Part I
REGIONAL SYNTHESIS (continued)

Chapter III
FOREST RESOURCES OF TROPICAL ASIA (continued)

2. PRESENT TRENDS (continued)

TABLE 6b - Average annual deforestation
Coniferous forests (NS)
(in thousand ha)

¹ Of which 7(000) ha of managed forests (NSf1m)
² Of which 2(000) ha of managed forests (NSf1m)

TABLE 6c - Average annual deforestation
Bamboo forests (NHB)
(in thousand ha)

¹ Of which 2(000) ha of managed forests (NHBf1m)

TABLE 6 d - Average annual deforestation
Closed broadleaved, coniferous and bamboo forests (N.f)
(in thousand ha)

¹ Of which 3(000) ha of managed forests (N.f1m)
² Of which 99(000) ha of managed forests (N.f1m)
³ Of which 2(000) ha of managed forests (N.f1m)
⁴ Of which 14(000) ha of managed forests (N.f1m)
⁵ Of which 15.5(000) ha of managed forests (N.f1m)

By 1981–85, the following changes in proportions are foreseen:

• logged over productive closed broadleaved forests: 59 to 63%;

• undisturbed productive closed broadleaved forests: 27% to 21%;

• unproductive closed broadleaved forests: 6 to 8%.

During 1976–80 the mean annual deforestation was the highest in insular southeast Asia (880 000 ha) followed by continental southeast Asia together with centrally planned countries (633 000 ha), south Asia (273 000 ha) and Papua New Guinea (21 000 ha).

Analysis of the rates of deforestation by country shows that Indonesia leads all others with a mean annual deforestation of over half a million ha; Thailand is next with 333 000 ha. The range is between 100 and 250 000 ha for Malaysia, India, Lao, Philippines and Burma. The least affected countries in absolute terms are Bhutan (2 000 ha), Pakistan (7 000 ha), and Bangladesh (8 000 ha).

Looking at changes over time, increase in the rate of deforestation during 1981–85 compared with 1976–80 is foreseen in Sri Lanka (mainly due to the Mahaweli irrigation project), in Indonesia, Malaysia and Kampuchea. A decrease is forecast for Thailand, Philippines (reduction of available and accessible forest land), Brunei and Lao. In other countries it will either be stationary or increasing very slightly.

Shifting cultivation which follows in the wake of logging is the major cause of deforestation. A separate assessment of the extent of shifting cultivation is attempted at the end of this section.

Unorganized and spontaneous encroachments, squatting, migration by lowlanders - all manifestations of increasing demand for cultivable land by landless and unemployed rural poor - are already accounting for considerable deforestation. This form of deforestation is most prevalent in the Philippines and to some extent spurred by the enactment on alienable and disposal lands under which Bureau of Forestry Development (BFD) is attempting to rationalize the classification of forest lands and alienate those fit for cultivation in favour of the landless. This, to some extent, encouraged the tendency to occupy and partly clear forest lands and then apply to the BFD for classification of the area as disposable. Almost all the people engaged in such deforestation are landless tenants, farm labourers or land speculators. In Nepal the population pressure in the hills has caused people to migrate to the “Terai” areas and encroach into forest lands. In Thailand, unrest in neighbouring countries which resulted in an influx of refugees into the country contributed to deforestation together with encorachment by local people.

Organized forms of settlement, generally government sponsored, are more common in Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and to a small extent in Nepal. In Indonesia under the transmigration programme (shifting of people from overpopulated Java, Bali and Madura areas to Sumatra and Kalimantan) during 1974 to 1978, 50 000 families were moved and each family was given 5 ha of land. The target for future is 25 000 families per year. In Malaysia conversion of forest land into oil palm and rubber is a state sponsored activity, sometimes aided by international agencies: in Peninsular Malaysia there are 5 World Bank aided settlement projects where forest lands are cleared and planted with oil palm and rubber: Jengka I project (2 770 families settled on 11 300 ha of cleared forest land to be planted with oil palm), Jengka II project (clearing of 13 000 ha of forest land for replanting with oil palm, rubber, other tree crops to settle 3 000 families), Jengka III project (clearing of 17 800 ha of forest land to settle 4 000 families), Johore land settlement project (clearing of 32 800 ha of forest land to settle 4 400 families), Keratong land settlement project (clearing of 22 500 ha of forest land to settle 3 400 families).

