Countries

Forestry policies, institutions and programmes

Administration
The Department of Forestry was established in 1980 and recently restructured (1999) with the addition of a Forest Research Division and an Extension Forestry Division.

Policies
A National Land Use Plan was drafted during 1998. Rooted in the Constitution, the national goal for land use is to develop land resources in a sustainable way for the benefit of all present and future citizens. Land use decisions rest with the customary land owners.

Vanuatu¿s National Forest Policy was developed through a wide consultative process during 1996 and 1997 and was endorsed by the Council of Ministers in 1998. The National Forest Policy guides the work of the Department of Forestry and provides a clear indication to investors and donors about the management of the forestry sector. The policy is grouped into nine main areas. It sets out clear policies, objectives and strategies for each area and identifies stakeholders.

The National Forest Policy presents a positive vision for the management of the nation¿s forest resources but also identifies a number of issues and constraints affecting the forest sector, such as:

• outdated legislation;
• land disputes;
• inadequate land use planning;
• lack of forest management plans at the regional level;
• lack of specific forest harvesting plans;
• imbalance between utilization and reforestation/afforestation;
• inadequate resource knowledge;
• weakness of the institutional component;
• non-compliance of the industries with the code of forest harvesting practices;
• inadequate funding and management of protected areas.

Legislation
Vanuatu introduced its Code of Logging Practice in 1998 (see Section III on support from FAO). The code was developed with the assistance of the AusAid-sponsored Vanuatu Sustainable Forest Utilization Project and is designed to foster the application of sustainable forest harvesting practices and to act as a catalyst for upgrading industry standards. The amended Forestry Act, 1997 provided the legal basis for preparing and amending the code and established strong penalties for breaches of the code.

The code requires all harvesting operations to have and follow an approved harvesting plan. To ensure that the supervisory group has sufficient skills and knowledge to prepare and execute harvesting plans and that the operators are provided with the necessary skills for the operational aspects, the Department of Forestry and the Vanuatu Sustainable Forest Utilization Project developed a series of modular training programmes.

Complementary to the code is a set of guidelines for reduced impact logging (RIL), designed to assist field supervisory staff and industry operators to execute forest harvesting plans. Other important supporting documents include improved silvicultural prescriptions for selected forest types.

The Department of Forestry, in collaboration with the Pacific German Forestry Project, is establishing a demonstration site on Santo, the largest island, which has the majority of commercial logging. A similar site was established on Efate in 1997.

The number of mobile sawmills has increased rapidly in recent years. They have very low production capacity and produce moderate quality timber, but they have the significant advantages of employment and income opportunities for local communities and minimum environmental disturbance. However, their uncontrolled use can cause problems. New regulations for controlling the use of mobile sawmills were developed and approved in 1997. The government maintains the policy introduced into legislation in 1994 that logs (other than coconut and sandalwood) should be processed domestically. Any export of unprocessed logs requires the approval of the Council of Ministers.

International Activities
Many donor agencies have been involved in forestry sector development in the country. They include FAO, the Australian Government Aid (AusAID), the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), the European Union, New Zealand¿s Official Development Assistance and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Vanuatu has ratified the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES) in 1989 and the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1993.

The formal concept of conservation, protected areas, and national parks is new to Vanuatu; the placing of taboos has been the traditional method used for conserving resources and has been instrumental in forest conservation. However, with the advent of a market economy and the deterioration of traditional cultures, their effect in conserving natural resources is deteriorating. There are now four conservation reserves in Vanuatu covering about 8 700 ha. Additional conservation areas have been proposed by landowners.

The development of a Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan is currently underway with assistance from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP). The planned activities include the establishment of the Biodiversity Conservation Trust Fund and an inter-agency Protected Areas Group to coordinate and share information on protected areas.

Last updated: July 2001