Country Profile - Papua New Guinea

Situated just south of the equator, Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a country with great geographical, cultural and linguistic diversity. It is also rich in natural resources. One of the largest nations in the Pacific, PNG consists of a mainland (85% of the land mass), which is the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and some 600 smaller islands. The largest and most important of these are New Britain, New Ireland, Bourgainville and Manus. The country is dominated by a central spine of mountains, the Owen Stanley Range, with many peaks over 4,000m. Much of the country is covered by tropical rainforest.

The climate of PNG is typically monsoonal: hot and humid with defined wet (December to March) and dry (May to October) seasons, but subject to regional variation (especially in the islands). Most of the country receives more than 2,000 mm of rain per year, although some areas receive up to five times this much. In extreme rainfall areas, such as New Britain, the annual rainfall can exceed 6m per year. Temperatures in coastal regions can vary from 23-30°C whilst highland areas are considerably cooler with temperatures occasionally falling to 0°C. The heavy rainfall gives rise to, and nourishes, the vast rain forests that cover over 70% of PNG. A further 10% is covered with woodland. Other habitats include savana, delta plains, mangrove swamps and, in the surrounding waters, coral atolls. The lowland rainforests, in particular, give rise to a rich diversity of plant and animal life. Over 9000 species of plants, 700 species of birds and 250 species of mammals can be found throughout the islands. The World's largest butterfly, the Queen Alexandra Birdwing and scarab beetles (which are often used as body ornaments) can also be found here.

PNG is a relatively young country, gaining its independence from Australia in 1975 and, after 23 years, the country is relatively stable politically and economically. Yet, despite its wealth of resources and exports of gold, copper, oil and timber, most of PNG's people still survive by subsistence agriculture. Infant mortality is high and life expectancy is among the lowest in the Pacific. Large numbers of people live in rural, often inaccessible areas and many of those living in and around cities remain without access to clean water and sanitation. Exploitation of the natural resources has been hampered by the rugged terrain and the high cost of developing an infrastructure. Budgetary support from Australia and development aid under the auspices of the World Bank have helped sustain the economy but the value of the currency, the kina, has fallen sharply, prompting high inflation. The strength of the dollar also means an increase in the burden of debts with millions of extra kina having to be found to service loan obligations each year.

The country has traditionally relied on primary exports, which are vulnerable to external factors, such as world price fluctuations or bad weather. In 1997, the severe drought in PNG caused copper and gold production to fall, because low water levels affected mining operations. Agricultural commodities, such as coffee, cocoa and copra, also contribute significantly to export earnings but most of the local production is exported in raw form instead of being processed and packaged in PNG. At the same time, 60% of the raw materials used in the formal sector are imported.

Provincial industries

PNG is divided into 20 provinces but within each province there are many different tribal groupings with different languages (there are over 800 in PNG) and cultural practices. Some of the provincial industries are based on traditional activities (garden agriculture and fishing) whilst newer industries are often based on the exploitation of mineral resources and tourism.

In the Eastern Highlands, honey is exported to Germany and trout (in fish farm), coffee, citrus, potatoes, cattle goats and sheep are all being produced on a commercial scale. Traditional methods still endure though and, in practice, it is still the women who do most of the farming. In the W. Highlands, agriculture has also continued to flourish and the province has become one of the free enterprise models for the rest of the country. Businesses thrive and farmers have learnt to form themselves into companies to protect their interests. A neat patchwork of garden farms produces a diversity of crops including spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, broad beans, cucumbers, bananas and sugar cane as well as the traditional sweet potato.

Morobe province is seen as being the industrial/manufacturing/commercial centre for PNG. The Markham valley grows copra, cocoa and tea for export and forest based industries are also important. In addition, at Lae, there are many mills and factories, including the largest fish canning factory in the Pacific.

Madang is another region that has a reasonably well developed infrastructure. The main industry is timber, but there are also significant amounts of copra, cocoa, cardamom and chillies grown. In addition, plans are being made for two canning factories to service Philippine tuna boats, which have been fishing local waters since 1990. Most of PNG's timber products are in the form of crude logs, the rest is mainly woodchips. However, the Ministry of Forestry aims to encourage the export of processed timbers to add value, provide employment and increase the sustainability of PNG's forests. Manufactured products are also likely to increase as new export markets for furniture expand.

Of the island provinces, East New Britain represents the major centre of commerce for the islands of PNG although the capital, Rabual, is still recovering from a major volcanic eruption in 1995 which destroyed much of the town. The major industries on the islands are forestry fishing, cocoa and coconut.

In New Ireland, declining German colonial plantations have been turned into productive palm oil and copra plantations. These have their own mills, tanks and wharf where oil is shipped to Malaysia for manufacture of foodstuffs. New Ireland is also famous for its fishing skills and has the only Fisheries College in PNG.

The smallest and least visited of the island provinces, Manus is peopled with farmers and fishermen. Fishing is of local value but cocoa and timber are important as exports. However, the most distinctive feature of the province, is its excellent standard of education. All children receive four years compulsory schooling with those in remote areas studying by correspondence. Many of the Manusians go on to further study on mainland PNG to become well-paid professionals.

The island most recently in the news is Bourgainville, which is part of the North Solomons Province. Geographically and ethnically separate from the rest of PNG, a ten year secessionist conflict ended last year with the infrastructure developed from the Panguna Mine destroyed as a result of the war, and many of the people living in care centres. The Mine closed in 1989 but was formerly one of the largest copper producers in the world. Gold and silver were also extracted which, with the copper, accounted for almost 20% of the GNP. However, the open cast mining had caused enormous damage to the environment and to the indigenous practices of local people and has been a major cause of the troubles in Bourgainville. The island is covered with dense jungle but coconut and copra plantations cover much of the coastal areas.

Back to top