Dear Editor – According to a recent news item on the SIBC, the Solomon Islands’ Ministry of Forestry has stopped issuing licenses to new logging companies.
The Permanent Secretary of Forestry, Vaeno Vigulu, said stopping the issuing of new logging licenses was a move to control the industry and the measures would be implemented under the Forest Resources and Timber Utilisation Regulation of 2007. (Legal Notice 114).
The SIBC went on to say there were more than one hundred logging companies operating in the country, with seventy-seven of those companies being members of the Solomon Forests Association (SFA).
Mr Vigulu claimed implementing legal notice 114 was being done to restrict non-members of the Solomon Forest Association (SFA), and new logging companies, from pursuing logging activities in the country.
It might be recalled that just a week or so ago, Mr Vigula issued a stark warning about the depletion of the nation’s forests by over-harvesting of timber and I, for one, mentioned the possibility of having breached Article 25 of the Declaration of Human Rights by such rapid destruction of the country’s forests.
Meanwhile, as I write, The Central Provincial Government has accused the Metro Logging Company at Pavuvu in Russell Islands of trespassing on state owned land.
Also the chiefs and people of North West Guadalcanal have condemned the dumping of waste oil at Tabulivu Point, also known as Tanaro logging camp.
Frank Short
Bangkok, Thailand
