Canada (Alberta)
Canada (Newfoundland)
Finland
Guatemala
Honduras
FAO publishes Food and agricultural legislation, a selection of laws and regulations of international interest. Notes on some recent forest legislation are reproduced below.
· With reference to T. François' article "What should a forest law contain?" in Unasylva, Volume 15, Number 3, 1961, a correspondent writes that it must be mandatory on a court to make an order against anyone convicted of clearing, using or occupying land in a forest reserve, requiring him to vacate it within a specified time. The maximum time which the court may allow the convicted person must also be stated, and it is suggested that under no circumstances should this be longer than one year. (Normally it will be about two months, or until the beginning of the following planting season.) Furthermore, if the order is not carried out, the court must, on application of the forest authority, issue an eviction warrant to a senior police officer, requiring him to remove from the land the convicted person, his family, servants, etc., to take possession of all buildings, crops, etc., and to hand them over to the forest authority. These are then normally destroyed in the presence of the encroacher.
The above provisions may sound drastic, but without them any law controlling illegal clearing and residence on forest land is impotent if, as may easily happen, the magistrates have some sympathy with those convicted.
· An Act to amend The Public Lands Act. 11 April 1960. (Statutes of Alberta, 1960, 9 Elizabeth II, Chapter 82, p. 365-369.)
Several of the amendments relate to grazing associations.
The act further provides inter alia that, where the Minister of Lands and Forests considers it in the interest of the farmers or ranchers of any area to do so, he may establish, maintain and operate a community grazing reserve for grazing the stock of the farmers or ranchers of that area, upon such terms and conditions as may be prescribed by him.
· The Logging Camps Act, 1960: an Act to amend and consolidate the law respecting the establishment an operation of logging camps. 30 May 1960. (Statutes of Newfoundland, 1960, Act No. 21, p. 83-97.)
Every logging camp shall be located, constructed, maintained, and used in such manner as is necessary to prevent danger to the safety and health and to provide for the wellbeing and reasonable comfort of the loggers. Arrangements may be required for supplies and equipment to be furnished to loggers on a fair and equitable basis.
· Decree No. 369, relating to forestry training schools. 26 July 1960. (Finlands Författningssamling, No. 357-361, 10 August 1960, p. 979-980.)
The decree provides that persons intending to qualify for forestry management and consultant positions shall receive theoretical and practical vocational training at forestry schools subject to the authority of the Forestry Board. Forestry schools shall also include a forestry teachers' college for the training of foresters for teaching and consultants' posts in forestry. An appropriate practice area for demonstration and practical training purposes shall be available to such forestry schools.
Detailed requirements for the teaching personnel at such schools are laid down.
· Regulations for the protection and certification of, and trade in, agricultural and forest tree seed. 12 May 1961. (El Guatemalteco, No. 63, 21 August 1961, p. 681-682.)
The regulations provide for the creation, within the Ministry of Agriculture, of a National Seed Certification Service, responsible for promoting the establishment of private seed production bodies; developing extension campaigns for the use of certified seed; controlling the production, processing and handling of certified seed; establishing minimum standards for such seed; carrying out laboratory analyses; furnishing official labels and marks for batches of certified seed; publishing lists of registered and certified seeds; controlling seed imported into the country.
· Legislative Decree No. 117, promulgating the Forest Act. 17 May 1961. (La Gaceta, No. 17.412, 28 June 1961, and No. 17.413, 29 June 1961, p. 1-6 and 1-4 respectively.)
The act repeals and replaces previous forest legislation of 1909, 1939, 1949 and 1955, including the Forest Act promulgated under Decree-Law No. 184 of 16 December 1955, published in Food and Agricultural Legislation, Volume 5, Number 1.
Chapter headings are as follows: I: Purpose; II: The State Forest Administration; III: Definition, classification, declaration and administration of forest areas. (Definition: forest lands or lands suitable for forests; Classification: state or municipal forest areas, private forest areas, trusteeship forest areas held by native tribes under State guardianship; Inalienable public forest property, including: prohibited, protected, and reserved forest zones, zones of forest interest, unclassified public forest areas); IV: Protection and consolidation of public forest holdings; V: Protection of forest areas: responsibilities of the State Forest Administration, fire prevention and control, elimination of forest diseases and pests, pine-tapping, national parks; VI: Soil and water conservation, protection of river and lake banks, protection of the soil and water resources; VII: Management and operation of forest areas; VIII: Forest industries; IX: forest and forest protection associations and co-operatives; X: Penal provisions.
