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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

Eco-Timber Brings Hope to Solomon Islands; Over-Harvesting Continues

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Forest Networking a Project of Forests.org

http://forests.org/ -- Forest Conservation Portal

http://forests.org/web/ -- Discuss Forest Conservation

12/10/00

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY

Following is a superb testimonial to the benefits of community based,

certified forestry occurring in the Solomon Islands. The Solomon

Islands have been devastated by Australian and Asian logging

companies; which "have swept through the Solomon Islands, leaving a

trail of disintegrating communities, flattened and degraded forests

and silted coral reefs from runoff of exposed fragile soils." In

contrast, the eco-timber production detailed below is "managed in a

way which causes minimal damage to the forests", allowing local

communities to "manage, maintain and market their own natural

resources in sustainable ways while protecting their own environment

and culture." The report below highlights the triumphant first

export of eco-timber to Australia from the marvelous Marovo Lagoon

area in the western Solomon Islands. Given the country's impending

ecological devastation and further economic downturn after the

inevitable end of the timber boom, and given recent civil strife,

community based eco-timber is a ray of hope for Solomon Islands'

development potential and ecological sustainability.

Yet the Solomon Island government is shockingly unsupportive of

forest sector reform. It is reported by in-country sources that the

new Solomon Island government that took power in June 2000 has

deferred the New Forests Act that was to reign in the industrial

loggers and set the framework for a more sustainable, community based

forestry sector. The new Act was intended 1) to ensure proper

management of forest resources in an efficient, effective and

ecologically sustainable manner; 2) to promote the development of a

sustainable commercial timber industry so as to ensure maximum

benefit to present and future generations; and 3) to protect and

conserve forest resources, habitats, and ecosystems including the

maintenance of ecological processes and genetic diversity. Log

extraction during 1998 was considered to be more than twice the

sustainable rate. This is not a large resource base; and the

positive economic impacts this has bought to the government's

accounts will be short-lived; but the excessive rate of cutting is

seriously undermining long-term sustainability of the resource base

and future development prospects for the country. There is an urgent

need to scale down and eventually eliminate industrial felling of

natural forests and emphasize community-based, certified eco-timber

production. This holds true for neighboring Papua New Guinea too.

g.b.

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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

Title: Eco-Timber Export Brings Hope to Solomon Islands

Source: Environment News Service, Copyright 2000,

http://www.ens.lycos.com/

Date: December 8, 2000

Byline: Rowena Singh

HONIARA, Solomon Islands, December 8, 2000 (ENS) - The first shipment

of Solomon Islands eco-timber to Australia has just reached Sydney.

Solomon Islands villagers have successfully been producing and

marketing eco-timber for the last three years.

The eco-timber is managed in a way which causes minimal damage to the

forests. The shipment to Sydney comes mainly from the beautiful

Marovo Lagoon area in the western Solomon Islands.

In a country torn by a tribal conflict, with nearly 100 people dead

and the economy in tatters, the Solomon Islands eco-timber industry

emerges as a much needed enterprise to help regain social and

economic stability.

"This shipment is an amazing success for the village eco-timber

producers and for the program, especially given the civil war in the

Solomon Islands over the last year and half," said Greenpeace forests

campaigner, Grant Rosoman.

The Solomon Islands Eco-forestry Project is a joint initiative of

Greenpeace, the Solomon Islands Development Trust, Foundation for the

People of the South Pacific and the New Zealand Imported Tropical

Timber Group.

The project empowers the local communities by helping them manage,

maintain and market their own natural resources in sustainable ways

while protecting their own environment and culture.

Through the project Solomon Islands village communities have been

working for several years towards finding an income generating

project that conserves their forests and marine resources.

Since 1995 the program has been helping village communities to

organize themselves, manage their forests sustainably, and then mill

and market a product they can now call eco-timber.

The Solomon Islands villagers have been exporting eco-timber since

1997. Over 1,000 cubic meters of the timber has been produced in the

last three years, a third of it exported to New Zealand.

Now, the villagers have now sent their first shipment of Solomon

Islands Eco-timber to Australia.

Seven years ago, at the request of indigenous forest owners who were

facing the threat of industrial logging, Greenpeace, along with a

local community organization Solomon Islands Development Trust (SIDT)

and other local and regional partners, established the Eco-forestry

Programme.

Since the 1980s, Australian and Asian logging companies have swept

through the Solomon Islands, leaving a trail of disintegrating

communities, flattened and degraded forests and silted coral reefs

from runoff of exposed fragile soils.

This industrial scale logging is creating environment disasters such

as soil erosion and siltation that is drastically affecting the bird,

animal and marine life of the Pacific Ocean.

Thousands of hectares are destructively logged every year. Over the

last decade, the rate of logging has been more than three times the

sustainable level - the productive forests are being cut three times

faster than they are growing.

The foreign owned destructive logging and log export trade is part of

the current political destabilization in the islands, where

corruption and individual greed undermines good governance and

accountability.

Despite the upheaval, the Solomon Islands Eco-forestry Programme has

been able to continue training and supporting people in eco-forestry

practices and marketing their special timber.

"Destructive logging was threatening their forests but these

communities instead chose a sustainable income and forest protection.

It's also a lot of hard work, so we are especially proud in helping

them to begin exporting to Australia," said Felix Narasia, Solomon

Islands Development Trust eco-forestry coordinator.

Marovo Lagoon in Western Province, Solomon Islands was chosen because

of threats from logging, mining and forest clearance for a palm oil

plantation in what is one of the Earth's natural wonders and a

proposed World Heritage Area.

Marovo people have cared for their resources for generations, and are

looking for a way to generate income that conserves their forests and

marine resources.

Greenpeace funded a study by a resource economist, comparing the

economic costs and benefits of industrial logging to those of a small

scale development.

The report found that the cash value to local communities of small

scale options, such as eco-forestry, fishing, tourism, carving and

other crafts, food and building materials, was at least three times

more than the destructive industrial options.

Small scale options give landowners more direct control of their

resources, distribute benefits more fairly and do not expose them to

the high risk of fluctuations in international commodity markets.

The report recommended no logging or palm oil plantations should be

permitted in the Marovo area.

Eco-forestry involves villagers harvesting and milling trees and

carrying the resulting "Eco-timber" out of their forest with minimal

damage to the surrounding forest.

Community-based planning and control, and strict guidelines that are

externally monitored, ensure the forest is restored quickly to its

original state.

Industrial logging, by contrast, cuts down all economically useful

trees in a forest. This means the area can take decades or longer to

recover and the landowners lose many other things of value from the

forests such as food and medicines.

Eco-timber is a community forestry category of certified timber. It

can be used for joinery, flooring, decking, paneling and furniture.

The Eco-forestry Programme expects to receive the The Forest

Stewardship Council's certification eco-label next year. The Forest

Stewardship Council (FSC) is viewed by many as the most successful

and credible wood product certification and labeling scheme. FSC

certification is the only international certification scheme that has

the widespread support of non-government organizations, including

Greenpeace.

The FSC oversees the independent and voluntary assessments of forest

management to high environmental, social and economic standards.

Currently, there are over 18 million hectares (69,480 square miles)

of FSC certified forests in 33 countries. Global demand for FSC

products is estimated to be in excess of A$50 billion ($US27.32

billion).

Destructive logging across the island nations of the Pacific is still

causing disintegration of cultural ways of life. Under industrial

scale logging, the local people across the Pacific have experienced

reduced control over their own natural resources.

The Solomon Islands' eco-timber success story is a beacon to the rest

of the Pacific Island nations to manage their forests sustainably now

before the Pacific loses its unique cultural and natural resources.

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