I SHOULD not be doing my work blindly but also be more considerate about preserving our forests.
This was the comment of Ashraf Khan who was very happy to have signed a contract with the Ministry of Forestry.
Through the contract Mr Khan will be responsible for harvesting and carting native timber species from the Ministry of Forestry’s Natural Forest Management Pilot Project (NFMPP) site at Nakavu to the Nasinu Timber Utilization Division.
The 48-year-old father of two who manages his own company called Khan’s Hire Plant Services in Nausori hopes to be a role model in sustainable logging practices for other logging contractors.
The Ministry of Forestry leased 301 hectares from the Nakavu landowners in 1991 for up to 50 years as a research pilot project for the Ministry’s Silviculture Research Division.
For the past 28 years, the project has provided substantial information on the different types of approaches that could be critical for the sustainable management of the area through selective logging, conservation of trees and plants, and protection of the area’s biodiversity.
The Ministry will be closely monitoring the logging activities in Nakavu to ensure that it complies with the national logging code, which aims to minimize the impact of logging on the environment and to ensure that the logged out area could be successfully rehabilitated.
