Papua New Guinea[a] is a country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and its offshore islands in Melanesia (a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean north of Australia). Officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea[13] (Tok Pisin: Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; Hiri Motu: Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), it shares its only land border with Indonesia to the west and it is directly adjacent to Australia to the south and the Solomon Islands to the east. Its capital, located along its southeastern coast, is Port Moresby. The country is the world's third largest island country, with an area of 462,840 km2 (178,700 sq mi).[14]
At the national level, after being ruled by three external powers since 1883, including nearly 60 years of Australian administration starting during World War I, Papua New Guinea established its sovereignty in 1975, becoming an independent Commonwealth realm with Elizabeth II as its queen. Since Elizabeth II's death in 2022, Charles III has been the country's king. It is also a member of the Commonwealth of Nations in its own right.
There are 839 known languages of Papua New Guinea, making it the most linguistically diverse country in the world.[5] It is also one of the most rural countries, with only 13.25% of its population living in urban centres in 2019.[15] Most of its people live in customary communities.[16] Although government estimates reported the country's population to be 9.4 million, it was reported in December 2022 that its population was in fact closer to 17 million.[17][18] Papua New Guinea is the most populous Pacific island country.
The country is believed to be the home of many undocumented species of plants and animals.[19]
The sovereign state is classified as a developing economy by the International Monetary Fund;[20] nearly 40% of the population are subsistence farmers, living relatively independently of the cash economy.[21] Their traditional social groupings are explicitly acknowledged by the Papua New Guinea Constitution, which expresses the wish for "traditional villages and communities to remain as viable units of Papua New Guinean society"[22] and protects their continuing importance to local and national community life.
lowland rain forests – forested islands to the north of the mainland, home to a distinct flora.
Admiralty Islands
Green tropical rainforest of Papua New Guinea bears a sharp contrast to nearby arid Australia.
Central Range montane rain forests
montane rain forests
Huon Peninsula
rain forests
Louisiade Archipelago
New Britain-New Ireland lowland rain forests
New Britain-New Ireland montane rain forests
New Guinea mangroves
Northern New Guinea lowland rain and freshwater swamp forests
Northern New Guinea montane rain forests
(includes Bougainville Island and Buka)
Solomon Islands rain forests
Southeastern Papuan rain forests
Southern New Guinea freshwater swamp forests
Southern New Guinea lowland rain forests
Trobriand Islands rain forests
Trans-Fly savanna and grasslands
Central Range sub-alpine grasslands
emerging industrial technology for downstream processing;
infrastructure technology for the economic corridors;
knowledge-based technology;
science and engineering education; and
to reach the target of investing 5% of GDP in research and development by 2050. (Papua New Guinea invested 0.03% of GDP in research and development in 2016.)
[148]
Papua New Guinea's National Vision 2050 was adopted in 2009. This has led to the establishment of the Research, Science and Technology Council. At its gathering in November 2014, the Council re-emphasised the need to focus on sustainable development through science and technology.[147]
In 2016, women accounted for 33.2% of researchers in Papua New Guinea.[148]
According to Thomson Reuters' Web of Science, Papua New Guinea had the largest number of publications (110) among Pacific Island states in 2014, followed by Fiji (106). Nine out of ten scientific publications from Papua New Guinea focused on immunology, genetics, biotechnology and microbiology. Nine out of ten were also co-authored by scientists from other countries, mainly Australia, the United States of America, United Kingdom, Spain and Switzerland.[147]
In 2019, Papua New Guinea took second place among Pacific Island states with 253 publications, behind Fiji with 303 publications, in the Scopus (Elsevier) database of scientific publications.[148] Health sciences accounted for 49% of these publications.[148] Papua New Guinea's top scientific collaborators over 2017 to 2019 were Australia, the United States of America, United Kingdom, France and India.[148]
Forestry is an important economic resource for Papua New Guinea, but the industry uses low and semi-intensive technological inputs. As a result, product ranges are limited to sawed timber, veneer, plywood, block board, moulding, poles and posts and wood chips. Only a few limited finished products are exported. Lack of automated machinery, coupled with inadequately trained local technical personnel, are some of the obstacles to introducing automated machinery and design.[147]
Renewable energy sources represent two-thirds of the total electricity supply.[147] In 2015, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community observed that, 'while Fiji, Papua New Guinea, and Samoa are leading the way with large-scale hydropower projects, there is enormous potential to expand the deployment of other renewable energy options such as solar, wind, geothermal and ocean-based energy sources'.[149] The European Union funded the Renewable Energy in Pacific Island Countries Developing Skills and Capacity programme (EPIC) over 2013 to 2017. The programme developed a master's programme in renewable energy management, accredited in 2016, at the University of Papua New Guinea and helped to establish a Centre of Renewable Energy at the same university.[148]
Papua New Guinea is one of the 15 beneficiaries of a programme on Adapting to Climate Change and Sustainable Energy worth €37.26 million. The programme resulted from the signing of an agreement in February 2014 between the European Union and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat. The other beneficiaries are the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.[147]
