Papua views of geography a central east-west mountain range dominates the geography of New Guinea, over 1600 km in total length. The western section is around 600 km long and 100 km across. The province contains the highest mountains between the Himalayas and the Andes, rising up to 4884 m high, and ensuring a steady supply of rain from the tropical atmosphere. The tree line is around 4000 m elevation and the tallest peaks contain permanent equatorial glaciers, increasingly melting due to a changing climate. Various other smaller mountain ranges occur both north and west of the central ranges. Except in high elevations, most areas possess a hot humid climate throughout the year, with some seasonal variation associated with the northeast monsoon season.
The third major habitat feature are the vast southern and northern lowlands. Stretching for hundreds of kilometers, these include lowland rainforests, extensive wetlands, savanna grasslands, and some of the largest expanses of mangrove forest in the world. The southern lowlands are the site of Lorentz National Park, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The province's largest river is the Mamberamo, sometimes called the "Amazon of Papua", which winds through the northern part of the province. The result is a large area of lakes and rivers known as the Lakes Plains region. The famous Baliem Valley, home of the Dani people is a tableland 1600 m above sea level in the midst of the central mountain range; Puncak Jaya, sometimes known by its former Dutch name Carstensz Pyramid, is a mist covered limestone mountain peak 4884 m above sea level.
A vital tropical rainforest with the tallest tropical trees and vast biodiversity, Papua's known forest fauna includes marsupials (including possums, wallabies, tree-kangaroos, cuscuses), other mammals (including the endangered Long-beaked Echidna), many bird species (including birds of paradise, cassowaries, parrots, cockatoos), the world's longest lizards (Papua monitor) and the world's largest butterflies.
The island has an estimated 16,000 species of plant, 124 genera of which are endemic.
The extensive waterways and wetlands of Papua are also home to salt and freshwater crocodile, tree monitors, flying foxes, osprey, bats and other animals; while the equatorial glacier fields remain largely unexplored.
In February 2006, a team of scientists exploring the Foja Mountains, Sarmi, discovered numerous new species of birds, butterflies, amphibians, and plants, including possibly the largest-flowered species of rhododendron.
Protected areas within Papua province include the Lorentz National Park, which is also a World Heritage site and the Wasur National Park, a RAMSAR wetland of international importance.
Ecological threats include logging-induced deforestation, forest conversion for plantation agriculture (especially oil palm), smallholder agricultural conversion, the introduction and potential spread of alien species such as the Crab-eating Macaque which preys on and competes with indigenous species, the illegal species trade, and water pollution from oil and mining operations.
Papua's ancient rain forests have recently come under an even greater threat of deforestation after the Chinese government placed an order of 1 billion US dollar or 800,000 cubic meters of the threatened merbau rainforest timbers, used in buildings for the 2008 Summer Olympics.
In remote forested valleys, several thousand smallholder farmers are growing Arabica coffee in the shade of Calliandra, Erythrina and Albizia trees. Chemical fertilizers and pesticides are not available in these valleys. Since there are no roads, the coffee is flown out and then exported from the port of Jayapura.
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