In Sri Lanka under the Mahaweli irrigation project, some 260 000 ha of forest area will be converted to agriculture for organized settlement of people. In Nepal a 5-year resettlement plan was taken up by the government and on an average 3 000 families were settled during 1973–78.

The loss of forest land for construction of irrigation and hydroelectric projects is observed in almost every country, more particularly in India and Sri Lanka in recent years. Mining destruction in Thailand and Malaysia (tin mines) and in Papua New Guinea has been reported.

Extent of shifting cultivation in tropical Asia

Slash-and-burn agriculture is variously known as swidden, shag, kaingin, jhum, chena, podu, etc. in various parts of the world. In spite of similarities the practices and the consequences vary in the different parts of the world. Differences in climate, topography, soil characteristics, population pressure, methods of land preparation and above all the very life style and culture of those who practise shifting cultivation contribute to this variation. There is a great lack of precise data on the magnitude of population involved and the areas under shifting cultivation around the world. The rapidly changing picture together with the absence of continuous monitoring of degradation of forest cover have rendered the task of estimating either the area or the populations engaged in shifting cultivation a particularly difficult task.

Not all slash-and-burn practices are destructive to the forest and deleterious to the soil. Managed systems where control burning is practised, where soil fertility is not totally drained initially and where a sufficiently lengthy fallow period is maintained can sustain a forested condition indefinitely and produce continuously wood and other forest products and services. Slash-and-burn systems which are destructive of forest productivity are those which exhaust the soil, encourage weed growth, lead to accelerated soil erosion and a disruption of the water regulating function of the forest.

In a situation where population density is low, climate is favourable and long fallow periods are prevalent the damage to forest and soil can be minimal. Although the original forest is destroyed it is generally replaced by secondary forest which is also productive.

However, with increasing population pressure on forest land and shortening of fallow period disorder has crept in. Abandoned slash-and-burn areas are increasingly getting converted into sterile bush or stretches of grassland with little soil fertility left in them.

The extent of shifting cultivation, collated from known sources, is reviewed below:

a) South Asia

• In Bangladesh, jhuming (shifting cultivation) is practised by some 13 hill tribes living in the Chittagong Hill Tracts region. About 60 000 families with 350 000 people are engaged in jhuming. The overall effects are: loss of timber estimated at 0.56 million m³; annual soil loss of some 84 million tons and a serious decline in the capacity of land to produce agricultural crops. In recent years “jhum” rotation has shortened to 4 or 5 years leading to continuous soil degradation.

• Shifting cultivation in remote hilly areas with hardly any communication system is the traditional practice in Bhutan. The government is encouraging people to adopt settled cultivation practices. So far some 2 000 families have been settled.

• In India shifting cultivation is practised in 12 states; some 2.7 million people are involved, and the annual area under shifting cultivation is close to 1 million ha. The northeastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Meghalaya account for 66 percent of the shifting cultivation population. The dry central India and coastal states of Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh account for 31 percent of the slash-and-burn community; the rest are confined to Bihar and Kerala states. There are marked variations in the quantum of ecological and environmental damage caused by shifting cultivation depending on the climate, rainfall, nature of terrain, the degree of slopes, the cropping pattern and practices and more importantly the fallow period. The degradation and depletion of soils is greater in the central Indian and coastal states where rainfall is low, population density high, soil productivity poor and fallow periods shorter than in the comparatively wet northeastern states with lower population densities.

• In Nepal it is reported that shifting cultivation in its original, traditional form is almost abandoned except in some pockets of the hilly region around Chitwan (central Nepal) where people of the Khubu tribe are still engaged in this type of agriculture.

