Logging in Solomon Islands sees women 'sold' into relationships with foreign workers
A logging area in Solomon Islands Makira province.
Flying across the hundreds of islands that make up Solomon Islands, it's almost impossible not to see them.
Patches of muddy and desolate ground in an otherwise lush and pristine green forest.
They are logging zones, and in Solomon Islands they are everywhere.
For the developing country, it is a catch 22: Logging is its lifeblood; the country's biggest export and a source of income for thousands.
But it is destroying the unique forest environment, with recent reports suggesting if logging continues in Solomon Islands at the same rates as late last decade all forest will be "gone" from Solomon Islands by mid-2030.
Reports suggest Solomon Islands is logging its forrests at unsustainable rates.
As well as the obvious environmental impact, on the ground in logging camps across the country major social impacts are playing out.
And it comes in the form of relationships at the logging camps, or what are known locally as "log marriages".
"There's a saying we joke about out here," Angelline Maekasia, a long-time worker at one of the camps, told the ABC
"We say 'log marriages are like instant coffee and noodles', which literally means the girls are so young [when they get married] they still can't cook a meal."
Angelline Maekasia says women as young as 13 are getting involved with loggers.
'Sale' of girls in logging camps
Ms Maekasia works at a camp in Makira province, an island in the south-east of Solomon Islands.
The logging staff she services are a mix of locals and international workers, who are brought in by foreign-owned logging companies. She said local women were often coerced into relationships or marrying foreign loggers "only for the money".
She said when the foreign workers left to return to their home countries the problems started.
"Women, some as young as [13], are left behind in the villages with the children," she said.
The topic is a sensitive one in Solomon Islands, where marriage is a sacred custom and connection to "bride price" — a practice where families offer compensation often in the form of land, pigs or shell money for the marriage.
During the ABC's visit to the logging camp in Makira, the topic of forced or arranged relationships was not spoken about freely in the community for fear of retribution.
However a 2023 UN report, found the "sale" of girls to foreign workers in Solomon Islands logging sector for the purpose of sex and marriage was often arranged by parents, other family members and young male peers.
The report said the social acceptance of "bride price" was being distorted to facilitate what it called "commercial child sexual exploitation and human trafficking".
The UN says child exploitation is common in logging camps.
The report also said the relationships were linked to high rates of domestic violence and women were also disempowered financially through their reliance on their partner, with little chance of employment in the male-dominated logging industry.
For Jenny Nasihaa, her relationship to Johnny Kaya, a worker originally from Malaysia, has been both joyous and incredibly hard.
The two celebrated the birth of their first child, Priscilla, and then Johnny returned home — what she described as "his holiday".
Jenny Nasihaa with her partner Johnny and baby Priscilla.
"She was six months old when Johnny left," she said.
"When he left he was away for a very long time, I thought he wouldn't return.
"So when arrived in Honiara and phoned me, I was so happy because he'd returned for us."
Priscilla is now two-years-old.
Ms Nasihaa said despite the prospects of her partner being away for long stretches, she said the marriage was what was "best for her".
And Johnny told the ABC he planned to bring back his partner and baby to his home when his work stint ended.
When contacted, the Solomon Islands Forestry Department did not point the ABC to any initiatives it had for protecting women associated with the industry.
Environment vs development
Arguments over the benefits and negative impacts of large-scale commercial logging have been a topic of heated discussion in Solomon Islands since companies began widespread commercial operations in the 1980s.
For Paul Waisi, a church leader of a logging community of Arohane in Makira, the industry has brought many benefits.
Paul Waisi has witnessed the positives and negatives of logging.
"One positive is we've been able to build our own church," he said.
"Other families have been able to build their own houses. Logging companies have also helped us get access to running water."
But with the benefits he said there have been a multitude of issues he's had to deal with as a result of the industry dominating its community.
"It causes lots of disputes in the community, even between brothers in the same clan, there’s arguments about logs and land," he said.
"And now lots of young boys don’t attend church or church activities in the community. So logging brings social changes."
For community leader Salome Tauni, the logging company working in the Arohane community has been associated with broken promises.
Salome Tauni said she was worried about the environmental impacts of logging
"They said they would help with the school, help the church, housing but all that, you can see, nothing’s happened.
"The logging company said they would build a community hall. They started with iron posts, then stopped building."
But she said she was more worried about the long-term environmental impacts.
Logging has long-been associated with an increase in clay and silt in the natural water, affecting runoff and accelerating soil erosion.
In the river surrounding Arohane, the results of logging are obvious with a constant brown runoff into the ocean.
The river around the village is a clay brown.
"After logging began, there's been a decline in fishing because I think there's fewer fish," she said.
"I think it's due to the effect of logging and oil and pollution to the river, so there's not so much for the people to use anymore."
The company logging directly at Arohane community left in 2022. It has been contacted for comment.
The brown runoff in the ocean water off Arohane.
The Solomon Islands Forestry Department said it was drafting a new bill to broaden regulations to "protect the beneficial interest of the indigenous people".
It also said it had revised the logging code of practice to minimise environmental impacts.
Saying 'no' to logging
Some communities have fought back, resisting the urge to give in to logging.
In Solomon Islands Western Province, which is the opposite end of the county from Makira, the community people of Zaira on Vangunu Island have fought for years, with the help of scientists, to protect areas described as a "precious relic" of untouched biodiversity.
Back in Makira, one community has taken inspiration from the people of Zaira and gone on a different path, only allowing a tiny parcel of land to be logged in its community.
But for village leader Paul Taeniara it hasn't been easy.
"Ever since logging came to this region, [resisting] has been our main challenge," he said.
"We've had a land surveyor and a licensee director approach us [wanting to log].
"They try to get permission from our village elders but luckily, we've already educated them to resist."
Paul Taeniara said he stood by his decision not to allow logging in his community.
He said he believed the choices now would pay off in the future.
"Though conservation takes patience, we’ll wait, one day we’ll reap the benefits," he said.
"Even though other tribes have money from logging, we're all the same.
"I haven't seen any tribe better off than we are."
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