In June 1990, the Australian International Development Assistance Bureau (AIDAB) contracted the Queensland Forest Service (QFS) and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Australia (CSIRO), Division of Tropical Crops and Pastures to undertake th eVanuatu Forest Resource Survey Project. The principal aim of the project was "to contribute to the national objective of the Vanuatu Government to plan and manage the country's forest agriculture resources in conjunction with appropriate land use development and conservation strategies for the economic benefit of the Vanuatu people". During the project a geographically-refrenced mico-computer based planning tool called the Vanuatu Resource Information System (VANRIS) was developed. VANRIS intergrates spatially referenced information for the intire country concerning the type, distribution and current use of the natural resources with population distribution. This handbook explains the derivation and presentation of information in VANRIS and provides some examples of its application to resource planning.