Social and Political Environment
Socially, people in the Soloman Islands live in clan groups. Decision making is collective. Land and sea waters are owned through customary tenures.
Majority of the working population lives on subsistence economy. Only 20% people between 15 and 54 years of age are employed in the cash economy. Timber, fisheries and tourism are main economic activities.
Civil unrest, since 1999, has adversely affected the economy of the Island nation, precipitating into distress selling of natural resources by many rural communities.
Named descent groups or clans based on a variety of kinship systems (e.g. matrilineal, patrilineal) are the main social unit in rural Solomon Islands and each comprises a number of households living in one or more villages.
Collective decision making
Members act collectively in using and controlling a defined area of land and in many cases, sea and reefs. Decisions on using and caring for the local natural resources are made by the group, usually under the leadership of a chief or a group of elders acting as trustees for the land or reefs over which their clan has rights.
Customary tenure system
Over 85% of Solomon Islands land and sea resources are held under customary tenure use and access are controlled under traditional systems as well as modern regulatory mechanisms. Systems of customary tenure are highly complex and adaptive. They are characterized by an individual's close identification with his or her ancestral group, and the land and sea which that group owns.
Traditionally, customary tenure provided a successful means of regulating resource use by controlling individual and communal rights, limiting access and allocating resource responsibility. Such social systems founded on a subsistence economy are supported by a high degree of local environmental knowledge and limited technology.
National economic development has relied largely on 5 main products: timber, copra, fish products, palm products and cocoa which together account for over 90% of the country's exports.
The lucrative timber industry
The timber industry has been the largest single source of foreign earnings since 1990. During the 1980s, logging maintained a regular harvest of about 300,000 cubic metres per year but this escalated dramatically for at least the last decade to around 700,000 to 800,000 cubic metres per year.
Marine resources
Fisheries are dominated by the public and private investment in commercial tuna fleets. There are also markets in beche de mer and molluscs, collected largely by families and village groups and sold through agents.
Tourism, shipping, plantations
Other large-scale development pursuits include coastal constructions, shipping and plantations. A high proportion of the country's coastal forests have been converted to copra, coconut oil and palm oil production, despite low economic returns.
Need to look at alternatives
With fewer than 20% of the population between the ages of 15 and 54 employed in the cash economy, low overall literacy rates (30%) and high population growth (2.9% per year), there is a pressing need to look at new options and models of development that are socially, economically and ecologically suited to the country.
A more serious impact of the civil unrest is its effect on the economy of Solomon Islands, at national, provincial and local levels. Nationally, the country struggles to stave off bankruptcy.
Foreign investments suspended
Most avenues of revenue generation - international trade, income tax, company tax, government owned enterprises - have been seriously curtailed. Foreign investment is suspended, awaiting a more stable environment. Tourists are staying away.
Central Bank keeping economy afloat
To date, the Central Bank of Solomon Islands has managed the economy in this crisis situation superbly, keeping the lid on inflation, ensuring a supply of cash for ordinary life and strictly controlling bank activities. However, there is a risk that the economy may collapse.
A difficult situation - economically and politically
The economic frailty and civil unrest have combined to impact heavily on rural livelihoods. The copra industry has largely closed down; the tourism industry is at a standstill; businesses that employ significant numbers of unskilled or semi-skilled people from rural areas have closed their doors; markets for locally produced goods are shrinking.
Distress selling of natural resources
Yet, rural communities still need to find cash for things like school fees, transport costs, and basic commodities. There is already some evidence that communities and governments are selling off their natural resources at 'fire-sale' prices, in a desperate attempt to acquire income.
Hope in rural communities' openness to NGOs
However, there is also a note of hope amidst the doom and gloom. Rural communities are increasingly realising that they have to be a lot more reliant on their own people and resources. And so, rural communities are becoming far more open to NGO messages and the discussion on alternative ways of carrying out small-scale development.
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Majority of the working population lives on subsistence economy. Only 20% people between 15 and 54 years of age are employed in the cash economy. Timber, fisheries and tourism are main economic activities.
Civil unrest, since 1999, has adversely affected the economy of the Island nation, precipitating into distress selling of natural resources by many rural communities.
Social Setting
Most economic development in Solomon Islands has favoured men, not necessarily to the benefit of women or the wider community. WWF SI has sought to put some balance into the situation by giving priority to projects that enhance opportunities for women in the rural sector.
