Is it possible or likely that demographic outcomes were a product only of the region's rapid economic development? Or did population policies accelerate the transition to low fertility and slower population growth? These issues are addressed through a detailed examination of the experience between and of six East Asian economies: Their distinctive approaches to population policies are compared and the important channels through which population change has affected economic development are examined.
Among the issues investigated are the impact of population on productivity and innovation; economic structure; saving, investment, and international capital flows; international labor migration; human resource development; the distribution of income; and the economic status of women.
Understanding the connections between demographic change and the economy also sheds light on the future of East Asia. Many of the demographic changes examined here are persistent in nature and will influence the economies of East Asia for many decades. When East Asia's recent financial crisis has become a distant memory, demographic forces will still be exerting a deep and fundamental influence. With the exception of Japan, demographic conditions favor strong economic growth for several more decades. Only time will tell if the countries of East Asia will seize these continuing opportunities.
Details and ordering information at Stanford University Press. The book reaches the decisive conclusion that population matters, and that age structure contributed dramatically to East Asia's stunning economic performance. The subtitle of this book is well chosen. East Asian countries did indeed meet challenges and seize opportunities.
Whether other developing regions will follow suit is an important and still unsettled question. Policy-makers now realize the importance of fire protection and continued fire management, as emergency response will not prevent large and damaging fires. As a result, sustainable forestry practices, improving agricultural burning practices and promotion of better regional cooperation in forest fire control are the strategies being used at present Asia Forest Partnership Forests are among the most important pools of terrestrial biological diversity.
Together, tropical, temperate and boreal forests offer diverse habitats for plants, animals and other life.
Forest biological diversity is needed to allow species to continuously adapt to changing environmental conditions, to maintain the potential to meet human needs and to support ecosystem functions. Deforestation is causing the foremost loss of biological diversity on a large scale.
Although tropical forests cover only 6 percent of the earth's land surface, they contain between 70 and 90 percent of all of the world's species Myers These tropical forests and hotspot areas of high importance for biodiversity are situated mostly in the world's least developed countries Figure 2. With continuous deforestation and forest degradation, we are losing between 50 and animal and plant species each day.
This loss of species entails a loss of genetic resources. Many of our species are now facing the possibility of extinction. Aside from deforestation, wildlife hunting and trading contribute to the loss of biodiversity. According to Dr Kent Redford, Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Conservation Institute and originator of the "empty forest syndrome" concept, "In many parts of Asia, it is easier to see animals in the markets than in the forest.
In Sulawesi, the ranges of the anoa a small species of wild cattle and babirusa a member of the pig family are shrinking because of hunting pressure. In Thailand's Doi Inthanon and Doi Suthep national parks, all tigers, elephants or wild cattle have been hunted out. Experts at the 7 th Conference of the Parties for the Convention on Biological Diversity COP-7 pointed out that unless the wildlife trade can be controlled, Asia will lose much of its unique biodiversity.
Wood energy is the dominant source of energy for over 2 billion people, particularly in developing countries. Biofuels, especially fuelwood and charcoal, currently provide more than 14 percent of the world's total primary energy. According to FAO a , biofuels are classified as solid fuels, biogas, liquid fuels such as bioethanol and biodiesel, which come from crops such as sugar cane and beet, maize and energy grass or from fuelwood, charcoal, agricultural wastes and by-products, forestry residues, livestock manure and other sources.
Fuelwood and charcoal are absorbing around 60 percent of worldwide wood removals, a share that rises to over 80 percent in developing countries, putting considerable pressure on forests and trees. There is a deeply rooted inter-relation between poverty, access to energy and environmental sustainability. Social and economic scenarios indicate a growth in the demand for woodfuels that is expected to continue for several decades unless other livelihood opportunities are provided and dependence on the forest is lessened.
The relevance of forestry in poverty alleviation seems obvious to some Belcher Much of the forestry and development debate nowadays in international fora focuses on how forests and forestry can contribute to the UN Millennium Development Goals, including lessening the number of people suffering from extreme poverty and hunger by FAO c. In Figure 2, it is very obvious that the HDI, a comparative measure of life expectancy, literacy, education and standard of living for countries worldwide, is lowest in the developing countries. All of these measures have something to do with poverty. The world's natural forests are shrinking and global climate changes are expected to have serious impacts on forests and agricultural systems in the future.
