Mangrove forests fringe large parts of the coast and form very extensive stands along the Gulf of Papua, near Lae and Madang and in the Sepik estuary. They also occur elsewhere in smaller stands. Most of the mangrove area is very sparsely populated and almost virgin.
The general zonation of the mangrove communities appears to be similar to that of South-east Asia and is dominated by Rhizophoraceae. In the Papuan Gulf, Rhizophora sp. and Bruguiera sp. are most common and frequently attain large dimensions.
FAO, UNEP. 1981. Tropical Forest Resourcess Assesment Project, Forest Resources of Tropical Asia. FAO, UNEP, 475 pp.
Year |
Area |
Source |
Trend |
Methodology/Comments |
1965 |
553 000 |
FAO, UNEP. 1981. Tropical Forest Resourcess Assesment Project, Forest Resources of Tropical Asia. FAO, UNEP, 475 pp. |
X |
Map analysis. 1:1 000 000 aerial photographs of years 1943 to 1972. The “Year” is the average year provided in the document. |
1970 |
539 900 |
Spalding, M.D., Blasco, F. and Field, C.D., eds. 1997. World Mangrove Atlas. The International Society for Mangrove Ecosystems, Okinawa, Japan. 178 pp. |
X |
Map analysis. Scale 1:500 000. |
1975 |
601 600 |
McAlpine, J. and J. Quigley. 1998. Forest Resources of Papua New Guinea. Summary of Statistics from the Forest Inventory Mapping (FIM) System. Prepared by Coffey M.P.W.P. for AusAID and PNG National Forest Authority. Port Moresby. |
X |
The FIM provides maps and information for the whole of PNG on areas of forest and non-forest vegetation type, including land use, as at 1975. The figure reported in the table at the beginning of the book is 605 000 ha, while the sum of the figures provided for the breakdown is 601 600 ha. |
1980 |
200 000 |
Dahl, A.L. 1980. Regional ecosystem survey of the South Pacific Area. SPC/IUCN Technical Paper 179. South Pacific Commission, Noumea, New Caledonia, 99pp. |
Cited in: Fisher, P and Spalding, M.D. 1993. Protected areas with mangrove habitat. Draft Report World Conservation Centre, Cambridge, UK. 60 pp. The figure is considered an under estimate. | |
1983 |
411 600 |
Saenger, P., Hegerl E.J. and J.D.S., Davie. 1983. Global status of mangrove ecosystems. Commission on Ecology Papers No.3. IUCN. Gland, Switzerland. 88 pp. |
Secondary reference, no primary source provided. The "Year" is the publication year. | |
1985 |
500 000 |
FAO. 1985. Mangrove forest study. Based on the work of Ong, J.E. Field document PNG/84/001/A/01/12. FAO, Rome 23 pp. |
Secondary reference, no primary source provided. The "Year" is the publication year. Rough estimate | |
1993 |
464 000 |
Saunders, J. 1993. Agriculture land use of Papua New Guinea: Explanatory Notes to Map. PNGRIS Publication No. 1. AIDAB, Canberra. |
X |
Cited in: European Forest Institute, 2000. Country Report - Papua New Guinea. http://www.efi.fi/cis/english/creports/ |
1994 |
550 942 |
FIMS, NFS Papua New Guinea. 1994 |
Cited by: Sabuin, T. 2001. Status of Mangrove Wetland protection and sustainable use in Papua New Guinea. In: proceedings of the Regional Workshop Mangrove Wetland Protection & Sustainable Use. Marine Studies Centre, USP Suva, June 12-16, 2001. The "Year" is the publication year. | |
2000 |
462 700 |
World Resources Institute. 2000. World resources 2000-2001: people and ecosystem—the fraying web of life. Washington, DC., UNDP. 400 pp. |
Secondary reference, no primary source provided. The "Year" is the publication year. | |
2000 |
410 000 |
Aizpuru, M., Achard, F., and Blasco, F. 2000. Global Assessment of Cover Change of the Mangrove Forests using satellite imagery at medium to high resolution. In EEC Research project n 15017-1999-05 FIED ISP FR – Joint Research center, Ispra. |
Secondary reference, no primary source provided. The "Year" is the publication year. This figure could be based on Saenger et al., 1983 (see above) |
The 2000 estimate is based on expert estimate.