• Extensive forest areas in the dry zone especially in the central and northern parts of Sri Lanka have been reduced by slash-and-burn agriculture (chena) to an unproductive condition. The fallow period which used to be as long as 25 years has been reduced to 10 years in most parts. Until recently shifting cultivation extended by 8 to 10 000 ha per year. During recent years a programme of stabilization of chena cultivation has been undertaken; consequently it is anticipated that the rate of shifting cultivation would have reduced to 5 000 ha per year.

b) Continental southeast Asia (including centrally planned countries)

• The hill tribes mostly living in Kachin, Kayah, Karen, Chin and Shan states of Burma practise shifting cultivation. The population involved is difficult to estimate (between 2 to 5 million people).

• According to a study on forest communities practising shifting cultivation sponsored by FAO/UNFPA the total forest population involved in Thailand amounts approximately to 350 000. Among them are the growers of opium poppy. Ethnically, these communities belong to diverse tribes: Hmong, Akha, Lisu, Lahu, Karen, etc. A FAO paper in 1981, however, estimates that more than one million families depend on forested areas for their subsistence agriculture. In many places the primary forest has disappeared and a fire climax vegetation such as open dipterocarp woodland or Imperata cylindrica grassland has developed and is maintained by fires. The total area either already covered by Imperata or under various stages of degradation due to shifting cultivation has been estimated to be around 4 million ha.

• In Lao most of the highland tribes (Meo, Lou, Yao, Akha, Lahu, etc.) have traditionally practised shifting cultivation locally known as rai or ray. According to one estimate about one million people practise shifting cultivation on about 300 000 ha annually.

• In the central highlands of Viet Nam slash-and-burn agriculture is practised by about 60 different tribes whose population is 5 million.

c) Insular southeast Asia

• Shifting cultivation in Brunei is mainly practised by tribes such as Iban, Dusun, Murut, and Dayak who are riverine dwellers living inlong houses. The population engaged in shifting cultivation is likely to be of the order of 20 000. With the implementation of programmes for development, the shifting cultivators are now close to cash economy.

• Shifting cultivation in Indonesia is mostly confined to the islands of Kalimantan, Sumatra, Sulawesi, Maluku and Nusatenggara. It is estimated that some 2 million families (12 million people) are subsisting on shifting cultivation. Most of the areas affected have either been reduced to poor secondary forests or converted into Imperata grasslands Some areas have been rendered bare. Over 16 million ha are probably in a critical condition from the view-point of soil fertility and soil cover.

• Shifting cultivation is not a noticeable phenomenon in Peninsular Malaysia, it is however wide-spread in both Sabah and Sarawak. In Sabah FAO estimates that by 1980 some 1.4 million ha is under shifting cultivation. The population involved is about 390 000. In Sarawak the estimated figures for 1980 are: 3.3 million ha under shifting cultivation and 280 000 people involved. The corresponding tribal groups involved in Sabah/Sarawak are mostly Iban and Bidayuh.

• Shifting cultivation locally known as kaingin is practised by several cultural subgroups in the Philippines. The largest aggregate forest area is cleared by the semi-nomadic kaingineros; in addition there are settled part-time kaingineros, settled fulltime kaingineros and the imigrant low-landers who also practise shifting cultivation. The number of shifting cultivators is very imperfectly known. A survey carried out in 1977 by the Bureau of Forest Development shows around 380 000 families practising shifting cultivation on forest land.

• Forest lands in Papua New Guinea are owned communally by the tribes/clans under a system of customary ownership. In the highlands shifting cultivation is a traditional form of agriculture and it is calculated that every person requires a land area of 1.8 ha for this purpose. Over the years because of shifting cultivation and repeated fires vast areas of grasslands have appeared on land once wooded. A rough estimate is that some 4 million ha of forest land have been rendered unproductive in the wake of bush fallow gardening.

d) A collation of scattered data relating to countries where estimates are available shows that some 28 million people are dependent on shifting cultivation. The extent of forest area affected by shifting cultivation is some 74 million ha. This figure is very close to that of the total area of fallows of closed forests (N.a) - 69.2 million ha - and of open formations (NHc/NHOa) - 4 million ha - found in this study (tables 1d, 1e and 1f). The areas and countries most seriously affected are: Kalimantan island in Indonesia, Northeastern and the dry central states of India, central highlands of Viet Nam, Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia, Mindanao island in the Philippines and parts of Burma, Thailand and Bangladesh in that order.

