There’s a need for more trees to be planted to replace those that have been cut down.

According to the Ministry of Forests, a total of 1,568.720 hectares of forest area was harvested during the last financial year- which is between August 2016 to July 2017.

A total land area of 143.550 hectares was also replanted in Vanua Levu during the same period.

For the Bua Province alone, 605.103 hectares of forest area was harvested during the same time and about 43.140 hectares only was replanted.

Minister responsible, Osea Naiqamu says the total land area replanted in Bua contributes about 9 percent towards the total forest cover that was removed in Vanua Levu.

“The challenge for my Ministry is to balance the two, forest harvesting and forest conservation and replanting of forests is essential in the attainment of this objective. We are working very hard on this and we are encouraging land owning communities and the private sector to partner with us in this regard.”

The total forest cover for Fiji, including mangrove is 1.1 million hectares.

For Vanua Levu, the total forest cover including mangroves is estimated at 382,055 hectares, comprising of 35 per cent of the total forested area in Fiji.

Elle/ar