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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

Vanuatu, South Pacific, Ban on Export of Logs Overturned Questionably

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

http://forests.org/

8/22/97

OVERVIEW, SOURCE & COMMENTARY by EE

The South Pacific Island country of Vanuatu has repealed their ban on

round log export under questionable circumstances. The volume for

export is set at three times the estimated sustainable level. Such

intensive industrial logging of a small island's resource base is

clearly unsustainable and likely to cause significant ecosystem

decline, loss of biodiversity and little real development (and

ultimately real suffering) for local peoples. Five foreign owned

timber companies, four from Malaysia, are the beneficiaries of this

policy turnaround that is clearly at odds with recent forest policy

aspirations. This item comes from a list recipient. All list members

are asked to please send information when possible.

g.b.

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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

Title: Vanuatu Round Log Ban Repealed

Source: IDEAS Vanuatu

Status: NGO report, distribute freely with attribution to Source

Date: August 9, 1997

VANUATU BAN ON THE EXPORT OF ROUND LOGS REPEALED BY VANUATU COUNCIL OF

MINISTERS

The ban on the export of round logs from Vanuatu has been repealed

through decision 141 by the Council of Ministers on July 22 97. The

legality of this move is questionable as the ban was approved as an

act of Parliament. An effective ban on the export of round logs

commenced on July 1st 94. The recent decision was approved by the

Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Forestry, Fisheries and the

Environment, the Hon Amos Andeng, without any consultation. The

decision allows for the limited export of round logs for a trial

period until December 31 97. The volume of round log that has been

approved is 180,000 cu metres.

The following companies have been given the exclusive right to cut

round logs - Santo Veneers and Timbers Ltd, SK Logging, Pacific

Veneers, Erromango Lumber Ltd, Parklane.

Decision 141 states that smaller companies may be considered as

beneficiaries of this decision.

This decision is a serious set back to the recently drafted National

Forest Policy Statement that states "the Government will work

cooperatively with the landowners and the forest industries to achieve

sustainable forest management and thereby encourage revenue generation

for ni-Vanuatu landowners, economic development for the wider

community, and conservation of Vanuatu's forest bio-diversity".

The repeal on the ban of round log exports contradicts the Forestry

Departments calculated national sustainable yield which stands at

66,000 cu metres per annum. At present the Forestry Department has

already issued timber licences for a maximum allowable cut at 224,300

cu metres, which is already beyond the sustainable yield.

Decision 141 also violates the policy objective of expanding the

export capacity for value-added timber products and increasing the

employment opportunities and developing a highly skilled Vanuatuan

workforce in the forestry sector. In addition, the newly developed

Forestry policy statement makes it clear that "any proposal to export

logs will...only be approved if the logs cannot be processed by anyone

in Vanuatu".

It is clear that the decision to repeal the export ban is in complete

contradiction to the Forestry Department's own forest policy

orientation. The newly established Santo Veneers saw mill, with an

investment of over USD 20,000,000, has been running at under capacity

since the start of the operation. It is significant that the

concession has been given to the five foreign-owned timber companies.

Santo Veneers and Timber Ltd, Parklane, and Pacific Veneers are all

owned by the same timber baron - Hii King Chiong and family of

Sarawak, Malaysia, who is infamous throughout the Pacific and Malaysia

for their cut-destroy-threaten-bribe-and-run method of logging. SK

Logging is a subsidiary of Woodhouse Holdings Ltd, itself with

Malaysian roots. Erromango Lumber is a landowner-based company with

Asian investment backing.

IDEAS is strongly urging organisations to urge the Minister of

Forests, the Hon Amos Andeng, to quash the Council of Ministers

decision 141 and respect the Forests Policy Statement that was drafted

and circulated this year for approval and implementation.

IDEAS contact details are:

Industrial Development and Economic Alternatives for SANMA, POBox 377,

Luganville, Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu. Fax 36667, Email

ideas@vanuatu.pactok.net

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