Some activities of the forestry and forest products division, 1962-63
Latin-American forestry commission
Advisory committee on pulp and paper
FAO staff
There has been a further rapid expansion of field programs and action projects through 1962-63 to the extent that these now command a greater proportion of the total divisional effort than the basic Regular Program activities.
For instance, the number of United Nations Special Fund projects for which the Division has operational responsibility has grown from 9 in 1961 to 24 in 1963 (Africa 2, Europe 3, Far East 5, Near East 4, Latin America 10). Some 20 percent of the Special Fund projects for which FAO is now the executing agent lie in the field of forestry and forest products. The number of projects in which the Division participates has grown at a similar rate. The expanded program of technical assistance (EPTA) has also increased and the 1963-64 program involves a higher number of man-months of expert services than in any previous biennium.
In pursuing its Regular Program activities the Division has followed the priorities and balance laid down by the eleventh session of the FAO Conference (1961). These are in keeping with the main emphasis required by the United Nations Development Decade and include:
(a) development planning, including projections of demand and supply,
(b) expansion of trade in forest products,
(c) industrialization in underdeveloped regions,
(d) education and training,
(e) survey and appraisal of resources,
(f) improvement of production techniques.
REGIONAL FOREST POLICIES
Important sessions of the Near East Forestry Commission (Turkey), Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission (Hong Kong) and Latin American Forestry Commission (Chile) were held in 1962, timed to precede the respective FAO regional conferences. The North American Forestry Commission held its second session in June 1963, and the European Forestry Commission is holding its twelfth session at Geneva in September. A second session of the African Forestry Commission could not be arranged, for reasons beyond the Division's control.
Development of the Mediterranean area, a general FAO activity, continued to engage much attention, involving secretariat responsibilities for a meeting of an expert group on Mediterranean development and operational responsibility for integrated development Special Fund projects in Turkey (Antalya) and Morocco (Western Rif) and related projects in Jordan and Lebanon, participation in similar projects in Tunisia, Greece and Syria, and in the planning of other projects pending for Iraq and the United Arab Republic. The Mediterranean Forestry Subcommission held its eighth session in Yugoslavia in May 1962.
There has been participation also in development planning in Africa (for example, Nigeria) following the FAO Africa Survey, and in Latin America (for example, Colombia) related to the work of the Comité Inter-americano de Desarrollo Agrícola (CIDA).
The Division continued its collaboration in the seminars on forestry development organized by the German Foundation for Developing Countries, in 1962 for countries of Latin America and in 1963 for French-speaking countries of Africa and Asia. It also participated in courses on Latin-American forestry organized by the Spanish forestry school in Madrid, and in the Eighth Commonwealth Forestry Conference held in east Africa in 1962.
ADMINISTRATIVE AND INSTITUTIONAL PROBLEMS
Under EPTA 23 forestry advisers on administrative and institutional problems are being provided for 14 countries. On forestry aspects of land settlement and colonization problems, a forester was engaged for the Special Fund projects covering Ecuador and Peru (Andean Indian), and a regional adviser for Latin America under EPTA.
It was not possible to allocate funds for an intended detailed study of shifting cultivation problems but a case-study in Latin America was finally initiated, paralleling earlier studies made for Africa and the Far East. Studies proposed in relation to the Lower Mekong development project were not accepted.
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
The eleventh session of the FAO Conference gave first priority in future divisional activities to the promotion of education and training. Five Special Fund projects became operational in Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Iran and Nigeria, and the Division participates in other Special Fund education projects in Costa Rica and Mexico. Through EPTA, help was continued to the college of forestry at the University of Monrovia, Liberia, and to the Near East forest rangers' school at Lattakia, Syria.
The Latin-American advisory group on education and research (GACIFAL) was transferred from Mexico to Rio de Janeiro and completed a regional survey of educational facilities and needs. A similar group for the Far East could not be established for want of funds, but short-term advisers were appointed for the English and French-speaking countries of Africa under the FAO Special Program on Agricultural Education and Training in Africa, and a foresters' training course is to be arranged in Sudan in late 1963.
