FAO Forestry country profiles - forest management

History

Forest management and silviculture

Prior to European discovery, the Micronesian islands were under the control and management of traditional chiefs (soupeidi). Spanish explorers were the first westerners to visit the islands and make limited use of the timber resources. FSM was not colonized, however, until the late nineteeth century when Spain, and later Germany, took possession of the islands. Up to the turn of the century, disease epidemics ravaged many populations. On Pohnpei for example, successive colonial governments took advantage of these epidemics to place a large portion of previously occupied land under government jurisdiction. This particular land had reverted back to forest, leaving most of the interior forested. At the same time, traditional forms of land allocation were replaced by governmental control of land administration, thereby undermining traditional resource management. The islands were mandated to Japan after World War I, and during the inter-war period most of the high islands were logged. Following World War II, the islands were mandated to the United States as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands by the United Nations. Since then, commercial timber production has been small-scale, intermittent and largely confined to the mangrove forests.