FAO Forestry country profiles - forest management

Practices

Around 65 percent of Tonga¿s land area is under coconut plantations or agroforestry systems. Under traditional agroforestry systems, food crops (predominantly coconut) are cultivated under a canopy of trees. Tongan agroforestry systems have a base in slash-and-burn agriculture, with a principal land clearing strategy consisting of felling, or ringbarking large trees and clearing the underbrush, usually through burning. At the same time selected tree species may be protected or allowed to regenerate along with deliberately planted ground and tree crops. Trees that are preserved are usually slow-growing timber species, fruit or nut trees, and trees of medicinal or other cultural importance. Often, domesticated or indigenous trees are deliberately or accidentally planted, so that valuable trees are scattered throughout, as the gardens return to fallow.

At present, around 900 hectares of plantation forests have been established in Tonga, with Pinus caribaea and Toona australis as the predominant species. Plantation trials in Tonga commenced in the 1940s, and more than 50 species have been introduced and tested. Around 80 hectares of plantations are targeted for establishment each year, and line planting is used for all species. Weeding is carried out in the 5 years after plantation establishment, and some low pruning is carried out during weeding operations, but no high pruning has been performed. Thinning in the P. caribaea plantations is just beginning, with a tentative schedule suggesting thinning to waste at age 8, and a production thinning at age 12, down to 450 stems per hectare.

Forest conservation measures

Tonga has a modest protected areas system, although the majority of protected areas are marine or littoral. The 1976 Parks and Reserves Act states that every park shall be administered for the benefit and enjoyment of the people of Tonga and there shall be freedom of entry and recreation therein by all persons. It states that every reserve shall be managed for the protection, preservation and maintenance of any valuable feature. The principal forest conservation area is the ¿Eua National Park. This was established in 1992, through the allocation of 450 hectares of the remaining indigenous forest on ¿Eua island. Watershed management areas have also been established on ¿Eua, and 1 000 hectares on Ha¿apai island are managed as a conservation area by the Land and Environment Planning Unit of the Ministry of Lands, Survey and Natural Resources.

Forest protection measures

Cyclones are the primary natural threat to Tonga's forests, with the islands hit by an average of two cyclones per year. Cyclones have periodically caused widespread damage to trees and woodlots. Cyclone Hina in 1997, for example, damaged more than 200 hectares of plantations. Consequently, wind-firmness is a primary consideration in plantation species selection. A National Office for Disaster Relief and Reconstruction has been established to provide cyclone warnings and relief.

Forest harvesting practices

Tonga¿s timber harvest is almost entirely comprised of coconut. Domestic production depends on the extensive coconut agroforestry resource, with most of the remaining indigenous hardwood forests either inaccessible or in protected areas. Coconut timber makes up more than 80 percent of the total domestic cut. Commercial harvesting in Tonga mainly relies on the use of small portable sawmills. These are able to deliver timber at a lower price than imported timber. Logs are purchased from farmers at stumpage value, and small volumes are harvested from forestry plantations (mainly thinnings) at an ¿at roadside¿ price. Timber processing and trading is considered to be mainly the responsibility of the private sector. Consistent with this, the main commercial coconut timber-processing complex at Mataliku, comprising a sawmill, treatment plant and joinery factory, has been privatized. Several other small fixed mills operate on ¿Eua, Ha'apai and Tongatapu, processing coconut and some hardwoods, but their production of sawn timber is very small.