The FAO Panel on Education in Forestry continued to help in orientating divisional activities: a limited group met in Rome in August 1962, and a fourth meeting of panel members is being arranged to be held in Mexico in 1964. The FAO/IUFRO Committee on Bibliography met in Germany in June 1983, at which time a decision was taken on the future of its multilingual forestry terminology project.
LAND-USE POLICY
Activities have involved close collaboration with other sectors of the Organization, principally the Land and Water Development Division and the Economic Analysis Division. Joint meetings representative of farming (European Commission on Agriculture) and forestry (European Forestry Commission) were held at Paris in February 1962, and at Madrid in March 1963.
As recommended by the eleventh session of the FAO Conference, a six week study tour on watershed management in Europe was arranged in summer 1962 (Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France and Italy), and a regional training center on watershed management (EPTA) in Lebanon in August 1962; a manual on watershed management was published as a working paper for this latter center. The working party on torrent control of the European Forestry Commission met in Italy in September 1962.
Work on range management was limited to participation in the activities of various regional bodies of FAO'S Plant Production Division and in an interdivisional working group set up to co-ordinate action by all the technical divisions involved.
CONSERVATION
Responsibility for liaison on behalf of FAO with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) continued centered in the Division. A staff member participated in the First World Conference on National Parks, Seattle, June 1962, and another will participate in the IUCN General Assembly in Nairobi in September 1963.
Considerable progress has been made in building up an FAO program on wildlife management and conservation. By the end of 1963 a two-man FAO/IUCN team will complete its work advising on wildlife development in Africa, and assessing countries' potentialities. The working party on wildlife of the African Forestry Commission could not meet.
Collaboration continued with Unesco in its programs of scientific research on ecology and into problems of the humid tropics and of arid zones. The Division contributed to establishing and publishing a bioclimatic map of the Mediterranean area, with an explanatory brochure.
QUICK-GROWING SPECIES
Efforts were concentrated on welding current projects into a strong cohesive program, in harmony with divisional action towards the development of forest industries.
Information deriving from the 1960 study tour on Mexican pines was published by the Mexican Government: under EPTA, progress was made with arranging seed procurement facilities. The proceedings of the 1961 World Eucalyptus Conference were published by the Brazilian Government.
Delay has been experienced in processing a study on bamboos, their management and uses, and publication cannot be expected until 1964. A study on Pinus radiata was generally released.
Many arrangements were made for the exchange of seed and planting stock between countries. The thirteenth congress (Forest Seed Committee) of the International Seed Testing Association was attended at Lisbon in May 1962. A revised Forest tree seed directory was published, concluding special activities under the FAO Seed Campaign.
A Near East Poplar Conference was organized in Turkey, in May 1982, and the eleventh session of the International Poplar Commission held in Yugoslavia in September 1962: 20 countries from all regions are now members. A Special Fund project for a Poplar Research Institute in Turkey became operational.
In May 1962 a preparatory meeting was held at Rome to organize in co-operation with the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) the World Consultation on Genetics and Forest Tree Improve. meet, taking place in Stockholm in August 1963. A study, Genetics of forest tree improvement, is in the press.
There have been seven EPTA assignments on afforestation. Freedom from Hunger Campaign projects for establishing tree plantation and shelterbelts are about to be sponsored in Greece, Korea, Mauritania, and Sudan. A revised edition of Tree planting practices for arid areas will be published in the near future.
IMPROVED SILVICULTURE
Emphasis was again on field work: practically every Special Fund project includes experts on various phases of silviculture, and eight EPTA assignments are in the 1963-64 program. An André Mayer research fellowship was awarded on the silviculture of tropical rain forests and a report is being issued. A large number of EPTA fellowships were also awarded.
