Despite centuries of subsisitence agriculture, today about 80% of 467,00km² of Papua New Guinea land is covered with forests. Commercial logging started in the early seventies and to date, according to one estimate, over 850,000ha have been logged though this figure may be grossly underestimated. While no serious attempts have so far been made to manage the logged-over forests on sustained yield principles, reforestation (and afforestation) has been going on for the past 40 years at a slow pace. To date, about 42,000 hectares of plantations have been raised, of which 37.4% consists of kamarere (Eucalyptus deglupta), 14.1% of Pinusspp., 12.4% of Klinkii pine and 12.1% of Hoop pine. Other successful species are Teak, Eucalyptus robusta, E. grandis, Terminalia brassii, Octomeles sumatrana (Erima) and Acacia mangium. Some enrichment trials have also been conducted in recent years. The species tried are: Pterocarpus indicus (PNG Rosewood), Dracontomelon dao (Walnut), Pometia pinnata(Taun), Anisoptera thurifera (Mersawa), Terminalia brassii, Mahogany and Klinkii pine.
The paper reviews the present status of reforestation, constraints and problems leading to the priorities in research for the management of logged-over forests including the rehabilitation of degraded areas.