Since 1972, the Papua New Guinea Rainforest has disappeared at an alarming rate, even in protected areas. New satellite images show the extent of the damage. In 2001, The Odyssey visited PNG and talked to one of the forests’ protectors first-hand.

The New Guinea Rainforest is important for a number of reasons–it’s home to 6-7% of the Earth’s species, many of them undiscovered–vital to maintaining the earth’s biodiversity. Even in terms of human inhabitation, the country hosts thousands of villages, home to 12% of the languages spoken on the planet.

One of the culprits may have been exported, illegally-logged merbau for flooring for the American and Japanese markets, and a story from 2006 even tied deforestation to new construction for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

While logging has been a source of revenue for the country, PNG’s prime minister in March 2008 proposed to eliminate all logging in the country by 2010.