Background and Objectives:
The background to this study is concerns that have been raised over the years of the social and environmental impacts of timber operations in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The aims of this report are to examine social and environmental risks inherent in the procurement of timber from PNG and to review current initiatives and trends towards legal verification and sustainability certification in PNG from the perspective of whether these reduce the social and environmental risks of timber procurement.

A new woody biomass procurement project, launched by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), has attracted support from Forestry Research Associates (FRA).

The research and advisory consultancy provides fresh outlooks and consultancy services on all matters surrounding forestry investment, sustainability and forestry management and has spoken out in support of the new pilot scheme. The plan is to support sustainable forestry management by helping US-based bioenergy companies to purchase woody biomass.