Bismarck Forest Corridor
WCS’s operating environment is the Bismark Forest Corridor. This montane forest borders four provinces (Simbu, the Eastern Highlands, Jiwaka, and Madang) and forms a contiguous intact forest corridor of global significance (about 202,000 hectares) that extends from the alpine zone of PNG’s highest peak (4,509 meters) into mid-elevation lowland forest (about 700 meters). The Bismarck Mountain Range, which runs through the Bismark Forest Corridor, has been identified as one of the world’s top seven regions with the highest diversity and an area supporting the highest mammal and amphibian species richness and endemism in the country. It is also one of six global hotspots of species at risk from climate change in the world.
The Bismarck Mountain Range contains PNG’s highest peak (Mt. Wilhelm at 4509 meters) within Mount Wilhelm National Park, as well as important areas of montane forest habitat and many of the endemic birds, mammals, and other fauna for which PNG is famed. The forest is home to a number of International Union for Conservation of Nature red-listed and little-known species, including the Ifola tree-kangaroo (Dendrolagus notatus) of the country’s central ranges (vulnerable), Goodfellow’s tree kangaroo (endangered), eastern long-beaked echidna (vulnerable), and the New Guinea pademelon (vulnerable).
The area is in close proximity to the highest rural population density in PNG (over 40 percent of PNG’s population resides in the highlands region). Upwards of 82,952 people live in 389 villages along the edge of this forest corridor (PNG Census Data). All of these threats are expected to be exacerbated given the area’s designation and a special economic zone and the country’s 3.1 percent annual population growth rate that will double PNG’s national population within the next 25 years. Unchecked and without planning, this population growth and the associated increase in subsistence use of the environment is likely to drive rapid forest degradation and loss and extinction of a number of key species.