The World Bank estimated that 1. Desertification is one of the most serious environmental and socio-economic problems in the world today. It has led to a growing concern in a number of countries including China Fu and other countries in Northeast Asia. Desertification is the degradation of land in arid, semiarid and dry subhumid areas. It is caused primarily by human activities and climatic variations. It occurs because dryland ecosystems, which cover over one-third of the world's land area, are extremely vulnerable to overexploitation and inappropriate land use. Poverty, political instability, deforestation, overgrazing and bad irrigation practices can all undermine the land's fertility.
Over million people are directly affected by desertification. In addition, some 1 billion people in over countries are at risk. These people include many of the world's poorest, most marginalized and politically weak citizens UNCCD In the case of China, one-third of the entire land area is desert and about 7. About hectares of land transform to desert every year. Beyond the specific damages that have been occurring in China, desertification is expanding throughout Mongolia and natural forests in the Far East have decreased. In Mongolia, 90 percent of the territory can be regarded as vulnerable to desertification, due not only to climatic variation, but also to sharp continental climate conditions and the impact of human activities Batjargal Overploughing, overgrazing, denudation and abuse of water resources have caused dramatic consequences in the northwest of China and Mongolia.
Desertification has accelerated the forming of a Chinese "dust bowl" that is sweeping most regions in Northern China as well as across national boundaries, threatening the Republic of Korea and Japan KU Japanese islands have been painfully feeling the effects of desertification every spring as well. Although all the effects of deforestation are potentially serious, perhaps the most alarming is that of climate change due to the loss of trees.
Global warming and climate change is the greatest environmental challenge of this century, prompting different leaders and experts of all nations to take action and present their very best efforts in finding a unified solution. In the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, climate change was considered to have the greatest global impact. Climate change was chosen as the shift most likely to affect the world in the future, narrowly beating the emergence of new markets into second place World Economic Forum In the absence of trees, global warming worsens, as there is nothing to absorb the continuous emissions of CO 2 and other forms of gas, the products of different human activities.
Global carbon dioxide emissions continue to rise, with the world producing 16 percent more in than , according to the World Bank Most of the polluted areas are in the developing countries, which contribute as well to emissions in the atmosphere. However, as shown in Figure 3, they are small compared to emissions by high-income countries. Major global threats, such as hunger, poverty, population growth, air pollution, soil degradation, desertification and deforestation are intricately entangled with and all contribute to climate change.
Rising to this challenge will entail unprecedented cooperation among the world's nations and strong support from international organizations concerned. All of these intricate issues in Asia and in other parts of the world cannot be solved without a concerted effort and the collaboration of key forest and environmental institutions and sectors at national, regional and global levels.
Forestry can contribute to the achievement of UN Millennium Development Goals such as eradication of extreme poverty and hunger and ensuring environmental sustainability. Hence, we may start from a very basic understanding of the real situation of what is happening in our environment and how we can adapt to this changing world.
The core responsibility lies within universities or academic institutions. They may offer new curricula such as Biodiversity, Desertification, Climate Change Carbon Sequestration , Water and Soil Pollution, Ecosystem Management including forest sustainability, non-wood forest products, and recreation and many more courses to formulate a problem-based solution. International exchange and cooperation programmes are needed: Foreign experts in particular fields, for instance, may be tapped for improvement of the courses.
This will also produce more forestry experts. Active support programmes on the study of tropical and boreal forests are necessary to improve education. Exchanging foreign students and utilizing trained students in institutes and industries related to forestry as well could help students in improving their knowledge and widening their horizons on the international aspect of forestry. The next strategy is to create new jobs from new forestry such as tree doctors, information and networking, exploring new medicines from plants, among others. In many parts of the world, not only in Asia, the numbers of unemployed forestry graduates are increasing thereby daunting students to take forestry courses.
It is also sad to note that many landed jobs which were not related to their fields. Regional institutions are also important to have active regional research. It would also be helpful if Asian forest institutes, like European forest institutes, could be established to address complex forestry-related issues and have institutions that will take the lead in providing extensive networks for young scientists' capacity building in conducting research, education and activities related to the rehabilitation and sustainable management of forests in Asia, especially in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Universities, institutes, governments, industries and companies need to establish collaborative partnerships and networking. Relationships with NGOs should also be established. Sustainable development based on an ecosystem approach should be the new management approach for forest resources as we are dealing with problems holistically. There is also a need for a change in forest administrations and policies. For adaptation to changing situations, restructuring is warranted.
