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Country Fast Facts:Papua New Guinea
The eastern half of the island of New Guinea - second largest in the world - was divided between Germany (north) and the UK (south) in 1885.
The latter area was transferred to Australia in 1902, which occupied the northern portion during World War I and continued to administer the combined areas until independence in 1975.
A nine-year secessionist revolt on the island of Bougainville ended in 1997 after claiming some 20,000 lives. The eastern half of the island of New Guinea - second largest in the world - was divided between Germany (north) and the UK (south) in... more -
Forest defenders target snack foods, cosmetics
Major players in the food and cosmetics industries are coming under heavy pressure from environmental activists to stop manufacturing and selling products that contain palm oil.
Major players in the food and cosmetics industries are coming under heavy pressure from environmental activists to stop manufacturing and selling products that contain palm oil.
"Companies like Hostess and Nestle are perpetuating rainforest destruction and human rights abuses by using palm oil in their products," said Leila Salazar-Lopez of the San Francisco-based Rainforest Action Network (RAN).
On Tuesday, Salazar-Lopez's group led a series of demonstrations targeting supermarkets in a number of major cities and towns across the nation, including Austin, Boston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, and San Francisco.
The demonstrators demanded supermarkets apply stickers reading, "Warning! Product May Contain Rainforest Destruction" on any item that contains palm oil, an ingredient that is widely used in food and cosmetics products.
Researchers say that increasing worldwide demand for palm oil is driving the construction of plantations in the tropical forests of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Papua New Guinea.
These forests are disappearing at the rate of 2.5 million acres every year due to clear cutting to make way for palm oil plantations. Scientists warn that the continued construction of plantations in the tropical jungles can have disastrous consequences for the global environment.
Indonesia's tropical forests are considered some of the world's great carbon sinks and hence a solid source of defense in the fight against global warming.
Peat lands in the province of Riau on the island of Sumatra, for example, have the capacity to store over 14 billion tons of carbon -- roughly one year's global greenhouse gas emissions. But that is changing fast as commercial concerns continue to move in.
The environmental group Greenpeace claims that, due to palm oil plantation growth, about 25 percent of the peat forests in Riau have already disappeared, and there is so far no indication that the remaining ones will be shown any mercy.
Forest destruction is considered responsible for about one fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions. Greenpeace research links 4 percent of annual global emissions to the damage caused by palm oil companies to peat forests in Indonesia.**continues** Major players in the food and cosmetics industries are coming under heavy pressure from environmental activists to stop manufacturing ... more -
Earthquakes hit Japan, Alaska, Puerto Rico, New Guinea, Indonesia, Chile... at the...
...At the same time. Many at the exact hour. ORANGE are earthquakes today. RED dots are eathquakes within the last hour.
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HIV Epidemic in Papua New Guinea
Matthew Caney's documentary on Papua New Guinea's lack of education about sexually transmitted diseases....
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Papua New Guinea
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Papua New Guinea
