ASIA-PACIFIC FORESTRY SECTOR OUTLOOK STUDY II WORKING PAPER SERIES Working Paper No. APFSOS II/WP/2009/01 SAMOA FORESTRY OUTLOOK STUDY by * Sam Sesega FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS REGIONAL OFFICE FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC Bangkok, 2009 *Pacific Environment Consultants Ltd., PO Box 3702, Apia, Samoa. E-mail:
[email protected] APFSOS II: Samoa Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5 1. INTRODUCTION 7 Background 7 Scope and coverage 7 Methodology 7 Structure of the report 8 2. CURRENT STATE OF FORESTS AND FORESTRY IN SAMOA 9 Brief background on Samoa 9 Trends in forest resources – indigenous forests 9 Trends in forest resources – plantation forests 12 Forest ownership 13 State of forest management 14 Economic viability of forest management for wood production 15 3. WOOD AND WOOD PRODUCTS 17 Current level of production and consumption of wood and wood products 17 State of forest industries 17 Trade in forest products 17 Wood as a source of energy 21 Non-wood forest products 21 4. THE SERVICE FUNCTIONS OF FORESTS 23 Forest-based recreation 23 Forests and water 24 Conservation of forest biodiversity 25 Forests and climate change 26 5. POLICY AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK 27 General trends as regards forest policies and legislation 27 6. OVERVIEW OF OVERALL STATE OF FORESTS AND FORESTRY 28 7. WHAT WILL INFLUENCE THE FUTURE STATE OF FORESTS AND FORESTRY? 30 Demographic and socio-economic factors 30 The political and institutional environment 31 Economic changes 32 Impact of globalization 33 Technological changes within and outside the forestry sector 33 Environmental issues and policies and their impact on the forestry sector 33 Impacts of climate change and natural disasters 34 National development priorities 34 Perception of risk in investment in forestry 34 2 APFSOS II: Samoa 8.