2.1.2 Degradation

a) The dipterocarp forests of the region (part of NHCf), especially in insular south-east Asia, have become one of the world's major sources of hardwood timber, especially since the end of the second World War. Exploitation is taking place at an ever-increasing pace and logging operations are causing qualitative and quantitative degradation, the extent of which varies, and is dependent both on the intensity of logging as well as the skill directed to the planning and execution of various operations involved. Most damage is caused when big trees with large crowns are felled against other trees which break and fall in a chain reaction. Heavy crawler tractors pushing through a stand of trees easily knock them down. Roads represent forest areas taken out of production either permanently or temporarily. The area occupied by roads in a normal logging operation in the tropical high forests is some 40 m²/ha for main roads and 400 m²/ha for secondary and feeder roads. The area bared by tractor tracks and skid trails were estimated at 14% in studies carried out in Sabah and Philippines. Studies in Sarawak ¹ have established that temporary open space and bare soil (skid trails, roads, landings, etc.) could be as high as 40% of the logged over area; this meant that just 60% of the area remained under standing forest after intensive logging. The high intensity of open space and bare soil indicates that many trees were either fallen or broken in intensively logged forest. It was estimated that as many as 26 trees per ha of commercial species fell down and an additional 33 were broken or injured. Thus, the total loss due to logging was approximately 60 trees per ha which represents about 40% of the stock. In varying intensitives this type of degradation was seen in some 44 million ha of logged over forests (NHCf1uc) of insular southeast Asia where mechanized logging was practised.

In no other mixed tropical forests is logging as intensive as it is in the dipterocarp forests of southeast Asia and its impact is consequently more serious than in the other tropical areas. The resulting depletion of stocking is generally provisional, as for any forest put to use, if the forest is left to recover and not encroached on by shifting cultivation or other non-forest uses. The loss of valuable species may be compensated later on by the growth and regeneration of trees of the same or other valuable species, assuming again that the forest is not cleared for other uses. It may be, however, that some valuable species of the primary forests disappear gradually because of their inability to regenerate under the open canopy of the logged over forests. The other degradation effects of the heavy logging of mixed dipterocarp forests are more serious and lasting: generally the area bared by tractor tracks, skid trails, landings is not revegetated rapidly and in hilly terrain this facilitates erosion and landslides.

b) A further factor in the degradation of tropical forests is the demand for fuelwood. It is estimated that almost half of all wood cut worldwide each year is used as fuel, with over fourfifths of it going to meet the needs of people in the Third World. The situation has been grossly aggravated by the increase in oil prices, putting kerosene beyond the means of many households. Nepal provides a typical example of the most disturbing aspects of the problem of degradation due to excessive fuelwood and fodder harvesting. This process is leading to severe soil erosion and many places once covered by forest have been reduced to near wasteland. Devastating landslides and ecological disaster not only for Nepal but also for lands downstream is a noticeable phenomenon.².

In Thailand annual production of wood in 1980 was estimated to be 16 million m³ against a consumption level of 28 million m³, of which 90% was fuelwood. The gap between consumption and production was primarily filled by unrecorded removals of the forests resulting in degradation ³.

In Indonesia while the demand for fuelwood continued to rise in some parts (e.g. Java) wood wastes rapidly accumulated at logging sites and processing plants. Lack of adequate infrastructure and transportation costs have effectively prevented any rationalization of supply-demand patterns within the country. As a consequence the limited forest areas in overpopulated zones were subjected to severe degradation.

