Solomon Islands National Forest Policy 2020.

The National Forest Policy aims at ensuring sustainable and responsible management of forest resources and ecosystems for the benefit and resilience of all Solomon Islanders. This policy's strategies are forest conservation; sustainable forest management; capacity development; forest economics and marketing; community governance; monitoring and law enforcement; and transparency and integrity.
This policy lays down forest conservation strategies for the conservation and protection of biodiversity and forest ecosystems, and promotion of ecosystem services for sustainable livelihood. Comprehensive national forest inventory and remote sensing analysis will be carried out to identify and map priority areas for forest conservation and restoration. Incentives will be created for the rehabilitation and restoration of degraded forest land in priority areas for forest conservation. Seed collection of commercial and endangered native species will be promoted for the establishment of seed stands and tree nurseries. The capacity and collaboration between relevant ministries will be strengthened to amplify government support for the establishment of terrestrial Protected Areas and forest reserves. Finance mechanisms for forest conservation, such as payment for ecosystem services, conservation tax/fee, REDD+, will be developed and strengthened. The National REDD+ Programme will be implemented and the preparation for REDD+ Readiness will be steered by the national REDD+ Unit. Resources owners will be informed with regard to mechanism for REDD+ and finance mechanisms for forest conservation.
Sustainable forest management will be ensured through multi-purpose forest inventory and spatial analysis for integrated landscape planning and consistent legislation for sustainable forest management practice. A Remote Sensing Unit will be established to build and maintain a spatial forest cover database to support analytical decisions for integrated landscape planning. The legal framework will be updated to regulate the application and monitoring of Free Prior Informed Consent for the expedition of the felling licenses, regulate a fair and transparent percentage for revenue sharing between logging companies, resources owners and the Government, establish technical and environmental criteria for re-entry logging and felling licenses, and review post-harvest regulations and monitoring system.
Technical skills and forest expertise will be developed by promoting research in forestry, silviculture and timber industries, including forestry education, management of natural resources, environmental impacts and long-term sustainability into school curricula at all levels, and promoting wood technology and processing training programs in accordance with forest industry needs. Local people will be trained and contributing to the sustainable development of the forestry sector, and gender inclusive technical capacity building will be promoted in forest management, reforestation and sustainable agroforestry.
The national forest industries and enterprises will be strengthened to enhance access to forest sector markets for processed wood, community forest products, agroforestry products etc, improve local economy, increase alternative economies and forest sector businesses in the rural areas, and increase diversification and quality of wood products produced by local businesses for national and international markets. The development of industrial and small-scale forest plantations will be encouraged to support the national economy and community livelihood. Landowners/resources owners’ capacity and skills will be promoted for the establishment of forest plantations, silvicultural practices and forest management. Government revenue and community livelihood will be improved through alternative income that contributes to protect forests. The incentives will be implemented to promote the production of legal timber and reduce illegal logging. Timber rights acquisition procedures will be reviewed and regulated to eliminate conflicts of interest and corruption, and traditional governance and decision-making systems will be recognized in the timber right acquisition process. The communities will be supported in the establishment of benefit sharing systems and formal agreements, and to identify and map the tribal/customary land and forest area boundaries.
Monitoring mechanism will be strengthened for information sharing and legality control. Law enforcement officers will be empowered to control and to enforce the law and reduce breaches of forest and environmental legislation. An inspection system will be established to verify compliance with the Code of Logging Practice in logging planning and operations.