Land use Intensification and Bio-resource Utilisation in the South Pacific Islands

The long and gradual colonisation of the Pacific islands created settlements of cohesive social networks that fused or were displaced by western ways of life, trade and governance through the centuries. In this paper, a historical review of the processes of island discovery, plants domestication, and of land use practices are discussed alongside the main socioeconomic drivers of land cover change. The native trees of the South Pacific constitute an invaluable resource for sustainable development; they were used and domesticated for thousands of years but logging, commercial agriculture, mining, the introduction of exotic species and urban expansion are threatening them and their associated wildlife species. These activities coexist with sea level rise, soil salinisation, rainfall changes and coral reef bleaching phenomena induced by global warming; all ultimately affecting rural livelihoods. A re-evaluation of the bio resources and of the applicability of traditional practices may contribute to the reversal of the vicious cycle of poverty with environmental degradation in vulnerable islands that have to withstand climatic change and undertake the industrialization of their small economies. On this pursuit the paper also aims to identify research needs that are generally neglected in academia.