FAO Forestry country profiles - forest management

History

Forest management and silviculture

The first inhabitants of the Solomon Islands are believed to have arrived from the north-west about 30 000 years ago, but settlement by people with an organized agricultural culture commenced around 6 000 years ago. In more recent times, the Solomon Islands became a British protectorate in the 1890s and achieved independence in 1978. Some logging of indigenous forests has been carried out since the late 1800s, however, large-scale commercial logging in Solomon Islands commenced less than 40 years ago, with the establishment of the 1960 Forest Act, designed to promote the export of logs. During this period, most logging took place on government land or customary land leased by government. During the 1980s, landowners became directly involved in logging, as the focus of operations shifted towards customary land. Much of this harvesting was carried out by multi-national companies under government policies that encouraged foreign investor involvement in timber industries. Since the early 1980s, the timber industry has been a highly significant sector in the Solomon Islands economy. At the same time, harvesting has generally outpaced the sustainable potential of Solomon Islands merchantable forests and the government¿s capacity to effectively regulate logging. The timber industry has been fraught with controversy centring around logging-related conflicts with local communities (for example on the island of Pavuvu), widespread destructive logging practices by multinational companies and alleged corruption.