Valuable timber trees in accessible sites in Vanuatu have been mostly removed by logging. There are large areas where plantations would likely be successful. Yet plantation establishment among landholders in Vanuatu has been limited to date, even with considerable extension support. There has been little systematic investigation of why this has occurred. The purpose of this research was to identify constraints to whitewood (Endospermum medullosum) plantation development. A participatory social research approach was used on Espiritu Santo Island to look for trends in attitudes toward plantations. This was achieved through the use of mixed methods social research to survey 139 local landholders from 42 villages. Most landholders on Santo Island were not convinced that there are good reasons to plant whitewood, at least not in large extensions. Future efforts should be focused on the development of local capacity for plantation establishment, maintenance, processing and export marketing, at a variety of scales.