The geography of Papua New Guinea describes the eastern half of the island of New Guinea, the islands of New Ireland, New Britain and Bougainville, and smaller nearby islands. Together these make up the nation of Papua New Guinea in tropical Oceania, located in the western edge of the Pacific Ocean.
Papua New Guinea is largely mountainous, and much of it is covered with tropical rainforest. The New Guinea Highlands (or Central Range) run the length of New Guinea, and the highest areas receive snowfall—a rarity in the tropics. Within Papua New Guinea Mount Wilhelm is the highest peak, at 4509m (14,793feet). There are several major rivers, notably the Sepik River, which is 1126km (700miles) long, which winds through lowland swamp plains to the north coast, and the Fly River at 1050km (650miles) in length, which flows through one of the largest swamplands in the world to the south coast. The Highlands consist of a number of smaller ranges running west to east, such as the Finisterre Range which dominates the Huon Peninsula to the north of the city of Lae. At 462840km2 it is the world's third largest island country.
Papua New Guinea has one land border—that which divides the island of New Guinea. Across the 820 km (509 mi) border is the Indonesian provinces of Papua, Highland Papua and South Papua. Papua New Guinea's border with Indonesia is not straight; the border loops slightly to the west along the Fly River in the south-central part of New Guinea, on the western edge of Papua New Guinea's Western Province. There are maritime borders with Australia to the south and Solomon Islands to the southeast.
Papua New Guinea has a total area of 462840km2, of which 452860km2 is land and 9980km2 is water. This makes it the 3rd largest island country in the world.[1] Its coastline is 5152km (3,201miles) long.
The northernmost point is Mussau Island (1°23' S), southernmost point is Sudest Island (11°65' S), easternmost point is Olava, Bougainville (155°57' E) and the westernmost point is either Bovakaka along the Fly River border with Indonesia or Mabudawan (140°54' E).
Papua New Guinea has several volcanoes, as it is situated along the Pacific Ring of Fire. Volcanic eruptions are not rare, and the area is prone to earthquakes and tsunamis because of this. The volcanic disturbance can often cause severe earthquakes, which in turn can also cause tsunamis. Papua New Guinea is also prone to landslides, often caused by deforestation in major forests. The mountainous regions of Papua New Guinea are the areas most susceptible to landslides causing damage.
Offshore islands include the small, forested Admiralty Islands, the largest of which is Manus, to the north of the main island of New Guinea. These have a distinct plant and animal life from the main island but the natural forest has been cleared in places for logging and agriculture.
A 2019 global remote sensing analysis suggested that there were 1308km2 of tidal flats in Papua New Guinea, making it the 25th ranked country in terms of tidal flat area.[2]
See main article: List of rivers of Papua New Guinea.
Climate change is expected to alter the temperature and precipitation of the country, with implications for wildlife, ecosystems and agriculture.[5] [6]
Maritime claims:These are measured from claimed archipelagic baselines.
depth or to the depth of exploitation
2402288km2. 200miles nautical miles
12 nautical miles (22 km)
Natural resources:gold, copper, silver, natural gas, timber, oil, fisheries
Land use:
See main article: Biodiversity protection efforts in Papua New Guinea. The rainforest is subject to deforestation as a result of growing commercial demand for tropical timber; forest clearance, especially in coastal areas, for plantations; pollution from mining projects. If the trend continues, more than half the forest that existed when Papua New Guinea became independent from Australia in 1975 will be gone by 2021.[7]