Corporate power in the forests of the Solomon Islands

Pacific Affairs

Volumn 71, Issue 4, 1998, Pages 524-546

  Dauvergne, Peter ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT; FOREST MANAGEMENT; MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISE; TIMBER INDUSTRY;

SOLOMON ISLANDS;

EID: 0032469088     PISSN: 0030851X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/2761083     Document Type: Article

References (38)

1. This paper does not analyze the effects of global prices and markets. For a study of the environmental implications of international trade, and a discussion of possible trade reforms to promote sustainable timber management, see Peter Dauvergne, "A Model of Sustainable International Trade in Tropical Timber," International Environmental Affairs, vol. 9, no. 1 (Winter 1997), pp. 3-21.
2. James Fingleton, Assistance in the Revision of Forestry Legislation. First Report to the Government of Solomon Islands on Forestry Policy and Legislation. Consultancy Report No. 2 (Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1989), p. 17.
3. Philip Ells, Logging and Legal Access in Solomon Islands (Ely, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom: Forests Monitor, July 1996), pp. 10-11.
4. Greenpeace Pacific, Pavuvu Island Logging. Russell Is. Group, Central Province, Solomon Islands. Environmental Impact Report (1995), pp. 3-7.
5. Central Bank of Solomon Islands (CBSI), 1997 Annual Report (Honiara: CBSI), pp. 7, 45.
6. Price Waterhouse, Economic Studies and Strategies Unit, Forestry Taxation and Domestic Processing Study, Final Draft Report, Report for the Solomon Islands Government, Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Forests, Environment and Conservation, 1995, pp. 23-24.
7. Phillip Montgomery, "Forestry in Solomon Islands," Pacific Economic Bulletin, vol. 10, no. 2 (December 1995), p. 75.
8. Economic Insights Pty., The Solomon Islands Economy: Achieving Sustainable Economic Development (Canberra: Australian Agency for International Development, 1994), p. 53.
9. 1995 Forestry Review, unofficial report. Based on figures from the Timber Control Unit Project of the Ministry of Forests, Environment and Conservation, Solomon Islands Government. Supplied by a government official in the Solomon Islands in July 1996.
10. Price Waterhouse, Forestry Taxation, p. 9. In 1995, the landowner company, Somma, received the largest tax exemption on log exports - around SI $4.3 million.
11. Price Waterhouse, Forestry Taxation, pp. ii, 27.
12. This paragraph is based on Ian Frazer, "The Struggle for Control of Solomon Island Forests," The Contemporary Pacific, vol. 9, no. 1 (1997), pp. 44-52. (The first quote is from p. 44; the second quote is from p. 52.)
13. Central Bank of Solomon Islands, 1997 Annual Report, p. 18.
14. South Pacific Regional Environment Programme, Solomon Islands, pp. 25-26; Greenpeace Pacific, Pavuvu Island Logging.
15. South Pacific Regional Environment Programme, Solomon Islands, pp. 25-26; Greenpeace Pacific, Pavuvu Island Logging.
16. This quote and die previous one are from Forests Monitor, draft briefing document, "Kumpulan Emas Berhad and its Involvement in the Solomon Islands," April 1996, p. 7.
17. Montgomery, "Forestry in Solomon Islands," p. 74.
18. Judith A. Bennett, "Forestry, Public Land, and the Colonial Legacy in the Solomon Islands," The Contemporary Pacific, vol. 7, no. 2 (1995), p. 264.
19. Price Waterhouse, Foresty Taxation, pp. 50-51; and personal communication, Judy Bennett, 9 April 1997.
20. Central Bank of Solomon Islands, 1997 Annual Report, p. 18; and personal communication, Judy Bennett, 9 April 1997.
21. Frazer, "The Struggle for Control," pp. 65-66.