The environmental problems we are now experiencing are truly disturbing and are interconnected. We may not understand the harshness of the possible consequences that they might create in the future but we should realize that there is not much time for us to act. The effects of all environmental problems are obvious and are seriously affecting the social and economic aspects of each nation. It is difficult to provide immediate and concrete solutions to these problems and solving these issues requires a great deal of work.
However, we can do something if we consider approaches for identifying regional priorities and determining how forestry and strategies can be acknowledged within regional planning processes. Regional institutions such as the establishment of an Asian Forest Institute could be one move towards the rehabilitation and sustainable management of forests in Asia.
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- Wirkprinzipien der Naturheilkunde: Modelle - Konzepte - Fallbeispiele (German Edition).
- Issues and challenges in a changing globalized world, 1st Edition.
It is time to broaden our perspectives about different forestry issues, particularly in Asia. Economic development, social aspects such as poverty alleviation, access to energy and education and other aspects must be integrated into regional or international environmental processes. In addition, necessary information on forests of different countries in Asia, their potentials and limitations should be identified to contribute to sustainable forest development.
Most of all, these forestry issues can be solved effectively through concerted effort and collaboration, primarily focusing on key forests, by environmental institutions and sectors at national, regional and global levels. Asia floods death toll near 3, Collaborating to ensure sustainable management of Asian forest available at www. The quest for peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific and beyond. In Proceedings of an international workshop on rangeland desertification , pp.
Forest product markets, forest and poverty reduction. International Forestry Review, 7 2.
Session 2: Driving forces and key issues for Asia-Pacific forestry
A review of fire projects in Indonesia — Pulag National Park general management plan. Illegal logging threatens ecological and economic stability available at www. Forest fire and insect pest management. Draft terminal report of the project. About wood energy available at www. Fire management available at www. Livelihood available at www. State of the world's forest. Analysis from the East-West Center No. Overview of fire and some management issues and options in tropical vegetation.
Session 2: Driving forces and key issues for Asia-Pacific forestry
Transboundary pollution and sustainability of tropical forests: Transboundary pollution and the sustainability of tropical forests. Mangroves restoration in Sri Lanka and Thailand. Community involvement in and management of forest fires in South East Asia. The University of Arkansas available at www. Trees by the billions. An impact analysis of shifting cultivation in the forest of northern Laos using GIS and satellite image.
Forest and land fire prevention in Cambodia. International Forest Fire News No. An explanatory leaflet available at www. Biodiversity and cultural property in the management of limestone resources: Washington, DC, World Bank. Asia's biodiversity vanishing into the marketplace. Science Daily News, 12 February World Economic Forum Annual Meeting A revised forest strategy for the World Bank Group. Published analyses agree that Pacific Island Countries PICs face enormous challenges of isolation, limited size, resource paucity, high population growth and restricted opportunities for economic growth.
For most small island nations the imperative to sustain economic growth in line with the global development paradigm is a paradox when the physical constraints to sustainable growth are obvious. Over the last decade most of these nations have experienced low if not negative growth in GDP per capita. Island economies across the region have largely depended on agriculture, fisheries, forestry, mining and tourism with some manufacturing and increasing importance in remittances.
Poor performance since has resulted in rising unemployment, crime, poverty and deterioration in health. Poor governance and corruption have also been contributors. Additional costs include frequent natural disasters exacerbated by the impacts of global warming. Commercial forestry is important in the larger island nations. Forestry sectors are not free from corruption and weak governance. Destructive logging practices and forest clearing have seriously impacted biodiversity — both terrestrial and marine. Forests are vital to all island communities for the provision of environmental services and a range of products for subsistence.
The reliance of rural and small island communities on forest products has decreased as forests and forest species disappear. The potential for future benefit has been lost. Conservation of indigenous forest stands has yet to become a serious concern. Forest plantations, small woodlots and agroforestry are features of forestry development. The potential for multiple uses of trees has been recognized. The ongoing development of non-wood forest products has the potential to benefit more rural communities. Given good governance, political will, sufficient resources and strategic exploitation of global markets, sustainable forest management by is possible with a combination of large plantations and community or family woodlots of native and exotic species for timber and multiple-use production.
PICs, sustainable forest management, land tenure, employment, community participation Introduction. Extreme diversity is an often-quoted feature of Pacific Island Countries PICs that makes most people hesitate to generalize about them. This must be borne in mind throughout this presentation.
Together, PICs comprise 14 independent states and eight territories of metropolitan nations. This paper focuses only on the 14 independent PICs listed in Table 1. They are small by world standards. Apart from Papua New Guinea PNG , all have populations below a million, with the smallest having a population of only 1 people.
