Oceania has lost almost 80 percent of its frontier forests. About three quarters of what remains is under moderate or high threat.Within the region, the status of forests varies greatly by country and forest type.

New Zealand has lost the highest percentage of frontier forest: less than 10 percent of its original forest cover remains as a frontier. Colonized by the Maori about a thousand years ago, these forests were the last of the world's large land areas to be settled by humans, but clearing for agriculture has destroyed about two thirds of all frontier forests since that date, and another 5 percent or so has been converted to plantations. Although most of New Zealand's remaining frontiers are legally protected, all are threatened by introduced species, such as the Australian brush-tailed possum, which are taking a heavy toll on the nation's endemic flora. [66] [67]

A high percentage of Australia's native species live nowhere else on Earth, and much of this biodiversity resides within the nation's forests. To date, the continent has lost more than 80 percent of its original frontier forest, including large areas of species-rich, unique forest types. Three-fourths of Australia's tropical rainforest, for example, has been cleared since the late 1700s. [68]

Australia's remaining frontier forests are confined largely to Tasmania, Cape York, and the northwestern region. [69] Grazing by feral and domestic animals poses a major threat, and fire management practices are also a major concern in some areas. Logging's toll within many non-frontier areas is a serious problem. Temperate rainforests, now largely fragmented, are still cut in Tasmania and southeastern Australia -- fodder for woodchips for export to Japan, which converts them into paper, packaging materials, and other products. [70][71]

Papua New Guinea (PNG) still possesses large areas of intact tropical forest -- 40 percent of its original forest. Along with neighboring Irian Jaya, PNG is considered a global "biodiversity hotspot." The country probably contains at least 5 percent of the world's species within less than 1 percent of its land area. [72]

About 85 percent of PNG's frontier forests are under moderate or high threat, primarily from logging, agricultural clearing, and mining. One legacy of large clear-felling operations is soil erosion. Sediment washed by rivers to the sea threatens PNG's species-rich coral reefs and coastal fisheries.

References and notes

66. World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the World Conservation Union (IUCN), Centres of Plant Diversity: A Guide and Strategy for their Conservation, Vol. II, (Cambridge: WWF, 1995), p. 449.

67. New Zealand Ministry for the Environment, New Zealand's National Report to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, (Wellington: Ministry for the Environment, 1991), pp. 47-8.

68. World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the World Conservation Union (IUCN), Centres of Plant Diversity: A Guide and Strategy for their Conservation, Vol. II, (Cambridge: WWF, 1995), p. 439.

69. Frontier forests in Northern Australia contain a mix of forest and woodland, including small patches of rainforest.

70. Mark Clayton, "Chipping Away at Australia's Old-Growth Forests," The Christian Science Monitor, April 24, 1996.

71. Nigel Dudley, Forests in Trouble: A Review of the Status of Temperate Forests Worldwide, (Gland, Switzerland: World Wildlife Fund, 1992), pp. 93-5.

72. Department of Environment and Conservation, Conservation Resource Centre, and the Africa Centre for Resources and Environment, Papua New Guinea Country Study on Biological Diversity, (Waigani: Department of Environment and Conservation, 1995), p. 6.