FAO Forestry country profiles - forest management

History

Forest management and silviculture

The original settlers in New Caledonia came from Southeast Asia around 50 000 years ago. A second wave of migrants arrived between 7000 and 5000 BC and brought agriculture, canoe building and pottery to the region. Further migration from Polynesia and, particularly, Samoa occurred from the eleventh to the eighteenth centuries. The first European settlers included sandalwood traders (pre-1850s). Later, the French Colonial government undertook forest harvesting using convict labour. By 1939, forests on many ore-bearing mountains were scarred by mine-workings and sawmills were harvesting significant volumes of valuable Kauri pine (Agathis lanceolata) timber. In 1984, pro-independence issues created a period of instability lasting until 1988. During this period, many forestry activities were suspended, including plantation establishment, resulting in an uneven distribution of plantation age-classes.