UNITED NATIONS SPECIAL FUND FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: CURRENT FORESTRY PROJECTS
UNITED NATIONS SPECIAL FUND FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: CURRENT FORESTRY PROJECTS
1. Argentina - Forestry and watershed management training institute.
2. Brazil - National forestry school.
3. Chile - Institute for development of forest resources and industries.
4. Ecuador - Preinvestment studies for forestry development.
5. Guatemala - Preinvestment survey on forest development.
6. Honduras - Survey of pine forests.
7. Mexico - National forest inventory.
8. Peru - Forestry research and training.
9. Venezuela - Preinvestment study on forestry development.
10. Morocco - Rural economic preinvestment project for the Western Rif.
11. Nigeria - Forestry department, University College, Ibadan.
12. Greece - Preinvestment survey of selected forest areas.
13. Turkey - Preinvestment survey of Antalya region.
14. Turkey - Poplar research institute.
15. Iran - Forestry and range department and forest rangers' school.
16. Jordan - Forestry development studies and research.
17. Lebanon - Forestry education, training and research.
18. Sudan - Forestry research and education center.
19. Burma - Forest research institute.
20. Ceylon - Preinvestment study on forest industries development.
21. India - Preinvestment study of forest resources.
22. Pakistan - National forestry research and training program.
23. Thailand - Paper pulp materials survey.
NOTE: A further project in Colombia has just been approved.
A bibliography and a report on savanna forestry in Africa were prepared, while a summary of available world information on dry woodlands is in course of publication.
Preparations have been started for a world symposium on forest pests and diseases to be organized jointly with IUFRO in 1964. Meetings were held of the working parties on pests and diseases of the North American Forestry Commission and International Poplar Commission, and collaboration continued with the European Plant Protection Organization. A meeting was held for a working party of the International Commission for Biological Control.
An EPTA study tour on sand-dune fixation and shelterbelts was organized in Denmark in June/July 1962.
Two study tours were arranged for the European Forestry Commission; in the Netherlands in 1962 on thinning operations and in the United Kingdom in 1963 on the selection of species as raw materials for industry. In 1962, a first meeting was held in France of a working party on chestnut (replacing the former International Chestnut Commission). An EPTA study tour on mechanization of silviculture operations was held in the U.S.S.R. in 1962.
CO-ORDINATION OF FOREST RESEARCH
During 1962 sessions of the Forest Research Committees of the Near East and Latin-American Forestry Commission were held. A divisional representative also participated in a session of the governing body of the Latin-American Forest Research and Training Institute, originally an EPTA project but now autonomous with 12 adhering member countries. Collaboration continued with IUFRO, and was started with the International Biological Program.
Special Fund projects for forest research and training became operational in Sudan and Pakistan. There is one EPTA assignment in Iraq. The GACIFAL group, previously mentioned, extended its survey to research facilities and needs throughout Latin America.
LOGGING AND EXTRACTION
Progress is chiefly to be reported in field work and in the activities and publications of the various study groups of the European Committee on Forest Working Techniques and Training of Forest Workers (FAO/ILO/ECE). Excellent collaboration continued with the Economic Commission for Europe and the International Labour Organisation and subregional training centers on forest operations were organized in Burma and Nigeria in 1962. Another training center is expected to be held in late 1963 for French-speaking countries of Africa. A study tour for trainees from underdeveloped countries was organized in the U.S.S.R. in 1962 on floating and logging.
FOREST INDUSTRIES DEVELOPMENT
A new Forest Industries and Utilization Branch was constituted at the beginning of 1962 by transfer of functions and staff from other branches. Its initial activities coincided with a general expansion of interest in industrialization within FAO and among United Nations agencies, and the setting up of an Industrialization Center in the United Nations secretariat in New York: agreement was reached confirming FAO'S responsibility in respect of forest industries.
A paper was produced as a background to FAO action entitled "Forest industries in the attack on economic underdevelopment" which was published in the 1962 issue of The state of food and agriculture and in Unasylva. Other papers were prepared for various meetings of the United Nations Economic Commissions for Asia and the Far East, Africa and Latin America.
The Division assisted in an ECE colloquium on the economic aspects of production and utilization of fiber-board and particle board, Geneva, December 1962, and in July 1963 organized at Rome a world consultation on plywood and wood-based panel products.
Meanwhile in Chile one of the most successful Special Fund projects, an institute to promote forest and industry development, has continued in operation. A project for Ceylon is about to become established.
