09 May 2011
The Solomon Islands forestry minister, Bradley Tovosia, says that illegal logging remains a big concern in his country. Mr Tovosia has minister for only three months and admits that it will take time before he gets his head around the many issues at play behind the problem of illegal logging in Solomon Islands.He says the lack of understanding among land owner groups about the Forestry Acts and the country’s code of logging practice are fuelling the problem.
“There are complaints from the land owners which sometimes they create problems themselves, between the land owners who think they own the land and what’s on the land, and then with the companies. Sometimes people say one thing and do the other thing. That’s exactly what’s happened to this country especially people who deal with loggers.”
However Bradley Tovosia has disputed claims by environmentalists that the country’s logging industry is on the brink of collapse, saying a reforestation programme should serve Solomon Islands well.
Commercial logging started in Solomon Islands in the 1920s and dramatically increased in the 1980s to levels that environmentalists and others have said are unsustainable. By 1996, annual output had increased to 800,000 cubic metres, up from about 300,000 cubic metres in 1989. The maximum sustainable yield is thought to be less than 300,000 cubic metres.
There is growing concern in the Solomons about the bribes being paid to officials by international logging companies working in the islands, the lack of financial benefits to ordinary villagers and the destruction of forest resources.
Sources: Radio New Zealand International & web research