Cook Islands

Tangi Ke to all,
I come from a little island in the Pacific, Mangaia - one of the 15 islands that make up the Cook Islands. This island is made up of rock cliff and rock formations on a 3 tier level with acid soil on the mountains and in the centre, a lake and masses of swamp land used for taro plantations. Pineapples used to be grown all over the island many years ago but pine forests were planted in its place to deal with the soil erosion from the pineapple plantations. Now that Govt ceased funding to care for the forests, the pines have spread uncontrolled islandwide and there is suspicion raised that these masses of trees are also eating into the water supply of the island. This of course is yet to be proven along with the acidity that the pine needles contribute to the already acidic soils on the mountaintops.