Wood is an important fuel source in the South Pacific though, as with many areas of the world, the true magnitude of fuelwood consumption is not known. The 1994 FAO Yearbook provides estimates of fuelwood consumption for 7 countries in the South Pacific.
Table 15 records these estimates and some extrapolations based on them. It attempts to derive estimates of fuelwood consumption for countries which have no estimate and also uses an assumption that generally fuelwood consumption is understated. For example, New Zealand, which is both colder and has a lower GDP per capita reports significantly lower per capita fuelwood consumption than does Australia. Columns 5, 6, 7 and 8 re-work New Zealand's fuelwood consumption using Australia's per capita consumption and population estimates derived from Table 15. Similarly, the Melanesian and Polynesian countries' estimates are derived from the average fuelwood per capita reported for these countries in the FAO 1994 Yearbook (0.49 cubic metres), and also using the maximum per capita consumption (Papua New Guinea; 1.38 cubic metres).
Table 15: Scenarios for Fuelwood Removals (Cubic metres)
Country |
1994 FAO Fuelwood Production19 |
Population |
Fuelwood Consumpt'n per capita 1994 |
Estimated Fuelwood Production (Average) 1994 |
Estimated Fuelwood Production (Maximum) 1994 |
Estimated Fuelwood Production (Average) 2010 |
Estimated Fuelwood Production (Maximum) 2010 |
Australia |
2 898 000 |
17 090 000 |
.17 |
2 898 000 |
2 898 000 |
3 632 000 |
3 632 000 |
New Zealand |
50 000 |
3 350 000 |
.01 |
569 500 |
569 500 |
642 000 |
642 000 |
Australasia |
2 948 000 |
20 440 000 |
::::: |
3 467 500 |
3 467 500 |
4 274 000 |
4 274 000 |
Papua New Guinea |
5 533 000 |
4 011 000 |
1.38 |
5 533 000 |
5 533 000 |
8 253 000 |
8 253 000 |
Solomon Is. |
138 000 |
320 000 |
0.43 |
156 800 |
441 600 |
262 600 |
740 000 |
Fiji |
37 000 |
726 000 |
.05 |
355 700 |
1 001 900 |
438 000 |
1 233 000 |
Vanuatu |
24 000 |
150 000 |
.16 |
73 500 |
207 000 |
107 800 |
303 600 |
N. Caledonia |
::::: |
168 000 |
::::: |
82 300 |
231 800 |
107 300 |
302 200 |
Melanesia |
::::: |
5 375 000 |
::::: |
6 201 300 |
7 415 300 |
9 168 700 |
10 831 800 |
Western Samoa |
70 000 |
158 000 |
.44 |
77 400 |
218 000 |
79 400 |
223 600 |
French Polynesia |
::::: |
198 000 |
::::: |
97 000 |
273 200 |
144 500 |
407 100 |
Tonga |
::::: |
96 000 |
::::: |
47 000 |
132 500 |
50 000 |
140 700 |
Kiribati |
::::: |
71 000 |
::::: |
35 000 |
98 000 |
47 000 |
132 000 |
Nauru |
::::: |
9 300 |
::::: |
4 500 |
12 800 |
6 400 |
180 500 |
Niue |
::::: |
2 500 |
::::: |
1 200 |
3 500 |
700 |
1 900 |
Cook Islands |
::::: |
16 900 |
::::: |
8 300 |
11500 |
8 000 |
22 600 |
Tokelau |
::::: |
1 800 |
::::: |
900 |
2 500 |
1 100 |
3 100 |
Tuvalu |
::::: |
10 200 |
::::: |
5 100 |
14 100 |
9 300 |
26 200 |
Polynesia |
::::: |
563 700 |
::::: |
276 300 |
766 100 |
346 400 |
1 137 700 |
SOUTH PACIFIC |
::::: |
26 378 700 |
::::: |
9 945 100 |
11 648 900 |
13 789 100 |
16 243 500 |
Source: FAO; Author
The Australasian countries may still be significantly under-reported using the Australian per capita fuelwood estimate. Nonetheless, it is evident these countries' fuelwood demands are unlikely to significantly encroach on relatively large forest estates. The same cannot be said for the other countries. Applying the 0.49 cubic metres per capita estimate to 2010 population projections shows only Fiji and Niue are likely to have industrial production higher than fuelwood consumption. Using the higher (1.38 cubic metres per capita) estimate significant difficulties are evident for a number of, particularly Polynesian, countries.
