A ustralia Pacific - Illegal Logging Portal

Logging devastation: Solomon Islands is home to the last remainingforests in the eastern part of the Paradise Forests. In 2004, over onemillion cubic metres of logs were cut here, according to the CentralBank of Solomon Islands. This is four times the sustainable yieldof the remaining forests (which is 255,000 cubic metres per year,as calculated by AusAid, the Australian Agency for InternationalDevelopment, October 2003). © Greenpeace/SolnessMany serious social impacts resulting from logginghave been documented over the last decade. Theseinclude: destruction of local water sources anddesecration of sacred and burial sites 23 , child sexualabuse and prostitution 24 , increased disputes andconflict within a community, the breakdown of socialstructures 25 , and hardship resulting from the loss anddamage to forest resources that local people rely onfor their every day living 26 .Environmental impacts have been equallydamaging and include: soil disturbance anderosion, sedimentation of streams and reefs, theloss of biodiversity and the regenerative capacity offorests 27 . It is also now well recognised that tropicaldeforestation and degradation is a major contributorto greenhouse gas emissions (equal to 1/5 of globalemissions) and dangerous climate change 28 .In some instances there has been a link betweenlogging and complete forest conversion for oilpalm plantations, where logging precedes theplantation development or is carried out under theguise of being an agricultural project 29 . With risinginternational crude palm oil prices there is increasedinterest in an expansion of oil palm, making forestconversion following logging a significant threat toSolomon Islands forests.2.Some of the most glaring failures of the logging sectorhave been in their financial affairs. A special audit bythe Solomon Islands Dept of Forestry, Environmentand Conservation in 2005 found that there was grossmismanagement in the forestry sector, and whilelogging companies were able to avoid paying muchof their tax liabilities, large sums of money were beingpaid to forestry officials and diverted to unbudgetedexpenditure 30 . The Auditor General conclusionsinclude:• In 2004, there was an estimated SI$29 million in forgonerevenue to the Government in the granting of timberduty exemptions.• Continuous breaches of agreement by the loggingcompanies• Unlawful ex-gratia payments, unaccounted foradvances made to individuals from logging companies,timber royalty payments diverted to private accounts…These types of practices are however not new.Problems with tax remissions and exemptionshave been previously identified 31 along with the‘severe economic and financial disruption when thenatural forest timber resource is depleted 32 . A majorAustralian Aid funded study in 1994 found losses tothe Solomon Islands Government of SI$94 milliondue to the underreporting of log prices 33 . There is noevidence to suggest that any of these practices andtheir resultant financial losses to the resource ownersand Government have abated in subsequent years,meaning the aggregate losses would now be in excessof a billion SI$.An oil palm kernel: the expansion of oil palm is a significant threatto Solomon Islands forests. © Greenpeace/BudhiSecuring the Future: An Alternative Plan for Solomon Island Forests and Economy 7