Find Forestry expertise in Samoa

Forestry, along with fishing and agriculture, contributes 12% to total national GDP (2008). The country has a forest cover of 60% of total land area (2005), and from 1990-2005, this increased by 2.1% annually.  While Samoa has for many years been the only Polynesian country with timber exports, the sawmilling industry has however been in overall decline for a long time.  Today it consists of just a handful of companies. Commercial exploitation itself, tropical cyclones and agro-deforestation remain major threats to the sustainability of the country’s forests. A study commissioned by the Food and Agricultural Organization in 2009 estimated that Samoa’s merchantable forest resource will run out by 2014. By 2021 Samoa’s sawn timber requirements will then depend on imports. To its credit the country is developing a potent commitment to forest conservation, and in the period 2000-10 established two additional national  parks, and ten small forest reserves and botanical areas — adding 7,959 ha (or an increase of 73%) to its protected area network.