The islands' land area, cultures and resources are as diverse as their population sizes. Scattered over million km 2 of ocean, the 22 countries and territories comprise a total land mass that is exceeded by the ocean at an average ratio of to 1 World Bank Pacific islands are generally grouped into the three major cultural and geographic categories of Melanesia — comprising the larger continental islands to the West Pacific, Polynesia — comprising the widely scattered islands to the East and Northeast Hawaii and Micronesian islands that pepper the North and Northwest Pacific.
Only the larger countries of Melanesia are net exporters of timber, while the rest are either net importers or total importers of timber. However, some non-wood forest and tree products could potentially become commercially important, even in non-timber-producing countries. This paper briefly provides an overview of the current development situation of PICs and discusses emerging economic, social and environmental issues that have implications for sustainable forest management.
It discusses the possible future outlook of forests in PICs by and concludes with some suggestions. Published analyses about the situation of Pacific islands agree that they face enormous challenges of isolation, limited size, resource paucity, high population growth and limited opportunities for economic growth. Economic growth ranged from In most cases growth has been insufficient to stimulate enough employment opportunities for the highly youthful populations, resulting in significant youth unemployment and increasing crime rates.
Rapid urbanization with concomitant growth of informal settlements and deteriorating infrastructure services is common. Isolation makes transportation expensive and time consuming, limiting opportunities for the development of tradable products. Limited size precludes expansion of an internal domestic market sufficient to promote needed economic growth. Additionally, the small land masses of the islands, particularly the atoll nations, are generally resource poor. On the other hand, the larger countries of Melanesia, relatively richer in natural resources, have generally failed to manage their resources sustainably for the long-term benefit of their people.
Forest logging and fishery exploitation have often been intensive and marginally controlled as corrupt officials choose to ignore management regulations and poorly resourced government authorities cannot monitor rapacious commercial operators. Local resource-owning communities rely on promises of services roads, schools, health clinics that often do not materialize in exchange for the removal of their natural wealth. Usually they are much worse off after logging than before.
Challenging forestry issues in Asia and their Strategies
Landowners' share of returns from forest harvests range from about 10 to 16 percent. Government shares range from less than 10 to about 30 percent. Excess logging profits for companies hover at 30 percent World Bank With current logging practices, most accessible indigenous forests are likely to be logged out by if not earlier AusAID Fishery resources in many islands have been exploited beyond sustainable levels.
Many of them are near collapse Science Daily Developing alternative livelihoods, which could include greater reliance on sustainable forests, is imperative. Mining operations with minimum monitoring have resulted in the widespread pollution of waterways and coastal fisheries, while weak agricultural services cannot control destructive agricultural practices that result in serious soil degradation and heavy silting of waterways and coastal fishery areas. Forests have vital roles to play in all island nations for subsistence needs, for watershed protection, for flood and erosion control and for protection of downstream areas and coastal fisheries from degradation.
Only the larger nations can sustain commercial timber production. The pressures of rapidly growing populations see Table 1 , however, continue to take their toll on Pacific island forests from the smallest land mass to the largest where forest cover is diminishing. Available data on percentage forest cover in Table 1 show a range from about 30 percent to some 85 percent. By world standards the islands' forest resources are miniscule. Papua New Guinea with the largest forest resource accounts for only 1.
However, rich biodiversity and high rates of endemism raise concerns over the rapid rate of deforestation that ranges from 0.
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Without growth the picture the report paints of the Pacific by is grim. Good management and wise investment in people and their natural resources are vital for sustainable economic performance. Emerging issues that underlie powerful trends in development need to be understood and addressed as necessary to maintain sustainable island communities into and beyond. The tremendous varieties in PIC cultures display a common trait of communal sharing and the recognition of communal rights over individual human rights.
Success in our globalized world requires adjustment to a value system based on individualism where individual rights often supersede community rights. Hence cultural obligations can be difficult to overcome when there are temptations to favour extended family members or one's own tribal needs over others. Conflict arises in daily decisions between basic values of the old and the new whether in a personal situation, a company board room or a government office.
Development agents need to understand this dilemma and ensure structures are put in place to help decision-makers at all levels to maintain the rules and practices of good governance and just treatment of all citizens. An important emerging issue identified after wide consultations across the region is political governance AusAID However, many reviews have shown that governance in all sectors — private, civil society as well as government — has emerged as an issue of widespread concern.
