South West Pacific Islands
The Southwest Pacific IslandsSouth West Pacific | Endangered conifers of the world
Southwest Pacific conifers include Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Fiji and Tonga. Most coniferous tree varieties are montan with the main centers of endemic and endangered varieties found in New Caledonia and Fiji. In New Caledonia alone there are 43 coniferous tree varieties (in 14 genus and four families), including 13 of the 19 known araucaria varieties and the world's only known coniferous parasitaxusus ("Parasitaxus usta").
On the other hand, the coniferous plants and ecosystems in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu are relatively unknown. There are currently 28 endangered coniferous tree varieties in this area, 23 of which are native to New Caledonia. New Caledonia limits many of its pine trees, most of them araucaria, to ultra-mafic substrata abundant in one of the country's main export crops, namely nickle.
Classified taxa - Southwest Pacific:
Southwest Pacific Island Council: Cyril S. Belshaw's Government and Reconstruction in New Caledonia, the New Hebrides and the British Solomon Islands, 1950
The short survey is the result of a scholarship granted to me by the Institute of Pacific Relations in late 1946 for a three-month stay in the New Hebrides and New Caledonia. Prior to that date, I had been an administrator in the Protectorate of the British Solomon Islands for three years and spent six month serving in New Zealand's armed services in New Caledonia.
This experience was complemented by random readings I made during my diploma dissertation on cultural changes in the indigenous peoples of the South West Pacific (financed by an Emslie Horniman study). Readings took place mainly in the British Museum, Colonial Office, Royal Geographical Society and Royal Anthropological Institute galleries.
The original purpose of this survey was to complement a postwar problem assessment of other Pacific archipelagos conducted by Dr. W. E. H. Stanner under the patronage of the Institute of Pacific Relations and the Australian Institute of Int'l Affairs. Early expeditions and the cosmopolitan politics of the South West Pacific islands have been the focus of significant research, and there have been a number of human studies on specific areas.
However, the region's economy, both local and EU, domestic policy, farming, religious (from the point of view of the locals) and many related issues, are still waiting for systemic attention. Such a poll, however short it may be, is not possible without constant help and debate with the local population. My particular thanks go to the Bishop of Melanesia, who organized my transportation from the Solomon Islands to the New Hebrides in the Southern Cross, and to Mr W. A. Johnston, the British Consul in Noumea, who organized priceless launches in New Caledonia....