In the thousands of islands and vast rural areas within the tropical belt of the Pacific Ocean, where the climate and natural

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environment offer optimum conditions for photosynthesis and bacterial action, small scale biomass systems should provide adequate renewable food, feed, fuel, fertilizer, and various raw materials for appropriate industries, not only to meet local needs, but also for export in order to buy machinery and equipment for meaningful social and economic development. The technology for such systems already exists, and can easily be transferred to all these islands and rural areas to solve many existing problems of malnutrition, sanitation, pollution, energy, and unemployment, in an inexpensive and self-reliant manner. But more important still, the political and cultural attitudes of the local leaders, the extent of government support for training and extension programs, and the needs of the p ople to conserve energy and other resources, can contribute considerably to the success of such alternative development.

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