PULP AND PAPER
The FAO Advisory Committee on Pulp and Paper, representative of producing and consuming interests, met in 1962 and 1963 to review the work of FAO. A report of the meeting may be found elsewhere in this issue.
A world survey of pulp and paper capacity was completed, and a Latin-American pulp and paper survey conducted by the FAO/ECLA advisory group on pulp and paper development (EPTA) was published. A paper was prepared on economies of scale in pulp and paper manufacture. A raw materials survey for Thailand was approved as a Special Fund project.
Preparations were started for an Africa/Near East conference on pulp and paper due to be organized with the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in 1965. A Unesco/FAO regional symposium on pulp and paper research and technology was organized at Beirut in December 1962. A meeting of experts was also held at Rome in December 1962 to draft an outline for a revised edition of the FAO publication Raw materials for more paper, and work continued on the text through consultants.
WOOD TECHNOLOGY AND UTILIZATION
A meeting of experts was held at Rome in July 1962 to prepare for the Fifth FAO Wood Technology Conference, being held at Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.A., in September 1963. The newly reconstituted IUFRO Section 41 will meet on that occasion and also the International Wood Research Society, which held an inaugural meeting at Rome in 1962.
There is no substantial progress to report on regional grading rules. Collaboration continued with the International Standards Organization. In the field of promoting housing development, although collaboration continued with the United Nations and regional bodies, little effective progress could be made because of lack of staff.
A study tour on woodworking industries was organized in Czechoslovakia in 1962 (EPTA), and an information paper, Heating with wood chips, was published.
A Special Fund project was approved for Burma, somewhat similar to the Chile project with emphasis on development. Under EPTA, 14 countries are being provided help in sawmilling and on forest products research.
SMALL INDUSTRIES AND FORESTRY EQUIPMENT
The eleventh session of the FAO Conference proposed strengthening the effort devoted to rural industries and training of craftsmen and artisans, which is a field in which ILO is also concerned. Hitherto ILO's emphasis has been on urban communities but plans are now being developed for an extension of activities to rural areas. One FFHC project to develop charcoal kiln operations was sponsored for the Sudan.
The Division continues to maintain a unit through which are channeled all equipment selection and purchases for EPTA and Special Fund projects, and which acts as a clearinghouse for information on machines and methods. Members of the FAO Panel on Forestry Equipment were called on for advice in this regard. The series of periodic Equipment notes was continued, and catalogues issued on tractors and mechanical chain saws.
FOREST RESOURCE SURVEYS AND APPRAISALS
The major effort in this field has been directed towards initiating and operating Special Fund projects in Mexico, Honduras, Greece, Ecuador, Guatemala, Venezuela and India, designed to evaluate the forest resources of selected areas with a view to the development of forest industries, and in participating in surveys included under several other projects. Surveys in five more countries have received assistance under EPTA.
A repository of information has continued to be built up on methods and equipment, and on computer processing of data. FAO staff contributed technical papers to a meeting of the International Society for Photogrammetry at Delft, Netherlands, and a photogrammetry week held in Munich, Germany. A group fellowship tour on air survey techniques is being held in 1963 under EPTA in the U.S.S.R.
FOREST AND FOREST INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT PLANNING
The eleventh session of the FAO Conference expressed concern at the relatively inadequate attention given so far to problems of planning the longer term development of forestry and forest industries. A pronounced effort in this direction is planned under the 1964-65 program of work but meanwhile lack of available staff has precluded any considerable intensification of effort under the regular program. Under EPTA a training center for representatives from underdeveloped countries was organized in Yugoslavia to plan forest industries development.
FORESTRY TRENDS AND ANALYSIS
The way in which Regular Program activities serve to underpin FAO's field programs is demonstrated by the current cycle of regional studies on wood resources and requirements. These constitute a massive undertaking and entail a very heavy workload. The timber trends studies for Asia and the Pacific and for Latin America, carried out in conjunction with the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE) and for Latin America (ECLA) respectively, were released in print and already subjected to recheck. A study covering Africa steadily progressed with the help of ECA despite many difficulties and part is being issued in September 1963. A reappraisal of European trends was completed in conjunction with ECE. Preliminary collection of data started for a Near East survey and negotiations were conducted for surveys covering North America and the U.S.S.R. Meanwhile help was afforded under EPTA to four countries wishing to estimate their future national wood requirements.
