Fiji is updating its forestry laws, the first update to rules regulating local logging and harvesting in several decades.
Speaking about the Forest Bill of 2025, now subject to its second public consultation period, Alitia Banivalu—Fiji’s Forestry Minister—said the bill, developed with technical advice from Asian Development Bank, will supersede the Forest Bill of 1992 and go further to promote sustainability, environmental protection, fair growth, and climate change.
“Our forests are more than just trees. They are cultural heritage, sources of livelihoods, climate change, biodiversity sanctuaries, and economic assets. The new forestry bill recognises this multi-faceted value,” Banivalu said. “It introduces a more integrated and sustainable framework for managing forest resources, strengthening governance, enforcing accountability, and protecting community rights.”
The new bill, which could go before the Fijian parliament later this year, comes months after the United Kingdom flagged its interest in expanding its trade in Fijian mahogany timbers. It comes after Dr Brian Jones, the British High Commissioner to Fiji, encouraged landowners to seize the opportunity and provide high-value timbers to European markets:
“So just after the colonial period (1970), one of the last projects that started was to plant mahogany forests across Fiji,” Dr Jones said. “There are now 14 that are reaching maturity. That is very valuable wood on the global market.”
Last year, Wood Central revealed that Fiji is working alongside Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu to develop a new Pan-Pacific Standard for Sustainable Forest Management. The standard would protect the region’s 2 million hectares of forest area and provide the Asia Pacific region with access to AU$1 billion of certified products, creating a “green lane” for tropical timbers to be traded around the world.
Already, the Fiji Hardwood Corporation Ltd (FHCL)—which manages more than 75,000 hectares of mahogany across the country—sells more than 38,000 cubic metres of mahogany into global markets every year, with Dr Jones confident production could lift “with the commission ready to help” invest in plant and equipment.
- To learn more about the mahoney opportunity in Fiji, click here for Wood Central’s special feature from May 2023.
