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The Solomon Islands ecoforestry program has trained 56 landowning groups. At Morovo Lagoon, Lobi community, this man moves a carefully felled tree using a pully.
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Greenpeace and
other groups help customary forest owners set up
small scale ecoforestry industries as a solution to the crisis in the
forests.
What is ecoforestry?
Ecoforestry is a way for forest communities to benefit economically from forest use without damaging the forest. Using ecologically responsible harvesting methods, landowners control their forests. They gain an income, communal skills, and a return to traditional work practices.
Watch this inspiring video slideshow of ecoforestry in action:
“Ecoforestry is much better than logging. I prefer ecoforestry because we keep control of our forests and it does not spoil our sea, land, rivers and water catchment.”
Redol Gebe, project manager of the Lobi ecoforestry project in Solomon Islands
How does ecoforestry work?
Forest workers harvest trees using hand tools only and ensure that, as a tree falls, it does minimal damage to the remainder of the forest. They mill the trees where they fall and carry the timber out of the forest along narrow bush tracks.
The ecotimber is then transported along existing roads. No new roads are needed for ecotimber projects.
Community based planning and control, and strict guidelines that are externally monitored, ensure the forest is restored quickly to its original state. In contrast, destructive industrial logging removes all economically useful trees in a forest. The logged area can take decades to recover and landowners lose forest sources for food and medicines.
The Eco-Forestry Forum
The Eco-Forestry Forum, a not-for-profit group of PNG-based organisations (including Greenpeace), works with landowners to promote the benefits of choosing ecologically sustainable, integrated community development over the “quick fix” promised by logging companies. At the heart of this work is the belief that a viable and responsible ecoforestry industry will ensure that:
* the rights of local people are protected
* their assets or resources are properly managed
* they will not be unfairly exploited by others.
Other economic alternatives to industrial logging
Other viable options for income-generating enterprises include ecotourism and manufacturing non-timber forest products like tapa cloth, bilum bas and nuts. But these ecologically sustainable alternatives can only work if the forest is preserved.
About FSC timber
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is the only internationally recognised forest certification scheme that can give rigorous and credible assurance that timber products come from legal and responsibly managed forests.
Greenpeace supports the FSC, as do many indigenous people's organisations and progressive timber companies. When you buy a timber product carrying the FSC logo, you can be sure it comes from an environmentally appropriate and socially beneficial source.
