Pacific Islands Environment Outlook - UNEP

6
STATE OF THE ENVIRONMENT
local knowledge and management systems has been
strongly stated by PIDCs and research that focuses on
indigenous knowledge and natural resource
management practices is received with growing
enthusiasm in the Pacific.
Conclusion
The extremely limited and vulnerable land resource
base of most PICs means that the sustainable
management of land will become an increasingly
important issue in the region. In a 1992 survey, some
75 per cent of the region’s countries mentioned
degradation of land, in particular coastal land, as a
major environmental concern.
High population growth rates, increased individual
requirements for land, the displacement of traditional
land management systems by new agricultural systems,
mining and forest utilization have all placed serious
stress on land resources and the communities that
depend on them. Where good arable land is in short
supply, as in Fiji and Samoa, subsistence gardening has
been forced into increasingly marginal areas. Where only
a small proportion of land is used for farming, as in PNG
and Solomon Islands, there is intensive production within
existing farmed areas.
The potential threat to the productivity of land
resources posed by global climate change is expected to
heighten further the need for sustainable land
management in the years to come.
The fact that very few PICs have developed land-use
policies and that even fewer countries are effectively
implementing such policies is of considerable concern. It
is essential that efforts to develop and implement
sustainable land management policies are given the
priority that the issue deserves.
Forests
Developments over the past 100 years
Forests are of ecological, social, cultural and
commercial importance. In most PICs deforestation was
not a serious issue until relatively recently. It is
believed that prior to European contact, inhabitants on
most islands did not cause substantial deforestation or
forest degradation since populations were relatively
small, commercial activities were absent and steel tools
were unknown. However, following European
colonization in the mid- to late 1800s, deforestation and
forest degradation accelerated rapidly on most islands.
Coastal and lowland forests were converted to largescale
commercial coconut, cocoa and banana plantations
on many islands, and this process was facilitated by the
introduction of new technologies such as steel tools and
mechanized transport. Forest conversion has
accelerated in recent decades as populations have
increased, as more efficient methods and tools for
removing forest, such as chain saws, have become more
widely available, and as commercial imperatives, such as
timber logging and the development of commercial
agriculture, have become more important.
Although some countries have increasingly effective
systems of forestry reserves, conservation areas and/or
national parks to protect their forests for science and
humanity, few, if any, have legislation or institutionalized
programmes prohibiting the cutting or promoting the
replanting, on a significant scale, of endangered tree
species. This is threatening the local and regional
biodiversity which constitutes the economic and cultural
backbone of many Pacific peoples.
Developments over the past 10 years
Few data are available to show exactly how serious the
loss of intact forest has been since the Asian
Development Bank (ADB) report in 1992. However, in
some countries of the region, such as Samoa, rates of
deforestation in recent years have approached 2 per cent
per annum (GOWS 1994; Martel in prep.), faster than the
estimated rate at which tropical forests are being cleared
in the world (0.8 per cent per annum 1980–90) and in
tropical Asia (1.2 per cent per annum (FAO 1998)). In
the FSM, aerial photography of Pohnpei taken in
November 1995 showed that only 15 per cent of the land
was under undisturbed forest, compared to 42 per cent in
1976 (FSM Country Report 1996).
The percentage of forest cover in some Pacific island
countries is shown in Figure 1.2.
The development of non-wood forest products
(NWFPs) as an alternative income-generating activity (to
timber) is being given more attention, especially through
the initiatives of a number of Non-Governmental
Organizations (NGOs). Among the NWFPs and activities
being promoted are forest tree nuts (e.g. Ngali nuts),
traditional medicinal plants, bee-keeping, Morinda
citrifolia juice and leaves and butterfly farming.
Forest and tree cover is diminishing in PICs due to a
combination of population pressures, loss of traditional
controls, shifting cultivation under population pressure,
pasture development, mining and logging activities. Much
publicity has been given to the increasing impact of
logging operations in recent years, particularly in PNG