FAO Forestry country profiles - forest management

Issues and concerns

The key concerns for forestry on Niue largely relate to issues surrounding gradual degradation of forest resources and include: concern over rates of deforestation, fragmented land ownership and associated problems with absentee land-owners, difficulties in gaining land management consensus, and ability to plan forestry activities across a viable scale. Overgrazing by cattle in forest areas is a significant cause of forest degradation, while the clearing of significant areas of forest for shifting cultivation is also a problem. Compounding these issues is the absence of any substantive legislation or regulation that will enable enforcement of improved management prescriptions. Thus, the development of a National Forest Policy as a step towards implementing such policies is key to progressing towards sustainable forest management on Niue.