A recent UNDP assessment for example, reasoned that poor growth has been primarily a result of internal factors including adverse "political developments, poor macroeconomic management, corruption and poor governance" UNDP Widespread corruption partly results from conflict in cultural values — a topic of frequent discussions in debates about leadership in PICs.
The major economic sectors of agriculture, fisheries, forestry, mining and tourism have not been free of corruption. In the words of the former prime minister of PNG, "Governance has been particularly poor in the area of forestry with the side effect of promoting corrupt practices and undermining environmental sustainability. Corruption in the forestry sector has been particularly prevalent since the entry in the s of Asian logging companies who moved southwards when loggable forests began to disappear in the Asian region. Much can be done to improve logging practices and management in the Asia— Pacific region if authorities cooperate across countries.
Monitoring of commercial operators and sharing of experiences, as well as matching legislations, could assist in improving forest management across the whole Asia—Pacific region. Even without corruption, mismanagement and lack of resources in government, forestry authorities undermine well-formulated codes of logging practices that PICs have developed for themselves over the last decade.
For example a recent review of forestry in Fiji expressed concern over unsustainable logging despite an exemplary code of logging practice Lesley et al. A major conclusion of the report was that sustainable forest management was "nowhere being achieved in Fiji" not because of lack of knowledge but the inability to apply it". Natural forest logging in both PNG and Solomon Islands is unsustainable, and the latter's accessible resources will probably last only another ten years. An additional issue of forest governance that concerns all PIC communities is the rapid loss of traditional knowledge, local culture and customary appreciation of forests and native trees.
Modern educated and well-meaning officials collect forest data for modern forest management and may well lack understanding of wider issues, understood by the elders, that impact on the sustainability of island ecosystems. This has been termed a "crisis of ignorance" Thaman Landholding in the Pacific is largely communal under a customary ownership system with some alienated land now either owned by the government, or privately owned under freehold titles Table 2.
Increasing disputes over landownership can be a deterrent to business investments so vital for increased economic growth and for more positive social development by In the resource-rich countries of PNG, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, communal land is not officially registered, so disputes over ownership are common and investment is often delayed while land cases are settled in court. Communal landownership poses a challenge for planning and management of a nation's forest cover and allocation of the range of forest land uses including sustainable logging, sustainable subsistence use, protection forest and conversion to plantation forest.
Sustainable logging of both plantation forests and native forests requires decades for each cycle from seedling to harvest. Native forest reserves, vital for biodiversity conservation, will have to be subject to strict management rules that will require the full cooperation of landowners over many generations. Careful persuasion of landowning communities to accept the necessary dedication of their land over many decades for such purposes is a necessary component of sustainable forestry management.
Logging companies can easily bribe individual landowning chiefs and obtain their approval. In the absence of community dispute, the logger moves in and ravages the forest with little if no monitoring by the forestry authority, which is not sufficiently resourced to deal with such situations.
Lack of vehicles for example has often deterred efficient monitoring by forestry officials. When the same officials have to be transported to the logging sites by the logging company itself, the opportunity for corruption is ripe. Most island communities rely to varying extents on forests for subsistence needs. As forest owners they are free to do as they like with their forests. Clearing and burning, which still commonly accompany subsistence gardening, can destroy the forest to the extent that it impacts adversely on contingent ecosystems such as streams and rivers or coastal marine areas.
Such practices are an anathema to a national forestry planning authority that has to consider the nation's forest system in toto for sustainable maintenance of the nation's natural ecosystems and biodiversity. Loss of many native species is high, so the Pacific as a region has one of the highest rates of endemism loss in the world. Dealing with land tenure systems for long-term security of forest land use is an emerging important issue of concern for sustainable forest management in the Pacific.
Given communal landownership and the associated challenges itemized above, forestry authorities have little choice but to deal with local landowning communities and facilitate their greater involvement in forestry activities. Both government and NGO development agencies now recognize the need to empower local communities through participatory processes to plan, implement and monitor their own development activities. This is an emerging trend that could assist the development of more participatory democracy in political governance to augment current representative democracy systems.
All extension agents must be skilled in participatory methods for engaging local communities for the effective management of any natural resource sector where most of the resource is owned by local communities. Participatory methods recognize the different roles and knowledge of different groups in a society, including women and youth. Unfortunately, forestry extension officers have generally been meagerly equipped with the necessary skills for community participatory work.
