Island logging must go beyond current ‘best practices’ to avoid erosion: New study

For logging on islands to be sustainable, it must adhere to clearly defined parameters that limit the impact on water quality and soil erosion, according to new research in the Solomon Islands of the southwestern Pacific Ocean. “Saving tropical forests worldwide depends upon tighter regulation of national laws and policies, as well as local buy-in for forest management,” Stacy Jupiter, one of the study’s authors and the director of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Melanesia program, said in a statement. “This study nicely illustrates why we need to take action now to protect the world’s remaining intact forest landscapes in order to preserve their biodiversity and important ecosystem services for people.” Active logging area on slopes of Kolombangara Island in the Solomon Islands. Image by Joe McCarter/WCS. It’s no secret that island ecosystems are especially delicate, as are the clean water, habitat and resources they provide. At the same time, some of those resources, such as the timber found in the Solomon Islands’ tropical forests, can help to bolster an economy struggling with high unemployment and few sources of revenue. Logging interests are increasingly targeting the forested slopes of the country’s volcanic islands. The Solomon Islands has laws to protect the most sensitive areas of forest, including those 400 meters (1,310 feet) above sea level or with particularly steep slopes. But in spite of those laws, crews are still sometimes given access, write the authors of the paper in the journal Environmental Research Letters on April 17. As part of their research, a…

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