Township will endanger "the best lowland forest in Samoa"

By Cherelle S Jackson

Samoa Observer [2002] The proposed new Salelologa Township for the island of Savaii will be built on what is described by O le Siosiomaga Society as: “The best remaining lowland forest in Samoa.”
The location of the proposed development is on the southern side of the island of Savaii, taking up 3000 acres of untouched forest in the village of Salelologa.
Government wishes to enlarge the already existing town of Salelologa to something bigger, which means more buildings, and infrastructure.
Director of Lands Survey and Environment Tuuu Ieti Taulealo was asked if the whole 3000 acres will be used he said: “The size of the town depends on what sort of opportunities for investment turn up.”
Four million tala is the price of the Salelologa forest and three million has already been paid by the government to Salelologa village with the remaining amount to be settled in “the next financial year.”
In an environmental assessment report by the Siosiomaga Society several facts are stated about the Salelologa forest which makes it not only the “best lowland forest in Samoa” but also priceless.
“The forest contains at least 226 vascular plant species of which 72% are native to Samoa. Twenty species of native Samoan birds and one non-native species were recorded in the forest representing 65% of all native-land and water birds in Samoa.”
The loudest statement on the report says: “The study clearly reconfirms the high biological value of the Salelologa forest. These values have already been clearly identified by a number of scientists over the past ten years.”
That indicates that the land is worth more than the government thinks, taking into consideration that foreign expertise’s fully have recognized it.
A matai from the village of Salelologa who did not wish to be named for personal reasons said: “I think this land is valued much more than four million, the government should take into consideration the traditional, social and of course economic value of this land.”
Plans for the new township will be finalized as soon as the last million is paid to the village and then the whole 3000 acres are in the hands of the government.
“We (the Government) are finishing deals with the village,” Taulealo said, “and then plans for the town will be made.”
He was asked if the Government was taking the EA report into consideration and he said: “The report was submitted to us, we are taking it into account.”
He mentioned that there are indications of forest preserves on the 3000-acre land and that the town will be built near the road and not directly in the forest.
But there a road already surrounds the set area for the town and that is already posing threats to the Salelologa forest.
“The road that now borders the project area already is a vector for non-native birds and plants and is intensively used by hunters as well.”
The EA report states the effects of roads in the forest: “Roads create exposed hedges that are undesirable habitat for many birds and bat species and provide pathways for invasion of the forest by non-native species.”
In a bid to develop and possibly improve the economy of the Samoa the government will have to use part of the lowland forest at Salelologa thus threatening the existence of all that lives within it.
A suggestion made in the EA report might sound like a dream at the moment but if taken into consideration will be the best thing the Government has yet to do: “Discontinue all logging and leave intact the native rainforest on Salelologa customary lands. Redesignate the area as a rainforest preserve, as outlined in the convent signed with the villages in 1990 and 1991.”
The convenant was an agreement between the Swedish Society for Nature and Conservation and the villages of Tafua, Salelologa and Palauli to preserve the rainforests in their villages.