These include facilitation of participatory planning, conflict resolution and raising general awareness to empower local people with appropriate information for decision-making. Such skills are necessary components of sustainable forestry in the PIC context. The approach with the Drawa community focused on sustainable utilization based on participatory holistic land-use planning. Some 50 percent of the landholdings of the community was allocated for sustainable forestry.
About 30 percent was put aside as protection forest and the rest for agriculture. Community members formed a cooperative and forest management committee for operating a mobile sawmill to harvest their timber, which they sell locally C. Muziol, personal communication, Sustainability does not apply only to concerns over maintenance of the forests and their environment. It has to encompass the totality of human interaction with the environment and the maintenance of the integrity of both the natural forest environment and the human communities associated with it.
Therefore, active involvement of local landowning communities as partners in forestry activities is a necessary component of good governance and sustainable forest management. An emerging important area of concern in most PICs is the continuing low employment levels coupled with the existence of a high proportion of unskilled youth. AusAID's recent analysis of the PIC situation considers employment as "perhaps the most immediate and widespread challenge" for the countries of the island region. The analysis reports a worrying trend of more inactive people who are neither looking for jobs nor studying.
Together with the unemployed they compose what the report categorizes as the "jobless". The AusAID analysis reports high unemployment associated with a high crime rate and tendency towards outbursts of violent conflict. Employment creation is therefore of paramount importance for long-term peace and security in the region. The forestry sector is an important employer in the larger Melanesian countries; it is reported to rival agriculture as the largest employer in the Solomon Islands with over 10 people employed Bouro It provides employment for about 11 persons or 6 percent of the labour force in PNG Goodwill , some 3 people in Fiji Swarup and 1 workers in Vanuatu Mele Samoa's forestry sector has contracted so the total number of employed in forestry activities is expected to decline from 10 to 6 percent of the national labour force through this decade Iakopo The potential for increasing employment in the forestry sector should not be underestimated.
It is an important employer of rural people who comprise the bulk of most PIC populations. Improved management and increased productivity as well as diversification of products from the sector can result in a beneficial impact on the PIC unemployment rate. Self-employment opportunities are particularly important where local landowners can be encouraged to plant high value trees — successfully demonstrated with teak tree planting on family lands in the Solomon Islands AusAID An additional avenue for increasing forestry revenues is through certification of sustainable timber and other forest products for special niche markets.
Several countries have already explored Fiji if not entered into such arrangements Solomon Islands. However, more can and should be done. Diversification of products targeting special niche markets in both wood and non-wood products should be considered. Non-wood forest products NWFPs will of course include the use of forests for ecotourism, a promising development in many island countries. Sustainable forest management includes planning for ecotourism development in forest areas and close linkages with local communities and tourism agencies to ensure appropriate management regimes for such areas.
Examples of forest-based ecotourism reliant on forest conservation are increasing throughout the larger Pacific nations.
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Negotiations over these agreements could be utilized to develop special niche markets for high value forest and tree products such as scented woods sandalwood and eaglewood [ Gyrinops ledermanii ] or medicinal extracts noni [ Morinda citrifolia ] and Melaleuca , fibres and a range of other useful exotic tradable items.
Small-scale production of NWFPs usually engages more people and can expand the available cash income of rural dwellers quickly. This is especially so when the people themselves harvest and sell directly to the marketer rather than wait for official bureaucratic systems to collect and pay them due royalties as in the case of timber logging. Trade in NWFPs can open up more opportunities for women and youth as they are usually more involved in non-wood harvest from forest areas. Pacific island nations recognize trade agreements as another means of securing employment through trade in services for their unemployed skilled citizens such as nurses, sailors, soldiers and blue collar workers.
A resulting emerging trend is the increasing importance of overseas remittances in national foreign exchange earnings. Increased remittances in the years leading to could stimulate local economic growth through increased consumption as people have more cash to spend. This will increase demand on wood products for example as people are able to afford better housing. Returning Fijian UN peace-keeping soldiers illustrate this well as they divert much of their earnings to building family homes. Sustainable forest management has to assess such future trends in demand for forest products and plan to cater for them accordingly.
Given limited land resources and added constraints of communal landownership, Pacific island forestry authorities are challenged to develop innovative means of ensuring that the forest and tree products needed by future generations will be available over several generations. Promotion of commercially important tree species may be integrated into extension services that encourage agroforestry systems or small woodlots to rural dwellers.
Agroforestry in mixed crop gardens is the customary way Pacific people have farmed.