Vanuatu
WCG staff are supporting a Southern-Cross University led reforestation research project in Vanuatu.
Forest restoration research in Vanuatu
Vanuatu offers the opportunity to re-establish tropical forest on degraded land that will have a range of ecological, economic and social benefits. To determine the extent of those benefits research needs to be carried out. Data collection and trials will help to determine the most affective design, rate of growth and biodiversity outcomes.
Owing to fertile soils and a favourable tropical climate, Vanuatu has the potential to be one the more productive areas for biosequestration and forestry growth. Research being carried out in Vanuatu indicates that well managed tree planting is an excellent way of restoring ecological health to degraded tropical land on Santo (ACAIR 2007, Department of Forests, Vanuatu 2002, QDPI 2000). Tropical restoration rapidly sequester greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and stores carbon in biodiverse forests. Currently, large areas of tropical forest across Santo have been severely degraded by unsustainable logging and vigorous weeds, such as the Merremia peltata vine (Figure 1). These sites are potentially very productive, with high rainfall and fertile soils, but they remain underutilised. Planting of mixtures of fast growing local tree species, such as whitewood (Endospermum medullosum), provides shade within two years which can actively exclude the destructive vines and encourage natural regeneration (Figure 2).
The re-establishment of tree cover on degraded land is also a source of employment for local communities, providing income and training to this developing country. Vanuatu is regarded as a “Least Developed Nation” by the UN, and as such is seen as a country that would benefit greatly from development projects that build capacity in the community and improve the environment.