small project aims to test the applicability of the Queensland model and to develop the skills of PNG scientists in plot establishment, data handling, verification and analysis, and growth model development and application.