For example the Tongan report to the 1992 Heads of Forestry meeting noted:
Fuelwood use in Tonga has only been determined for the main island of Tongatapu. It is estimated that for Tongatapu alone 100,000 tonnes of fuelwood is used. Since 80 percent of the households use fuelwood for cooking, over 70 percent of the fuelwood is consumed by households. Fuelwood is sourced mainly from large hardwood trees on tax allotments, however, increasing amounts are transported from 'Eua island. Other sources are sawmill residues and coconut husks and shells.
It can be noted that this fuelwood estimate falls in the range (independently) calculated for Tonga above.
Similarly, Thaman and Whistler (1995) note:
"Increasing populations in small Pacific Island countries, particularly in and around their urban centres, are resulting in serious shortages of fuelwood, the traditional energy source for cooking. The alternatives, electricity, gas and kerosene are expensive and in limited supply. A 1988 survey of Tarawa atoll found that 97 percent of household reported shortages of wood fuels. As early as 1982 a woodfuel shortage on Tongatapu was found to be imminent. One consequence of these wood fuel shortages is that coconut husks, twigs and other organic material which might be used as mulch to improve soil fertility are increasingly being used for cooking purposes."
They additionally point out that fossil fuel imports cost both Kiribati and Tuvalu more than the total value of agricultural exports.
Fuelwood shortages are not confined to Polynesia. The Solomon Islands NFRI (1995) notes the results of a village survey:
"...all the villages surveyed gather firewood from the forest. This is mainly used for cooking and is usually readily available, being generally gathered from recently cleared garden areas within 30 minutes walk of the village. Villagers in Guadacanal are more likely to report firewood hard to find (29 percent of villages). The percentage for other provinces ranged from 7 percent to 20 percent. There are some parts of Honiara where the lack of easy access to firewood causes hardship.
In the Solomons fuelwood, both for domestic use and the drying of copra, is a major forest product usage though there is little information available regarding consumption. Fuelwood removals in 1989 were estimated at 138 000 m3 though most of this arises as a by-product of land clearing for gardening and therefore probably does not have a significant impact on the forest resource per se.
In addition to harvesting to meet industrial and fuelwood demand, a third, and probably most significant, cause of deforestation in the South Pacific is the clearance of forest for agriculture. Few statistics record the extent of agricultural clearance however anecdotal evidence is strong that as population pressures increase so too does forest land clearance. For example, Thaman and Whistler (1995) record that:
Due to increased population pressures and expanded export cropping, and commercial livestock development, the processes of deforestation, forest degradation and removal of trees from agricultural lands have been intense, and in some cases accelerating. ....In areas of increasing pressure on land due to increasing population, and in locations closer to settlements, the area of primary forest decreases, secondary forest is younger and floristically less complex, and large areas are covered by almost pure stands of scrub, small trees and degraded grasslands.
The 1995 Solomon Islands National Forest Resources Inventory provides one of the few numerical estimates of agriculturally based deforestation. It notes that ninety percent of the Solomon Islands population is reliant on subsistence gardening especially for the production of staple root crops. This gardening is usually carried out using slash and burn shifting cultivation techniques. A survey of villages found 32 percent of gardens under cultivation had been cut from primary forest and the average length of cultivation was 16 months after which the average length of fallow was 3.8 years. The inventory estimates, based on 1986 population figures, 1500 ± 300 hectares of forest is cleared annually for gardening. By 1996 this could have reached 2150 ± 350 hectares. Since Solomon Islands population is presently growing at 3.5 percent per annum, a simple extrapolation suggests annual land clearance by 2010 could be around 3480 ± 560 hectares.
For a country with forest resources the size of the Solomons such a rate of clearance does not seem to present a major problem in the short run (from a deforestation perspective declining quality of agricultural land, distances from settlements, loss of merchantable forest and representative stands, and other such difficulties may be of considerable significance). Over the next 15 years such clearances would total less than 400 km2, less than 2 percent of the total Solomon Islands natural forest resource.
More immediate problems are those associated with the smaller countries with very limited forest and land areas where increasingly the balance between food production and wood resources is under pressure. For these countries a delicate equation balancing increasing population against increasing productivity of both agricultural and forest land is required. The role of imports in meeting increased demands, and the financing of imports, will be an important component of policies developed to meet these challenges.
