Vol 3 Land Resource Inventory Report - Department of Environment ...

Table 3.3: Major Forest Types at December 2006
Forest Uses Estimated Area Percentage
Multiple Use Forests 549, 394 64.1
Protection Forests 308,114 35.9
Totals 857, 508 100
Source: Ministry of Forest, 2006:9.
Table 3.3 shows major native forest types in Fiji. Out the total percentage of forests present
in Fiji, 64.1% are Multiple Use forests and 35.9% are Protection Forests. Natural forests also
include Multiple Use Forests and Protection Forests.
Figure 3.2: Major forest types at December 2006
Source: Created by Author, (2010).
Over 80% of Fiji‘s native forests are communally owned (Ministry of Forest, 2006:9). This
poses a great challenge to the management of native forests as the rights to the resource rests
with the forest owners but legislation on how the resource is to be utilized rests with the state
(Ministry of Forest, 2006:9). This challenge is even greater when dealing with issues of
protected areas, as the state has to define what constitute a protected forest (Ministry of
Forest, 2006:9). Under Fiji‘s National Land Use Policy land classification; 67-72% of Fiji‘s
forests are in rough terrain and 13-17 percent are under medium terrain; while only 16% are
under easy or relatively flat terrain (Ministry of Forest, 2006:9).
3.4.1 WOODED LANDS
Wooded lands include dry areas of gully forests and bits and pieces of re-growing tree stands
in agricultural and grazing lands (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations,
2010). Table 3.4 shows forest areas derived from calibrated forest area statics of FRA 2010
categories.
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