Removal and use of African Tulip a Win All Round
The African Tulip tree was introduced into Fiji in 1936 as an ornamental plant. It thrived in gardens due to its preference for moist soils in sheltered tropical areas in elevations up to 1200m.
Unfortunately, it has now become an invasive species that is aggressively outgrowing native tree species and threatening our forests’ ability to recover from damage, traditional agriculture and biodiversity conservation.
Finding the best control has been challenging – biological control measures and experiments were undertaken by the Fijian Government through the Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with the Pacific Commission, then known as South Pacific Commission, but these have had limited success. Individuals currently resort to using chemical and cultural control measures such as uprooting and burning to contain the spread of the species.
Wood Biomass
The opportunity to sustainably remove and use African Tulip as wood biomass for energy production is now offering a promising alternative that can directly benefit agriculture, forestry and the natural environment, whilst contributing to the overarching climate change commitment on carbon emission reductions from the use of fossil fuel.
Wood pellets offer an alternative renewable energy source, replacing fossil fuel, particularly coal. Many coal-fired power plants in the developed economies are increasingly using wood pellets because of its low associated risk, low costs of production and neutral carbon emission.
In Fiji, the use of wood biomass for power generation will help achieve its commitment towards the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) under the United Nation Convention on Climate Change, particularly in terms of reducing dependence on imported fossil fuels for power generation by transitioning into the use of renewable energy, as per Fiji’s Green Growth Framework.
This development on wood biomass for energy production provides an opportunity to sustainably remove and use the invasive African Tulip species.
Korean Investment in the Nabou Power-plant
GIMCO, a Korean Energy Company is exploring the opportunity to convert this low calorific wood biomass species into high value pelletized products for energy production.
GIMCO’s first Fijian subsidiary, the Nabou Green Energy Limited established its power generation factory along the Queens Road in Nabou with a $US40 million investment in 2017 to supply 12.5 megawatts to the national grid while ELTECH, the second local subsidiary company will be engaged in the wood biomass supply.
ELTECH is currently establishing its short rotation wood energy plantation. However, noting that this will only mature after several years, its immediate challenge now is to provide alternative short term wood biomass supply.
Enter the African Tulip. The removal and utilization of this invasive species to supplement other wood biomass sources such as sawmill wood waste and logging residues for the immediate period while awaiting the maturity of ELTECH’s energy wood plantation could be a win-win outcome for all concerned.
Even the landowners who have long lamented the negative effects of the African Tulip, which is known to be spread by the wind and birds, might cash in on the opportunity if current discussions between the company and the Ministry of Forestry progresses into the next phase. The company is proposing payment for the consistent supply of the species.
Forestry Support
Permanent Secretary for Forestry, Mr. Pene Baleinabuli, said the Ministry has recently taken on a more active approach to support Fiji’s transition into renewable energy by collaborating with Nabou Green Energy Limited and ELTECH to find alternative fuel supply while also helping with the planting of short rotation wood species.
“We are already feeling the impacts of climate change. Some of our coastal communities have been relocated, and many more are waiting in line. Climate change is a real and present danger. Any efforts towards addressing climate change is crucial. This includes making the transition into renewable energy,” he said.
“On this occasion, we have a foreign investor who has injected over 80 million Fijian dollars in establishing the Nabou Green Energy power-plant.
The same investor is now providing an alternative to using the highly invasive African Tulip, which is affecting our arable lands and natural forests. It makes absolute sense from an ecological and economical perspective to find a win-win, no zero sum solution,” he said.
The multiple benefits that can be realised from this programme will be phenomenal and will include employment opportunities as well as diesel import savings.
This will significantly contribute to emission reduction offset of around 120,000 tCO2e, annually.
Managing the African Tulip Trees
A study from a project conducted jointly by Landcare Research (LCR), the Pacific Invasives Initiative (PII), and the Institute of Applied Science at the University of the South Pacific (IAS/USP) indicated that consistent with its status as one of IUCN’s 100 worst invasive alien species, the African Tulip tree poses an enormous threat in Fiji. Not only does it potentially displace and harm biodiversity, but it also potentially affects the livelihoods and the Vanua of the Fijian people.
The cost-benefit analysis also revealed that an integrated approach (which incorporates hack and squirt, ring-barking, stump cutting, hand pulling, and mechanical extraction methods to target trees of different sizes and ages) is more cost effective than current management practices for controlling the spread of the African Tulip.
The challenge would be to remove them without compromising the environment they grow in, including soil, water and biodiversity within the micro-ecosystem in which these trees have existed over a considerable time.
The successful eradication of the African Tulip needs to be a collaborative effort between Government through its various agencies including but not limited to Forestry, Agriculture, Environment, the private sector, and the landowning communities including the iTaukei Land Trust Board.
We also need to strengthen collaboration with scientific and academic research institutions to ensure that our solution also include inputs from a scientific perspective.” “That is the next phase for us, which we are also activating. We need the science, economics, and the logic, and we need to treat this with a sense of urgency,” Mr Baleinabuli said.