Deforestation in Western Samoa

Abstract

Since the mid-1950s the rate of forest clearance in Western Samoa has been high. Estimated in the early 1990s to be about 2% pa, the removal of rainforest is occurring at about the world average rate for tropical areas. Land use surveys made in the mid-1950s, late 1980s and in 1990 are used to map the change in forest cover. Unlike some western Pacific Island areas, logging has not been the major cause of deforestation. Despite a generally stagnant agricultural economy and relatively static rural population, the major process involved has been clearing for agricultural use. Changes in land tenure, tending towards individual rather than aiga (extended family) control, are occurring and more individualistic economic and social motivations are increasingly evident. It is argued that the rate of current forest clearance is, to a significant degree, a consequence of changing land tenure practice. -from Author