Harnessing the Power of Clonal Forestry

With climate change and other environmental issues dominating international negotiations around the world today, the field of forestry is pivotal to the mitigation of climate change and the sustainability of our planet.

Therefore, forestry in PNG cannot be business-as-usual anymore. We cannot continue to do what we have been doing for ages. We have to think outside of the box and do things in unorthodox ways.

One of the most powerful tools that forestry can use to enhance plantation forestry and address climate change and other environmental issues in PNG is the field of clonal forestry.

Clonal forestry involves establishing forest plantations using cloned plantlets derived from genetically improved trees or seeds. The main methods of cloning include tissue culture or rooted cuttings of genetically improved seeds or trees. Somatic cell fusion (fusion of non-sex cells to produce hybrid plantlets) and the production of artificial seeds (encapsulation of micro-plants in some tissue/capsule) are also used. Still, they are rare and mostly confined to research – these techniques are known as micro-propagation).

All forest plantations in PNG are established from seeds collected from the wild, seed orchards and selected plus-trees (elite trees) in private or government owned plantations.

Therefore, tree growth, stem form, wood density, wood quality for a specific end-use (e.g., pulp for papermaking) and the ability to solve an environmental problem (e.g., sequester more carbon to mitigate climate change) in our current plantations are not uniform. This is due to the large genetic variation found in the seeds used for plantation establishment.

Nevertheless, with clonal forestry, plantlets derived from a genetically improved seed or rooted cutting will have uniform tree growth, stem form, wood density, wood quality for a specific end-use and the ability to solve an environmental problem in established plantations. This uniformity will be due to the absence of genetic variation within the planting materials used – all planted trees are genetically identical because they are derived from a single clone.

Uniformity in tree growth, stem form, wood density, wood quality for a specific end-use and the ability to solve an environmental problem in established plantations increases efficiency in forest plantation management, timber harvesting and timber processing. It may also reduce costs in forest plantation management, timber harvesting and timber processing, but this is debatable.

In terms of climate change mitigation, clonal forestry will sequester more carbon than natural forests. In primary forests, tree volume increment is almost zero. In secondary forests there will be some volume increment, but due to the high species diversity and non-uniformity in tree growth, stem form, wood density, wood quality for a specific end-use and the ability to solve an environmental problem, the volume of carbon sequestered per hectare will be less than that sequestered by clonal forest plantations.

With forest plantations established using seeds, the volume of carbon sequestered per hectare will also be less than that sequestered by clonal forest plantations. Plantations established using seeds have highly variable tree growth, stem form, wood density, wood quality for a specific end-use and the ability to solve an environmental problem, so the carbon sequestered per tree is also highly variable and is less than that sequestered by trees in clonal plantations.

With clonal forestry, all trees are uniform in tree growth, stem form, wood density, wood quality for a specific end-use and the ability to solve an environmental problem.

Therefore, the amount of carbon sequestered per tree will be uniform as well because there is little physical or genetic variation between the planted trees.

Tree volume per hectare in natural forests is about 30 – 40 cubic meters of commercial timber, but tree volume per hectare in forest plantations can be manipulated using silvicultural and genetic techniques to reach as high as 1000 cubic meters per hectare. However, this will depend on the trees species planted and its intended end use.

Clonal forestry is not confined to the production of timber and trees. Clonal forestry is harnessed around the world to produce trees and shrubs for essential oil production, fruits and nuts and other end-uses.

Forestry in Papua New Guinea is outdated. Nevertheless, we need to move quickly to adapt to the changes brought about by the issues of climate change and environmental sustainability.

We are too slow with our efforts to mitigate climate change using both natural forests and forest plantations in this country. Forestry research and operations need to be revitalized to meet the challenges posed by the issues of climate change and environmental sustainability.

One way to fast-track our efforts to mitigate climate change and address other environmental issues in this country is to harness the power of clonal forestry. 

Clonal forestry must now be implemented in Papua New Guinea to keep up with the changing times and development trends around the world.

 Ha