The degradation of many of the forests in India, and elsewhere in the region, was brought about by inadequate attention paid hitherto to satisfying the spectrum of basic needs of rural people in a rational manner. On the one hand, under government patronage, forests were exploited and the produce sold at competitive prices in far away markets. On the other, the people living near the forests were denied legal access or such restrictions have been placed on them that they were unable to satisfy their basic needs for fuelwood, building poles, fodder, etc. without resorting to unorganized fellings, excessive lopping of trees or overgrazing.

In a number of countries, large-scale commercialization of fuelwood and charcoal is directing exploitation pressures towards far-distant sources. Charcoal manufacture and transport from forests in one part of a country to markets in another part of the same country - sometimes hundreds of kilometres away - is observed. For example, Bangkok with its 5 million inhabitants, derives much of its charcoal supply from forests in remote northern parts of the country.

c) In farming systems of tropical Asia, more particularly of south Asia, animals fulfil a role which is essential to the functioning and stability of rural economies. Livestock are kept primarily for production of milk, draught power, meat and manure. Grazing by all or some of the livestock on pastures outside the farm boundaries more particularly in forest areas, when they are close-by, is a traditional practice in several countries of the region. The extension of irrigated and cultivated land area is leading to a decrease in land available for grazing and a heavy reliance on grazing in forest areas and consequent degradation of the forests. The problem is acute in India which in 1975 was estimated to have 15% of the world's cattle, 46% of its buffaloes, 17% of its goats and 4% of its sheep (FAO Production Yearbook - Vol. 29). Grazing intensity is high in most of the forest areas of India. In 1976/77 nearly 2.2 million cattle heads grazed the forests of Uttar Pradesh. The value of grazing was recorded as Rs. 2.6 million (US$ 925 000). In Maharastra state the density of cattle in the forest was 4 to the hectare, well above the average carrying capacity. Incessant lopping of trees by graziers with no apparent rest period to allow regeneration of the lopped trees has reduced vast forested areas to an unstable low scrub in the Himalayan zone. Goats and camels which thrive on leaves and twigs of brush and dwarf timber species have denuded the available scrub forest vegetation in the arid and semi-arid areas of western India. It is reported that in Nepal, leaves make up about 40% of the annual feed of a buffalo and about 25% for a cow. In addition to depletion of vegetative cover trampling by cattle is hardening the soil, preventing forest regeneration and causing soil erosion in several parts of the Indian subcontinent.

d) Yet another agent of forest degradation in the region is fire. Most forest fires are caused by man: to clear land for shifting cultivation, to make it easier to collect minor forest produce, to smoke out bees and rats, etc. In south Asia forest fires are generally started by graziers to burn the tough old grass and induce fresh shoots with the first rains. Unless a series of measures such as development of improved pastures, introduction of fodder grasses and trees for lopping, stall feeding, etc. are taken neither overgrazing nor forest fires can be eliminated. Forest fires degrade the existing assets, inhibit regeneration and set in motion soil erosion. In the tropical high forest areas repeated forest fires are responsible for inducing far-reaching ecological changes. For example, the dominance of Imperata cylindrica, Themeda triandra, Chrysopogen aciculatus and Capillipedium parviflorum due to frequent occurrence of fires and overgrazing is reported to be perpetuating a grass-fire-grass cycle and preventing any plant succession in certain parts of the Philippines ¹.

e) There are many examples of degradation of both natural forests and plantations by insect pests. The near complete defoliation and high mortality of Shorea albida over an area of 12 000 ha of peat swamp in Brunei and Sarawak was reported by Anderson ¹. Mass attacks by insect pests of sal and teak were recorded in India ². In Thailand pine shoot moth caused serious damage to plantations of Pinus kesiya ³. In the Philippines an unidentified borer vigorously attacked and destroyed some area of Eucalyptus deglupta; the Benguet pine forest of Luzon was heavily infested by a bark beetle (by the end of 1979 it was reported that some 40 500 trees were infested); several types of fungal diseases are reported to be affecting Albizia falcataria plantations. Examples can be multiplied. The point is that diseases caused by various vectors are also effective agents of degradation.

