PARADISE LOST

The report reveals that logging in the Solomon Islands is occurring at 19 times the sustainable rate, with natural forests predicted to be exhausted by 2036. It identifies systemic illegalities, including lack of landowner consent and breaches of logging codes, while noting that local communities see few benefits. China is identified as the dominant importer, purchasing 82% of the country's logs, and is urged to regulate its supply chain to mitigate commercial and environmental risks.

• Logging in the Solomon Islands is occurring at a massively unsustainable rate, with 2017 exports of over 3 million cubic metres exceeding the conservative annual sustainable harvest of 155,000 cubic metres by more than 19 times.
• Satellite imagery analysis shows that 53% of the land below 400 metres in altitude is within 1 km of a logging road, with a total network of 12,613 km of roads—approximately twice the length of the Yangtze River.
• Natural forests in the Solomon Islands are predicted to be commercially exhausted by 2036 if current logging rates continue, or by 2046 if the rate is halved.
• There is a high risk of illegal logging due to systemic failures in obtaining legal landowner permission, with reports that Timber Rights Hearings are often corrupted or funded by the logging companies themselves.
• Logging companies frequently breach legal and environmental standards, including logging in prohibited areas above 400m, harvesting protected species like kwila, and ignoring the Solomon Islands Code of Logging Practice regarding proximity to water sources.
• The timber trade provides minimal benefit to local communities, often destroying food and water sources, while logging companies are suspected of under-declaring income to landowners and evading corporate and export taxes.
• China is the dominant destination for the Solomon Islands' timber, importing 82% of its logs in 2016, and the Solomon Islands serves as China's second-largest source of tropical logs after Papua New Guinea.
• Several Chinese companies import volumes of timber that far exceed the country's sustainable yield; in 2017, China Chemical Fibre Company and Jiangsu Wanlin Modern Logistics each imported over four times the sustainable harvest.

APA

Global Witness (2018). PARADISE LOST. https://globalwitness.org/documents/124/Paradise_Lost_-_How_China_can_help_the_Solomon_Islands_protect_its_forests.pdf

Chicago

Global Witness. PARADISE LOST. 2018. https://globalwitness.org/documents/124/Paradise_Lost_-_How_China_can_help_the_Solomon_Islands_protect_its_forests.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Global Witness |title=PARADISE LOST |date=October 2018 |url=https://globalwitness.org/documents/124/Paradise_Lost_-_How_China_can_help_the_Solomon_Islands_protect_its_forests.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{globalwitness2018paradise, author = {{Global Witness}}, title = {{PARADISE LOST}}, institution = {Global Witness}, year = {2018}, month = oct, url = {https://globalwitness.org/documents/124/Paradise_Lost_-_How_China_can_help_the_Solomon_Islands_protect_its_forests.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }