This project was funded by the Australian Government through the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) at a cost of AUS$ 1, 100,000 .00.
Overall project aim and objectives
The overall aim of the project is to increase the contribution that utilisation of forest resources makes to national and local economies, including landowners and processors, through the development of domestic value-added wood processing methods.
The specific objectives are:
1. To enhance the knowledge of wood properties and processing characteristics of PNG timbers.
2. To identify, pilot and evaluate interventions for enhanced value-added processing systems.
3. To estimate the potential contribution and distribution of economic impacts to national and local economies from enhanced value-added wood processing.
4. To enhance the capacity of Government, institutional support bodies, industry partners and landowners to implement value-added wood processing policies, strategies and practices.
Expected outputs and impacts/benefits
The project is expected to deliver beneficial economic, environmental and social impacts. Economic benefits for the custom landowners and wood processing companies are difficult to quantify without the research proposed by the project but include those associated with employment in the market economy, maximising the returns from processed forest products to PNG and communities through market-related value-adding, improved recovery, product development and availability of affordable high-quality products for local people. The environmental benefits of the project will be those associated with promoting the sustainable use and local processing of both natural and plantation forest resources. The social benefits of the project (combined with economic benefits) will be those associated with increased employment opportunities, increased capacity to participate in financial structures and equitable participation by landowners, facilitating infrastructure development in the rural and urban areas specified under timber permit and timber authority authorities.