22. Bennett, "Forestry, Public Land," p. 266.
23. In 1998 the Ulufa'alu government, with support from Australian aid, revived the Timber Control Unit, although it is too soon to tell if this will have as great an impact as the earlier unit.
24. Summarized in Forests Monitor, "Kumpulan Emas Berhad," p. 8.
25. Bennett, "Forestry, Public Land," p. 262; Frazer, "The Struggle for Control," p. 51; Ells, "Logging and Legal Access," pp. 11, 16; Sol-Tree Nius (Honiara), no. 2 (February 1995), p. 3; and James Fingleton, "Forest Resource Management in the South Pacific: Logging Your Way to Development," Development Bulletin, vol. 31 (July 1994), p. 21.
26. Bennett, "Forestry, Public Land," p. 262; Frazer, "The Struggle for Control," p. 51; Ells, "Logging and Legal Access," pp. 11, 16; Sol-Tree Nius (Honiara), no. 2 (February 1995), p. 3; and James Fingleton, "Forest Resource Management in the South Pacific: Logging Your Way to Development," Development Bulletin, vol. 31 (July 1994), p. 21.
27. Bennett, "Forestry, Public Land," p. 262; Frazer, "The Struggle for Control," p. 51; Ells, "Logging and Legal Access," pp. 11, 16; Sol-Tree Nius (Honiara), no. 2 (February 1995), p. 3; and James Fingleton, "Forest Resource Management in the South Pacific: Logging Your Way to Development," Development Bulletin, vol. 31 (July 1994), p. 21.
28. Bennett, "Forestry, Public Land," p. 262; Frazer, "The Struggle for Control," p. 51; Ells, "Logging and Legal Access," pp. 11, 16; Sol-Tree Nius (Honiara), no. 2 (February 1995), p. 3; and James Fingleton, "Forest Resource Management in the South Pacific: Logging Your Way to Development," Development Bulletin, vol. 31 (July 1994), p. 21.
29. Bennett, "Forestry, Public Land," p. 262; Frazer, "The Struggle for Control," p. 51; Ells, "Logging and Legal Access," pp. 11, 16; Sol-Tree Nius (Honiara), no. 2 (February 1995), p. 3; and James Fingleton, "Forest Resource Management in the South Pacific: Logging Your Way to Development," Development Bulletin, vol. 31 (July 1994), p. 21.
30. Frazer, "The Struggle for Control," pp. 54-60; and John Roughan, "Solomon Islands: Non- Government Organizations," The Contemporary Pacific, vol. 9, no. 1 (1997), pp. 157-66.
31. Frazer, "The Struggle for Control," pp. 54-60; and John Roughan, "Solomon Islands: Non-Government Organizations," The Contemporary Pacific, vol. 9, no. 1 (1997), pp. 157-66.
32. Forests Monitor, "Kumpulan Emas Berhad," pp. 1-2.
33. Price Waterhouse, Forestry Taxation, pp. 24, 43, 45-46.
34. Ron Duncan, Melanesian Forestry Sector Study, International Development Issues, No. 36 (Canberra: Australian International Development Assistance Bureau, 1994), p. xvii.
35. Price Waterhouse, Forestry Taxation, p. ii.
36. Around U.S. $5 per cubic metre may be accounted for by agent fees in places such as Singapore and Hong Kong. Seamus Mulholland and Gane Simbe, Report of Visit to Japan and Korea by TCUP Commercial Unit Manager and CBSI Foreign Exchange Manager 26 March to 8 April 1995, Internal Report (May 1995), p. 2. A close look at Solomon Islands log export records and import records of Japan and South Korea suggests that log smuggling is not a serious problem in the Solomon Islands. The main problem is underreporting of prices, species, and grades.
37. Forestry Review Update, Unofficial report. Supplied by a government official in the Solomon Islands (June 1996), p. 7.
38. Informal agreements between loggers and Japanese buyers have also occurred in the Philippines, Indonesia, Sarawak and Sabah. See Peter Dauvergne, Shadows in the Forest: Japan and the Politics of Timber in Southeast Asia (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1997).