Vanuatu

Forestry legislation

Forestry Order No.9 of 1996 - Control of Mobile Sawmills. This outlines the registration requirements, licences, conditions and fees and sets a log quota for mobile sawmills on each island.

Forestry Order No.3 of 1997 - Management and Control of Sandalwood Trade and Exports. Repeals Order No. 22 of 1995 and outlines the licence requirements, conditions and fees, the purchase register, export of Sandalwood and management charges. It gives the Minister the power to declare a Sandalwood trading season, upon advice from the Director of Forests, by specifying the period Sandalwood can be cut and traded.

Code of Logging Practice of 1998. It is designed to foster the application of sustainable forest harvesting practices and to act as a catalyst for upgrading industry standards. It is a legally binding instrument for all parties operating under the authority of a Timber Licence in Vanuatu. The Code details exact procedures for sustainable logging and requires applicants for a Timber Licence to produce a suitable logging plan that meets the criteria.  The amended Forestry Act, 1997 provided the legal basis for preparing and amending the code and established strong penalties for breaches of the code. Violation of the new Code will result in suspension or revocation of the Timber Licence. No logging is allowed without a current forest operator licence.

Complementary to the Code was a set of reduced impact logging (RIL) guidelines designed to assist field supervisory staff and industry operators to execute a forest harvesting plan (Vanuatu Department of Forests, 1999). These guidelines are enforceable by law and specify tree selection and skid trail alignment procedures, maximum skid trail and landing dimensions, and log extraction techniques. Other important supporting documents include improved silvicultural prescriptions for selected forest types.

Forestry Rights Registration and Timber Harvest Guarantee Act (No. 28 of 2000) - Relates to the registration of certain forestry rights granted in respect of land, and to the harvesting and accreditation of timber plantations.

After various amendments, in 2001 there was a complete review of the Forestry Act and a completely new Forestry Act was adopted. It is arranged in sections relating to the subject areas of forest plantations, utilization operations, and conservation through to administration, financial and general. Under the establishment of plantations, there are provisions for protection of areas of national or cultural importance. The Minister has powers to exclude areas from logging operations in order to preserve the ecology of an area. The Code of Logging Practice, which is implemented in the Forestry Act, under Part V Conservation, relates to the protection of the environment and promotion of forest development consistent with the principles of sustainable development, and also relates to the protection of non-timber forest values, among other matters.

last updated: Monday, October 1, 2007