f) Natural disasters can be a potential cause of forest degradation. In the Henzada/Bassein forest division of Burma the evergreen forests were severely damaged by a cyclone in 1975. A hurricane in 1963 destroyed nearly 200 000 large trees in southern Thailand. Pine forests in northern Thailand are subjected to wind damage. Typhoon damage to Philippines forests is a recurring phenomenon.

g) Mining concessions in forest areas have come to a surge in recent years in several countries of tropical Asia. There is ample evidence to show that both mine waste dumps and tailing deposits are submarginal sites for plant growth and survival. Evidence of extensive forest degradation due to mining operations is reported from Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea among other countries.

h) Large forest areas (1.25 million ha) were sprayed by defoliants in Viet Nam during the war in the late 60's and early 70's. The various forest types reacted differently, the mangroves being the most affected. In addition 4 million ha of forest land were also damaged by heavy bombing.

¹ H. Mattsson Marn and W. Jonkers (1980) “Logging Damage in Tropical High Forest” - International Forestry Seminar, Kuala Lumpur, 11–15 November 1980.

² K.R. Shepherd (1980) “Energy from Forests: An Exercise in Community Forestry for Developing Countries” - Agricultural Information Development Bulletin 2 (2), June 1980.

³ FAO/World Bank Cooperative Programme “Report of the Thailand Forestry Project” - FAO, Rome, June 1980.

¹ Sajise, P.E. (1977) “Regeneration of Critical Upland Areas: An Ecological Imperative” - Forestry Digest 4 (2): 1–11.

¹ Anderson, J.A.R. (1961) “The Destruction of Shorea albida Forest by an Unidentified Insect” - Emp. Forest Rev. 40: 19–29.

² Bakshi, B.K. (1976) “Forest Protection Needs in Southeast Asia” - Proceedings of the Symposium on Forest Pests and Diseases in Southeast Asia - Bogor, Indonesia (April 20–23, 1976).

³ Hutacharern, C. (1976). Bogor Symposium, 1976.

2.1.3 Trends in forest utilization

Log harvesting

The present status of forest exploitation with special reference to log harvesting in the region was discussed under section 1.1.2. Estimates of the likely removals of wood for industry in 1985, 1990, 1995 and 2000 prepared by FAO together with base data of 1978 are summarized below (unpublished notes of phase V of the Industry Consumption Outlook Study):

Removals of wood for industry ¹
(in million m³ per year)

¹ including wood from plantations
² 1979 figures from FAO Yearbook of Forest Products

The production of industrial wood is expected to rise from 101 million m³ in 1979 to some 126 million m³ in 2000 registering an average annual growth of 1.06%. This growth is mainly attributable to the increases foreseen in south Asia essentially to meet domestic demand by a rising population.

The share of south Asia in the total industrial wood removals of tropical Asia (some 17% in 1979) has always been disproportionately low compared to its population and therefore its domestic requirements. However, out of 25 million m³ of increase in absolute terms expected during 1979–2000, south Asia would account for some 16 million m³ or 64% of the increase for the region as a whole. The bulk of these increased removals are expected either from hitherto inaccessible forests - northeastern region of India, Nepal and Bhutan - or from plantations. Within south Asia nearly 90% of the removals are from forests of India. The contribution of plantations is expected to grow from about 2.2 million m³ in 1980 to nearly 8 million m³ in 2000; plantation wood is likely to account for nearly 50% of the increased removals in the next 20 years.

In continental southeast Asia the additional removals by the year 2000 would amount to nearly 5 million m³ per annum, nearly all of which are expected to emanate from Burma's forests. In 1985, the wood removals from the two countries will probably be of equal order (3.7 million m³ each) but gradually by the year 2000 Burma will outstrip Thailand. In Thailand because of an alarming rate of forest depletion in recent years supply possibilities have reached a plateau. The contribution from plantations, mainly from Burma, is expected to be around 0.5 million m³ by the year 2000. In the centrally planned countries increased removals could be expected only from Viet Nam, some 2 million m³ per year by the year 2000.

