City report · Papua New Guinea
Lae Air quality today
Air quality in Lae currently reads AQI 15 (Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
AQI 15
Air quality right now
Good
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 2.5
- tree cover
- 36.3%
- trees in this area
- 113K
- more trees needed
- 0
Measured across a 2 km radius around Lae Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea (12.57 km²), from a satellite image of Sep 7, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
Lae · AQI 15 (Good)
Lae's tree count comes to 113,356 trees across 12.49 km² of land, already at or above the 30% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area.
Air quality detail
Air quality in Lae today: AQI 15, Good
Main pollutant: PM2.5 · Observed Nov 11, 02:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Model estimate · no ground station nearby
Health signal
Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
PM2.5
2.5
PM10
2.8
NO₂
3.0
O₃
19.0
SO₂
1.2
CO
115.0
- Outdoor exercise
- A good day to be active outside
- Windows
- Open them to air the house
- Mask
- Not needed
- Air purifier
- Not needed
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Lae's daily AQI at 31 on average, from 16 on Nov 11 to an hourly peak of 55 on Nov 8.
Where Lae stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in Lae: Healthy tree cover
36.3% tree cover against a 30% healthy-neighborhood target, across 12.49 km² of land.
Trees in this area
113,356
Target trees
113,356
More trees needed
0
CO₂ if planted / yr
0 kg
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Lae lost?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Lae has lost about 1,510 hectares of forest (about 2,100 football pitches): 10% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (52%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for farms, pasture and plantations.
2017: satellite photo from December 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area about 6 km west of the city center.
- Forest lost since 2001
- 1,510 haabout 2,100 football pitches
- Share of its forest
- 10%of what there was in 2000
- Cleared for good
- 785 hadeforestation: turned into farms, mines or towns
Forest loss is slowing down: about 39 hectares a year in 2021–2025, down from 60 hectares a year in 2016–2020. The worst year was 2010, when about 155 hectares of forest were lost.
Hectares of forest lost each year
Show the figures as a table
| Year | Cleared for good | Can grow back | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 12 ha | 13 ha | 25 ha |
| 2002 | 33 ha | 36 ha | 70 ha |
| 2003 | 28 ha | 9 ha | 37 ha |
| 2004 | 51 ha | 23 ha | 74 ha |
| 2005 | 12 ha | 7 ha | 19 ha |
| 2006 | 73 ha | 12 ha | 85 ha |
| 2007 | 43 ha | 19 ha | 62 ha |
| 2008 | 49 ha | 22 ha | 71 ha |
| 2009 | 20 ha | 18 ha | 37 ha |
| 2010 | 91 ha | 64 ha | 155 ha |
| 2011 | 60 ha | 11 ha | 71 ha |
| 2012 | 39 ha | 53 ha | 92 ha |
| 2013 | 26 ha | 38 ha | 64 ha |
| 2014 | 26 ha | 77 ha | 103 ha |
| 2015 | 23 ha | 27 ha | 50 ha |
| 2016 | 42 ha | 42 ha | 85 ha |
| 2017 | 18 ha | 46 ha | 64 ha |
| 2018 | 22 ha | 40 ha | 62 ha |
| 2019 | 30 ha | 34 ha | 64 ha |
| 2020 | 13 ha | 12 ha | 25 ha |
| 2021 | 8 ha | 9 ha | 17 ha |
| 2022 | 16 ha | 51 ha | 67 ha |
| 2023 | 16 ha | 34 ha | 50 ha |
| 2024 | 13 ha | 14 ha | 27 ha |
| 2025 | 21 ha | 15 ha | 36 ha |
What is causing deforestation around Lae?
- Farms, pasture and plantationscleared for good46% · 696 ha
- Shifting farmingcan grow back24% · 365 ha
- Storms, floods and other natural causescan grow back19% · 293 ha
Also: towns and roads, logging, unknown causes.
Causes for 2025 are estimates, based on what caused forest loss in the same places up to 2024.
Forest gained and lost, 2000–2020
- Forest in 2000
- 13,100 ha
- Forest in 2020
- 12,800 ha
- Overall change
- −224 haless forest than in 2000
Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Lae stayed about the same size, at about 12,800 hectares: new forest grew on about 590 hectares, and about 814 hectares were lost.
These 2000 and 2020 maps, from the University of Maryland, count any land with trees taller than 5 m as forest, including plantations and orchards. Forest that was cut or burned and had grown back by 2020 counts in both years, so the loss here is smaller than the yearly figures.
These figures cover everything within 10 km of the city center, a wider area than the report above, because forest is usually lost at a city's edges.
Source: Hansen/UMD/Google/USGS/NASA, Global Forest Change (GFC-2025-v1.13); causes: WRI/Google DeepMind drivers of forest loss; both CC BY 4.0, summed by Airleaf for each area. Forest gained and lost 2000–2020: Potapov et al. 2022, UMD GLAD Global Land Cover and Land Use Change, CC BY 4.0. Images: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data. How it's measured
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Frequently asked
Questions about Lae
What is the air quality (AQI) in Lae right now?
The latest reading for Lae shows an AQI of 15 (Good), observed Nov 11, 02:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, US EPA index. The main pollutant is PM2.5. Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Is it safe to exercise outside in Lae today?
At AQI 15 (Good): a good day to be active outside. Windows: open them to air the house. Masks: not needed. The reading changes through the day, so check again before a long run or ride.
What has the air quality in Lae been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Lae's daily AQI at 31 on average, from 16 on Nov 11 to an hourly peak of 55 on Nov 8. No day averaged above 100, the level where the air turns unhealthy for sensitive groups.
How much forest has the area around Lae lost since 2001?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Lae has lost about 1,510 hectares of forest (about 2,100 football pitches): 10% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (52%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for farms, pasture and plantations. Forest loss is slowing down: about 39 hectares a year in 2021–2025, down from 60 hectares a year in 2016–2020. Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Lae stayed about the same size, at about 12,800 hectares: new forest grew on about 590 hectares, and about 814 hectares were lost.
What is the tree count in Lae?
Lae has an estimated 113,356 trees across the 12.49 km² of land measured — 36.3% tree cover, already past the 30% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does Lae need?
Lae has already reached its tree-cover target, so no additional trees are needed to close the gap.
How are Lae's air quality and tree cover measured?
Air quality comes from ground monitoring stations via OpenAQ where one reports nearby, and otherwise, as here, from the Open-Meteo / CAMS model, which may differ from street-level monitors. Tree cover is measured from Sentinel-2 L2A (ESA Copernicus) via Earth Search satellite imagery at 10 m detail across a 2 km radius around Lae Morobe Province; the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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