For the future, as with all economic systems, relative scarcity will dictate value. The less forested a country becomes the greater will the relative value of the remaining trees. The 1992 Niuean report to the Heads of Forestry meeting sheds some interesting light on the prevalent attitudes on this subject from the perspective of one of the least populous and most heavily forested island countries:
Because there is so much forest it is seen by the majority of people as a limitless resource - ....The most important forest yield, however, is the traditional one of land for subsistence gardening activities. ...The small size and population of Niue mean that all people would be aware of the Forestry Project although many would not agree with it (for a multitude of reasons; from a resistance to surveying the land, through to the perception that forestry is a "poorer" use of the land than traditional root crops or coconut). However, very few people would see any link between planting trees and improving or protecting the environment....this lack of awareness probably has as much to do with the richness of the resource as it does with any innate lack of knowledge".
It seems safe to assume that this is the prevalent "traditional" attitude toward forests in the South Pacific. However, with increasing development and population pressures has come recognition that the forests are not a limitless resource and consequently greater value is assigned to their protection and management. For those countries where forests are still extensive; Niue, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu; economics suggests the forests will continue to be exploited and cleared. For the countries with little remaining forest, the pressures will be toward conservation, sustainable management, and the development of agroforestry and plantation systems which efficiently utilise scarce resources.
Forests provide a large range of non-wood forest products across the South Pacific region, many of which are only utilised by the collector or traded locally. The Solomon Islands National Forest Resource Inventory (1995) provides a good summary of the range of products found in the Solomons and, more generally, across the Island countries:
Given that protein is relatively scarce, small animals, lizards and birds which are taken from the forest provide an important supplement to the more common fish diet in the Solomon Islands. A range of bird species are eaten, wild pigs are hunted, as are wild cats, dogs, goats, rats, bats and possums. Reptiles, worms, grubs and birds eggs are also collected. Solomon Island villagers use medicines gathered from the forests. Handicraft materials include carving timbers, fibres for baskets and weaving, bamboos, fishing materials, tools and materials for customary artefacts (including, household utensils, dyes, body ornaments, perfumes, garden plants, ceremonial plants, weapons and musical instruments). Rural people are directly dependent on the forest for building materials: roof thatching (sago palm etc.) battens, pins for holding thatch to battens, rafters beams and studs, woven wall materials and vines for lashing the frame together. Canoes are made out of large logs of several species (generally Gmelina moluccana).
Interest is developing in the commercial potential of honey and nuts from the forest. The tree Canarium produces a nut that is beginning to gain acceptance on the international market. Rural Communities are being encouraged to collect these nuts. There is potential for more intensive management of the tree on a plantation scale which is being investigated by the forestry division.
In the Solomon Islands rattan cane is the only minor forest product which is exported in any significant volume. Exports rose from 6 tonnes in 1985 to 100 tonnes in 1989. Local industries have also developed around rattan and are also exporting finished products. Regulations were introduced in 1990 to restrict the export of unprocessed rattan cane so as to ensure adequate supplies available for these local industries.
The Solomon Islands list encompasses almost all the major non-wood forest products mentioned in the literature for other island countries. An interesting exception is Maire, a vine found on the Cook Islands, which produces a nice fragrance and is exported to Hawaii.
For the small island countries, as noted earlier, almost all wood supplies come from coconut or agroforestry systems. The small atolls generally have little, or no, remnant natural forest stands. For the larger heavily forested Melanesian countries non-forest areas are probably important mainly as readily accessible fuelwood sources.
In Australia and New Zealand shelterbelts and other farming systems can provide significant wood supplies. Australia also has a very large non-forest wooded land area [106 million hectares; FRA (1990)] which provides extensive fibre potential though much of this area is presently not commercially viable.
Small population bases and the absence of pulping facilities means recycling has very limited potential or applicability in the Pacific Islands. Similarly, although bamboo and rattan are available in some areas it is unlikely that any substantive processing industry will develop on the islands. At best these products may be used in handicrafts or provide a raw material for export (see NWFP's above).
Recycling in New Zealand is only marginally viable. Only in Australia is paper recycling of much significance. Sledge and Bull (1995) note that in 1994 Australia consumed 3 million tonnes of paper while waste paper collected that year was 1.2 million tonnes (40 percent of consumption). Waste paper utilisation in Australia has risen sharply throughout the 1990's, from 34 percent of total fibre input in 1989-90 to 48 percent in 1993-94. This is above the global average of around 40 percent. Sledge and Bull cite an upper limit of 55-58 percent to the collection of wastepaper for Australia and expect this level to be approached in the medium-term.
Australia also exports significant quantities of wastepaper, 114 000 tonnes in 1993-94. The major markets are Indonesia and the Philippines.