The forests of insular southeast Asia which hitherto constituted an important resource with significant export surpluses may actually see a steady decline in overall removals after the year 1985. It is anticipated that annual removals will decrease from some 75 million m³ in 1985 to 70 million m³ by 2000. In Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines the policy is to promote domestic processing of logs and cut down on log exports. Indonesia's 1 200 and odd sawmills and 16 plymills currently utilize only a small portion of the log output from their forests; more than three quarters of the logs produced are exported. This situation is likely to undergo a change with domestic processing units needing more logs resulting in cuts in exports. Industrial wood output in Indonesia may reach 40 million m³ by 1985 and fluctuate around that level up to the year 2000. Some 0.5 million m³ is the estimated annual output of wood from plantations in 1985, rising up to some 1.4 million m³ by 2000. The removals from Malaysia are estimated to decrease from a peak of some 33 million m³ in 1979 to barely 18 million m³ by the year 2000. Of this nearly 1 million m³ could be plantation timber. A number of measures to discourage log exports have already been initiated: for example, export of 16 species has been banned in Peninsular Malaysia, in Sabah there is firm policy to reduce exports by half, etc. In the Philippines only a marginal increase in removals is expected: from 9.33 million m³ in 1979 to 10.95 million m³ in 2000. Between 3 to 4 million m³ are likely to be plantation grown hardwood timber. By comparison the domestic processing industry in Philippines is already better developed than in other countries of southeast Asia. Even so, currently various measures are afoot to rationalize and place them on a sounder base: for example, phasing out of small uneconomic units; tie up with concessions; guaranteed log supplies; industrial tree plantations, etc. Thus, it is foreseen that log removal policies in the Philippines will more and more be oriented towards satisfying local needs. In Papua New Guinea a gradual increase in industrial wood removals, to reach 3.1 million m³ by 2000 is contemplated. Some 90 sawmills, 1 plymill, 3 veneer mills and 1 wood chip mill are currently in operation in the country. The future policy is expected to be one of encouraging export of logs together with meeting the needs of domestic industry.

Fuelwood

The current importance of fuelwood as a source of domestic energy for cooking and heating for large numbers of people in tropical Asia has already been dealt with under section 1.1.2. It was noted that the supply situation in the region is generally acute in all countries except Bhutan.

Only a very small proportion of the region's fuelwood supply, however, is actually taken from forest areas. Rural communities traditionally depended on tree growth (mainly dead trees, branches, twigs, etc.) in their neighbourhoods, whether owned by the state, communally or privately. FAO Production Yearbook shows that in 1979 fuelwood and charcoal removals in the region amounted to nearly 736 million m³ (as opposed to some 101 million m³ of industrial wood) or 88% of total roundwood removals.

The future supply situation for the horizon 2000 has already been broadly indicated in section 1.1.2 by geographical zones for the rural areas. As for the major urban areas they will continue to be in a situation of acute scarcity. The population involved - 140 million inhabitants - has an estimated annual fuelwood demand level of 0.15 to 0.50 per capita. Forestry solutions through urban plantations could furnish a partial answer. It is also necessary to envisage a supply of alternative fuels under conditions which meet the limited purchasing power of the lower income groups.

2.1.4 Areas at end 1985

The 1980 estimates of areas of natural woody vegetation were incorporated in tables 1a of 1f and were discussed under section 1.1.2. The rates of mean annual deforestation were presented in tables 6a to 6d with notes in section 2.1.1. Taking into account the rates of deforestation and the estimated transfers of areas from one category to the other (such as from productive undisturbed (NHCf1uv) status to logged over category (NHCf1uc), or from productive mixed tree formations (NHc/NHO1) to unproductive status (NHc/NHO2) due to degradation) the likely situation of forest areas at the end of 1985 has been worked out. Tables 7a to 7d present these estimates. The following is the summary of 1985 areas compared with figures of 1980.

TABLE 7a - Areas of natural woody vegetation estimated at end 1985
Closed broadleaved forests (NHC)
(in thousand ha)