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Land Use/Land Cover
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Study on the changing characteristics of land use as commons in Roviana, western province, Solomon Islands using high resolution satellite data and aerial photographs
Gardens in Dora Island
Areas of lands cleared for horticulture in Dora Island increased slightly from 23.3 ha in 1947, though 28.2
ha in 1969, and to 31.0 ha, including 2.1 ha of tree plantation, in 2002. This increase of garden area
was small relative to that in Dekurana area during the 11 years. During 22 years from 1947 to 1969,
11.2 ha were newly cleared and 17.6 ha were done during 33 years from 1969 to 2002, as shown in
Table 2. On the other hands, 13 ha (56.0%) of the total area cleared in 1947 had recovered to be forest
in 1969, and 16.8 ha (59.6%) of the total area cleared in 1969 to be forest in 2002. In all area cleared in
2002, 13.4 ha (43.2%) had been cleared in either of previous two periods. These results indicated that
the mixture of the lands recovered to forest in long term, implying continuous land use under long fallow
in this area.
Figure 4 shows the location of each type of land described in Table 2. The central and upper-left parts
were used in two or more periods, indicating the short-term rotating cultivation for the limited area. The
shifts of garden locations from west to east were also observed. This would be explained by two
reasons. The first was the change in main crops especially between 1947 and 1969; according to
several informants, sweet potato, the main crop in 2002, started to be cultivated intensively in 1950s
while cassava, taro and yams had been predominant. People probably changed the locations of
gardens according to the favorable ecological conditions for each tuberous crop. Another explanation
was the population increase, though the increase of area was quite slight. All people were likely to
make gardens in this area, because they recognized that this rich -soil area would be necessary in the
case of land scarcity in other areas. Although the foods necessary for the increased population were
supplemented by the new gardens in Dekurana area, the people continuously made gardens in Dora
Island even if small area. In relation to this pattern, the villagers recognized two nut tree species as
properties in their custom, descending from their ancestors to only the offspring, and people tended to
hesitate to cut the surrounding forests of these nut trees and to make gardens, though the area covered
by these nut trees was limited.
Table 1. Land cover of Dekurana in New Georgia Island in 1991 and 2002
Figure 4. The locations of gardens in Dora Island in 1947, 1969 and 2002
Conclusions
Deforestation of Dekurana area of New Georgia Island was observed, changing from gardens along
coast and river to tree plantation up to 2002. In contrast, gardens and their surrounding forest in Dora
Island were mixture of newly cleared garden, area continuously used for gardens and regenerated forest
in 2002.
References
- Hansell, JRF., Wall, JRD., Webb, IS., and Wash, PG., 1975. Soil descriptions and analyses from New
Georgia and the Russell Islands, Solomon Islands. Supplementary report 19, section A, Land
Resources Division, Ministry of Overseas Development, London.
- High Court of Solomon Islands, 1994. Civil Case 236 of 1994. High Court of Solomon Islands,
Honiara.
- Whitmore, TC., 1998. An Introduction to Tropical Rain Forests, Second Edition. Oxford University
Press, New York, pp. 156-173.
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