sprep-pa
Kolombangara is one of more than 900 islands that make up the Solomon Islands, where timber is a major export and logging continues at 19 times the sustainable rate. The island’s lowland forests have been intensively harvested since the mid-1960s; only the steep forests above 400 meters (1,300 feet) remain largely intact. If forests do not have enough time to recover between bouts of logging, scientists say, there will be cascading consequences for timber resources, biodiversity and ecosystem services on which local communities depend.
