Fiji is on track to plant 30 million trees by 2034, with more than 19 million trees planted in the six years since the government set the target back in 2019. That is according to the Ministry of Forestry, revealing that global aviation—committed to reforestation—is helping to accelerate planting efforts and kick-start the country’s forest industry.
“This is good progress and looks well for future years. The more trees we plant or assist communities in planting, the more we contribute to this target,” said Minister Alitia Bainivalu, with Fiji Pine Ltd (FPL) and the Fiji Hardwood Corporation Ltd (FHCL), the two largest companies that are leading the way in tree planting.
It comes as Minister Bainivalu was in Tailevu, where villages in the Rewa and Tailevu deltas received $170,000 worth of equipment to accelerate small and medium-sized forestry operations. Part of the Forestry Subsidy Programme, the government is looking to improve sustainable forest management and timber production, empowering owners to manage timber resources for economic gain.
Earlier this year, Wood Central reported that the United Kingdom was looking to expand trade in mahogany timbers, potentially looking to Fiji to supply tropical timbers to the UK and across Europe. At the time, Dr Brian Jones, the British High Commissioner, said that the time for Fijian landowners to seize the opportunity and provide high-value timbers to international markets has now arrived: “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.”
- To learn more about Fiji’s forestry potential—and its potential to drive trade in tropical timbers—click here for Wood Central’s special feature from May 2023.
