FAO Forestry country profiles - forest management

Practices

Silviculture in the natural forests of the Solomon Islands is generally limited to treatments associated with harvesting and occasional post-harvesting rehabilitation. The latter mainly comprises line planting in logged forest which, depending on spacings, can be regarded as rehabilitation or conversion to plantation. Plantation establishment in the Solomon Islands commenced in 1966 and, to date, around 25 000 hectares of plantation forests have been established. Principal species planted include Campnosperma brevipetiolata, Terminalia brassii and Swietenia macrophylla. Most reforestation has been carried out using line planting in logged forest. Spacing between lines has varied between 4 metres and 30 metres, with recent plantings being tightly spaced. Weeding (to age 5) and thinning (estimated at year 4 and year 8) are generally prescribed silvicultural treatments. Low pruning has been carried out on select species such as Gmelina arborea. Management and silvicultural treatments have been neglected across substantial areas of government-owned plantation forest since 1995, when the government announced its intention to privatize its plantations.

Forest conservation measures

Forest conservation measures are intrinsically bound to efforts to reduce unsustainable logging. At present, however, conservation per se, receives only limited attention in the Solomon Islands. A limited number of sites receive nominal protection, with the East Rennell World Heritage Site probably the most important conservation area. The high proportion of land under customary ownership and the legislative provisions surrounding tenure provide a significant barrier to establishment of formal protected areas.

While some 80% of the Solomon Islands is still covered by tropical rainforest (with the majority being owned by indigenous people living in scattered rural communities), only a mere 0.2% are formally protected. Some of the existing protected areas include: Queen Elizabeth Park, Kolombangara Ecological Site and Honiara Botanical Gardens. A major limiting factor for the establishment of more reserves has been the lack of enabling legislation. The 1998 Wildlife Protection and Management Act was created to declare a number of reserve areas, however, land tenure remains a significant constraint to protected area expansion.

Forest protection measures

A number of pests and diseases affect plantation species on the Solomon Islands. The most widespread insect pest is the coreid bug (Amblypelta cocophaga), which has severely affected plantings of Eucalyptus deglupta and Campnosperma brevipetiolata. The most prominent tree disease is pink disease (Corticium salmonicolor), which affects a variety of species, most notably halting planting of Agathis macrophylla. A widespread pest is Merremia spp. vines, a pioneer genus that aggressively invades logged areas and smothers remaining trees, as well as new plantings. The practice of more closely-spaced plantings is designed to shade out Merremia vines. The Solomon Islands is less susceptible to cyclone damage than many of its Pacific Island neighbours. Susceptibility to wind damage is, consequently, a less important factor in selecting plantation species.

Forest harvesting practices

The principal logging technique in the Solomon Islands is selective logging. This involves selection of individual high-value trees for harvesting, while leaving a largely intact residual forest for future harvesting according to a definite cycle. In the Solomon Islands, the principal commercial species include Pterocarpus indicus and Instia bijuga, although more than 40 species are harvested within selection systems. Legislation currently restricts harvesting to trees greater than 60 cm in diameter, and prohibits harvesting on slopes of greater than 30 degrees or above 400 metre contours. Bulldozers are most commonly used to haul logs, although other systems such as high lead or cable hauling and heli-logging are also utilized. Forest harvesting in the Solomon Islands has, however, been highly controversial during the past 20 years. Logging practices have been criticized for being wantonly destructive, with selective ¿high grading¿ being carried out with little regard for the residual forest or the wider environmental implications of forest degradation. Log harvests have far exceeded the sustainable capacity of the merchantable forests, and most projections suggest these forests will be exhausted within the next decade. More recently, the government has made significant efforts to enforce greater control over logging. These efforts have included the development of the National Code of Practice for Timber Harvesting, moratoriums on new licenses, repeals of unused licenses, and a discontinuation of concessions and remissions granted to logging companies.