© WWF - Solomon Islands / Vicki Kalgovas
© WWF - Solomon Islands / Vicki Kalgovas
Total population of Solomon Islands is currently over 450,000 people. The great majority (86%) of people live in clan groups in over 4,000 small villages around the islands' coastline. Most contribute through gardening and fishing to a mixed subsistence-cash economy.
Clan main social unitNamed descent groups or clans based on a variety of kinship systems (e.g. matrilineal, patrilineal) are the main social unit in rural Solomon Islands and each comprises a number of households living in one or more villages.
Collective decision making
Members act collectively in using and controlling a defined area of land and in many cases, sea and reefs. Decisions on using and caring for the local natural resources are made by the group, usually under the leadership of a chief or a group of elders acting as trustees for the land or reefs over which their clan has rights.
Customary tenure system
Over 85% of Solomon Islands land and sea resources are held under customary tenure use and access are controlled under traditional systems as well as modern regulatory mechanisms. Systems of customary tenure are highly complex and adaptive. They are characterized by an individual's close identification with his or her ancestral group, and the land and sea which that group owns.
Traditionally, customary tenure provided a successful means of regulating resource use by controlling individual and communal rights, limiting access and allocating resource responsibility. Such social systems founded on a subsistence economy are supported by a high degree of local environmental knowledge and limited technology.
The economy
National economic development has relied largely on 5 main products: timber, copra, fish products, palm products and cocoa which together account for over 90% of the country's exports.
Like many developing nations, Solomon Islands struggles economically. The small private sector and a relatively large public sector contribute little to foreign exchange earnings.
Over the past decade, pressures on the country's natural resources have increased, with a wider range of biological resources being exploited more intensively or affected indirectly by both subsistence and commercial activities such as logging, fishing, mining and agriculture developments.The lucrative timber industry
The timber industry has been the largest single source of foreign earnings since 1990. During the 1980s, logging maintained a regular harvest of about 300,000 cubic metres per year but this escalated dramatically for at least the last decade to around 700,000 to 800,000 cubic metres per year.
Marine resources
Fisheries are dominated by the public and private investment in commercial tuna fleets. There are also markets in beche de mer and molluscs, collected largely by families and village groups and sold through agents.
Tourism, shipping, plantations
Other large-scale development pursuits include coastal constructions, shipping and plantations. A high proportion of the country's coastal forests have been converted to copra, coconut oil and palm oil production, despite low economic returns.
Need to look at alternatives
With fewer than 20% of the population between the ages of 15 and 54 employed in the cash economy, low overall literacy rates (30%) and high population growth (2.9% per year), there is a pressing need to look at new options and models of development that are socially, economically and ecologically suited to the country.
The Political Scene
Since June 1999, civil society in Solomon Islands has been interrupted by the outbreak of civil unrest, particularly in the capital, Honiara, and on Guadalcanal Province. While there have been few incidents of violence in other provinces, there has been some interruption to transport and communication services and to the supply of goods throughout Solomon Islands. It is anticipated that disruptions will gradually decline as law and order is restored in Honiara.
Adverse impact on economyA more serious impact of the civil unrest is its effect on the economy of Solomon Islands, at national, provincial and local levels. Nationally, the country struggles to stave off bankruptcy.
Foreign investments suspended
Most avenues of revenue generation - international trade, income tax, company tax, government owned enterprises - have been seriously curtailed. Foreign investment is suspended, awaiting a more stable environment. Tourists are staying away.
Central Bank keeping economy afloat
To date, the Central Bank of Solomon Islands has managed the economy in this crisis situation superbly, keeping the lid on inflation, ensuring a supply of cash for ordinary life and strictly controlling bank activities. However, there is a risk that the economy may collapse.
A difficult situation - economically and politically
The economic frailty and civil unrest have combined to impact heavily on rural livelihoods. The copra industry has largely closed down; the tourism industry is at a standstill; businesses that employ significant numbers of unskilled or semi-skilled people from rural areas have closed their doors; markets for locally produced goods are shrinking.
Distress selling of natural resources
Yet, rural communities still need to find cash for things like school fees, transport costs, and basic commodities. There is already some evidence that communities and governments are selling off their natural resources at 'fire-sale' prices, in a desperate attempt to acquire income.
Hope in rural communities' openness to NGOs
However, there is also a note of hope amidst the doom and gloom. Rural communities are increasingly realising that they have to be a lot more reliant on their own people and resources. And so, rural communities are becoming far more open to NGO messages and the discussion on alternative ways of carrying out small-scale development.
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