Gillieson, David, Page, Tony, and Silverman, Jeffrey (2008) An inventory of wild sandalwood stocks in Vanuatu. Report. Australian Government, Canberra, ACT, Australia.

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Abstract

Characterizing sandalwood (S. austrocaledonicum) abundance in Vanuatu is challenging due to the broad, discontinuous yet highly modified distribution of sandalwood and the lack of systematic historical inventories or detailed harvest documentation. The preliminary distribution has been estimated from anecdotal ranges provided by the Vanuatu Department of Forests (VDoF), GIS spatial analyses and recorded sandalwood locations collected during the Oil Quality Survey (Page, 2005) and during the 2007 sandalwood inventory survey conducted for this project. Historic densities have been estimated from anecdotal descriptions and harvest data records. Current densities are based on the 2007 field survey of sandalwood populations on four Vanuatu islands. The surveys were conducted in regions of known sandalwood populations. The low aggregated density (0.4 trees/ha) of commercially sized trees found in these surveyed populations is a cause for concern. Based on the field data, we estimate that the current resource on the four islands surveyed is approximately 210 tonnes, with another 80 tonnes estimated on other islands of Vanuatu. At current harvest rates this resource may be quickly depleted and there will be a shortfall until plantation sandalwood is available in 10-15 years. Consideration should therefore be given to reducing the quota for wild sandalwood harvest to a sustainable level.

Item ID:	8027
Item Type:	Report (Report)
ISBN:	978 1 921434 38 9
Keywords:	Vanuatu; sandalwood
Related URLs:	Publisher
Funders:	ACIAR
Date Deposited:	27 Jul 2010 01:46
FoR Codes:	05 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 0502 Environmental Science and Management > 050209 Natural Resource Management @ 50% 05 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 0502 Environmental Science and Management > 050202 Conservation and Biodiversity @ 50%
SEO Codes:	82 PLANT PRODUCTION AND PLANT PRIMARY PRODUCTS > 8201 Forestry > 820104 Native Forests @ 100%
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