The Division continued to staff the ECE/FAO Timber Division and service the ECE Timber Committee which meets annually.
The routine collection of information and preparation of market reports continued for the quarterly Timber bulletin for Europe, The state of food and agriculture, and for other publications and meetings. A chapter was contributed to Agricultural commodities: Projections for 1970, a special supplement to the 1962 FAO Commodity review. This was published in greater detail in Unasylva as "World outlook for forest products." A start was made in preparing basic papers on trade in forest products for the United Nations World Trade Conference due to be held in 1964.
FORESTRY AND FOREST PRODUCTS STATISTICS
This work serves the whole divisional program and there is continuous demand for data and intelligence not only for Regular Program projects but also increasingly for field programs. Two further volumes of the Yearbook of forest products statistics were published. Questionnaires were distributed in 1963 for the fourth in the series of quinquennial inquiries on world forest resources, after an ad hoc meeting of statistical experts had been held in Geneva. This meeting considered favorably a proposal to have national forest products statistics converted to FAO standard units by national conversion factors: a compendium of such factors has been prepared and international conversion factors revised.
The Eighth Session of FAO's Latin-American Forestry Commission, held at Santiago, Chile, in November 1962, will undoubtedly come to be regarded as a landmark in the progress of forestry in the region.
It was attended by 123 delegates, advisers and observers from the following countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, France, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay, the United States and Venezuela. Representatives also participated from the United Nations, the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLA) the International Labour Organisation, the Organization of American States, the Inter-American Institute of Agricultural Sciences, the Inter-American Statistical Institute, and the Latin-American Forest Research and Training Institute (Venezuela). Chief FAO representatives were Hernán Santa Cruz (Assistant Director-General for Latin-American Affairs), Nils Osara (Deputy Director, Forestry and Forest Products Division), and M. Amiot (FAO Country Representative in Chile). Eero Kalkkinen, FAO's Regional Forestry Officer, served as Secretary, with the assistance of other members of the regional staff and of FAO field projects in Chile.
Regional study of wood resources and requirements
The main item for consideration by the commission was the study, Latin American timber trends and prospects prepared jointly by FAO and ECLA. This study represents the first attempt ever made at a detailed regional analysis of Latin America's forest economy and industries and their future development possibilities. It is known that some of the official information and data which had to be used is unsatisfactory; nevertheless, the commission felt that the conclusions and recommendations would serve as a valuable guide to the formulation of forest policies in countries of the region.
It is expected that publication of the study will lead to an intensification of investigations into what exactly are the resources of the region and their potentialities. A number of such investigations are already being undertaken through FAO'S technical assistance program or projects of the United Nations Special Fund for Economic Development, through the AID program of the United States and under the Alliance-for-Progress program. The results attained will enable FAO and ECLA to review in due time their first timber trends study with greater confidence. All this was subsequently endorsed by FAO'S seventh Regional Conference meeting in Brazil and by the 1963 ECLA session in Argentina.
To aid in furthering the objectives of the study and in promoting trade, the commission proposed the establishment of a regional committee on timber and forest products marketing. It also made a number of recommendations to governments in regard to land-use problems and to FAO in respect to higher education and training in forestry, and suggested the creation of further regional committees on watershed management and torrent control, and on wildlife and national parks.
Declaration of principles
E. SCHMEISSER, Director, Forest Department, Chile, was elected chairman of the commission and O. Alvarado, Chile, was appointed as rapporteur. The following were unanimously elected vice-chairmen: E. BELTRÁN, Under-Secretary of Forest Resources and Wildlife, Mexico; D. STAMMERS, Director-General of Forestry, Dominican Republic; and J. BELO LISBOA, Director, National Forestry School, Brazil.
