Enhancing ecosystem functioning to improve sustainability of subsistence farming in Papua New Guinea

Increasing agricultural production in high biodiversity areas, against the backdrop of a growing population, and climate change, is an increasing challenge. Such pressures are particularly relevant to Papua New Guinea (PNG), which has the third largest area of tropical forest worldwide, and where eighty-five percent of the population depends almost entirely on small-scale, subsistence agriculture. There is a drastic need to provide interventions that will deliver potential solutions to PNG subsistence farming to increase crop productivity and resilience at the same time as conserving their natural forest. This project will investigate above- and below-ground ecosystem functioning across the agricultural landscape, and how beneficial ecosystem services can be enhanced to improve productivity and sustainability of subsistence farming, including testing novel techniques to enhance soil fertility.