WCS 3-Sentence Science

PNG on Road to Ruin

August 8, 2019

CREDIT: JULIE LARSEN MAHER/WCS

Each year, Wildlife Conservation Society scientists publish more than 300 peer-reviewed studies and papers. “WCS 3-Sentence Science” is a regular tip-sheet — in bite sized helpings — of some of this published work.

Here we present work by WCS’s Papua New Guinea program investigating the possible impact of an expanded network of roads on local species.

1. Papua New Guinea has the third largest tropical rainforest on the planet.
2. Using fine-scale biophysical and environmental data, researchers assessed a plan that calls for doubling PNG’s road network over the next three years.
3. The team found that roads would dissect more than 50 of PNG’s critical habitats home to rare species as Goodfellow’s and Matchie’s tree kangaroos and several birds of paradise, and would open up areas to hunting, logging, and land-conversion, including carbon-rich peatlands.

Study and Journal: “Infrastructure expansion challenges sustainable development in Papua New Guinea” from PLOS ONE
WCS Co-Author(s): T. Mutton, WCS PNG Program; A. Brenier, WCS PNG Program

For more information, contact: Stephen Sautner, 718–220–3682, ssautner@wcs.org.