Sustainability of wood-use in remote forest-dependent communities of Papua New Guinea

The volume of construction wood currently harvested across YUS was approximately 11% the annual increase in timber volumes in available and accessible natural forest. Under this wood use rate and projected population growth (2.5-4%) these communities can harvest construction wood at a sustainable rate for between 55 and 90 years. Nonetheless, we demonstrate that the CO2 emissions from wood extraction, and in particular fuelwood, are high; approaching 1.15 tonnes CO2 person−1 year−1. Household surveys revealed that all smallholders had a strong interest in planting trees for production of wood for house construction, which could reduce pressures on forests and compensate for CO2 emissions.