Imagine... Traditions Reclaimed Through Industry
💡 Imagined Endstate:
A Pacific community where generations‑old practices are revived not just for heritage, but for sustainable livelihoods—where traditional industries like sandalwood are rooted in local ownership, value‑adding, and cultural respect.
📚 Source:
Roberts, A. (2025, September 17). Sandalwood export open to foreign investors. Daily Post, Vanuatu. Link.
💥 What’s the Big Deal:
In Vanuatu, the government has opened the sandalwood export sector to foreign investors, which signals a major shift toward revitalising an industry that once powered island economies and preserved custom. Sandalwood harvesting dates back to the 1820s in the region, this was one of the first export trades of the Pacific, and now the revival stands at the intersection of tradition and enterprise 🌿. By bringing back sandalwood production, Vanuatu has the chance to re‑connect rural families with ancestral land rights, customary stewardship, and forest‑based earnings.
Yet the involvement of foreign capital also adds a layer of caution: unless local voices lead, value‑capture risks being extractive rather than shared. For communities long sidelined, this is more than a licence, it is a chance to align legacy industry with equitable ownership, ecological renewal, and cultural affirmation 🪵. When tradition‑inspired industry becomes a tool of sovereignty and local capacity construction, the benefits ripple outward: jobs are created, forests are renewed, youth remain close to home, and heritage becomes economy.
But if tradition is sold without structure or rights, the past may repeat its mistakes🧭. This moment matters because it offers a pathway from extraction to regeneration, where old industries are turned into new futures.
#SandalwoodRevival, #PacificIndustry, #IslandHeritage, #VanuatuEconomy, #LegacyToLivelihood, #TraditionMeetsEnterprise,#IMSPARK,
