VANUATU

Ban on Log Exports Overturned

The South Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu has repealed its ban on round log exports under questionable circumstances. The volume for export is set at three times the estimated sustainable level. Such intensive industrial logging of a small island's resource base is likely to cause significant ecosystem decline, loss of biodiversity, little real development and ultimately real suffering for local peoples. Five foreign timber companies, four from Malaysia, are the beneficiaries of this policy turnaround that is clearly at odds with recent forest policy. This item comes from a list recipient. All list members are asked to please send information when possible.