Practices

Forests on Nauru comprise only small areas of strand vegetation receiving no formal silvicultural treatment. Small areas of vegetation are incorporated into traditional agro-forestry systems, based around the cultivation of ground crops beneath an overstorey of coconut palms and pandanus. The Nauru Island Council has established a small nursery that grows fruit tree seedlings as well as ornamental and endangered native tree species.

Forest conservation measures

At present, there are no protected areas on Nauru, nor have any been proposed by the government. A Rehabilitation and Development Study, carried out in the mid-1990s jointly by Australia and Nauru, identified five forest areas for restoration and possible conservation activities, including escarpment forests areas, Buada Lagoon, and areas of Tomano forest. Buada Lagoon has also been identified by UNEP/WCMC as having potential for protected area status. Commercial development of phosphate mining, however, continues to take priority over the conservation of the natural environment on Nauru. Nauru stated at the Second South Pacific Conference on National Parks and Reserves that it is not possible to consider conservation of the remaining phosphate-bearing areas on the island. Conservation of endangered plant species has been given priority by Nauru and there have been local initiatives to plant trees around the periphery of the island.

Forest protection measures

The Nauru Fruit Fly Eradication Programme was launched in October 1998. This programme, a plant protection effort lying largely within the agricultural rather than forestry sphere, is a joint venture between the Nauru Government and the FAO/AusAID/UNDP/SPC Project on Regional Management of Fruit Flies in the Pacific. The methodology is based on deployment of five centimetre by five centimetre fibreboard blocks impregnated with methyl eugenol, a powerful male attractant, mixed with an insecticide that is highly toxic to fruit flies.

Forest harvesting practices

There is no industrial harvesting of forests on Nauru. Wood is gathered for fuel and other domestic uses and is regulated according to land ownership and the customary laws that regulate ownership.
last updated: Tuesday, November 24, 2009