The directors of forest services attending the session drew up the following declaration of principles, which was in turn subscribed to by the whole commission:
1. That adequate legislation (forest law) be enacted defining forest policy and establishing the appropriate high-level organization (forest service) within the government administration.
2. That the body responsible for forest administration should have sufficient autonomy for the proper fulfillment of its functions.
3. That the forest service budget should be sufficient to carry out its important duties.
4. That the forest service should be the only governmental body exercising jurisdiction over problems affecting the use of forests and forest lands.
5. That the forest services take part in resolving all colonization and land reform problems affecting the use of forests and forest lands.
6. That all posts in the service calling for technical knowledge and experience be filled by specially trained personnel at the professional or semiprofessional level, as the case may be.
7. That forest utilization by private persons be carried out as far as possible under the planning and guidance of forestry professionals.
8. That countries devote the greatest attention to the education and training of professional and semiprofessional personnel.
9. That every effort be made to promote forest research, by stimulating existing centers and coordinating them or setting up new ones.
10. That the Latin-American countries beset by similar forestry problems should foster their relations and, as far as possible, seek to establish exchange of information and experience.
A fourth session of FAO'S Advisory Committee on Pulp and Paper - a group of leading personalities of the world's pulp and paper industry - was held at Rome in early May under the chairmanship of R. M. Fowler, President of the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association.
One of the principal topics of discussion was how to use paper to accelerate primary education, and economic development generally, in the underdeveloped countries of the world. A study, prepared in conjunction with Unesco and FAO, was presented by Professor G. Ohlin of the Stockholm Institute for International Economic Studies, and dealt with printing and writing paper for textbooks and exercise books, with paper for mass communication, and with paper for industrial usage. An extract from this study appears elsewhere in this issue. The committee decided to recommend that a further more detailed study be undertaken only in regard to paper for mass communication (newsprint and other paper for newspapers and other information media), the present study to be published after revision and to be brought to the attention of governments and the pulp and paper industry.
Another topic was world paper and paperboard manufacturing capacity which, it seems, will rise at an annual rate of 6.3 percent from 80.2 million tons in 1960 to 108 million tons in 1965. The bulk of the expansion is likely to occur in Europe and North America, which together account for 77 percent of the world's paper and 80 percent of the world's pulp manufacturing capacity. Expansion plans in these areas have grown continuously over the past five years, despite warnings from FAO about temporary surplus capacity. Latest capacity extension plans for western Europe alone are 2.3 million tons per year higher than a year ago, and 5.6 million tons per year more than what was estimated in 1959 for 1965.
Despite the temporary surplus in Europe and North America, the growth in world capacity indicates an encouraging response to trends in world demand for various types of papers for printing, writing, and packaging. High rates of growth in nonindustrialized regions will continue a process of decentralization that has been going on for some time.
The Advisory Committee also reviewed a special study on prospects in Europe for pulp and paper. For this purpose the members were joined by contributors to the trust fund which financed the two-year project, and invited experts from Czechoslovakia, Romania and the U.S.S.R. The study explores the trends in western Europe in great detail and throws interesting light on differences between the Common Market countries with their traditional paper deficits on the one hand, and Scandinavia and other European countries on the other. Eastern Europe is dealt with in less detail. As a result of the discussions the study is now being revised. It is scheduled for publication on the Secretariat's responsibility probably in two parts, one toward the end of 1963 and the other in 1964.
We regret to record the death at Accra, Ghana, on 12 March 1963, of LINDSAY VINTON BURNS, Regional Forestry Officer at FAO'S Regional Office for Africa.
Born in Jamaica in August 1917, Vinton Burns in due course took a forestry degree with honors at Oxford University, England. He was appointed to the field staff of FAO in 1951 on a forestry assignment in Haiti. In 1954 he was transferred to India (Assam) and then to Venezuela, where he served until posted to the Africa region.
He had nearly completed his tour of duty in Africa and was about to be transferred to FAO Headquarters in Rome, a transfer to which he was greatly looking forward and which offered enlarged prospects for his devotion to forestry and his fluent knowledge of languages. We extend every sympathy to his widow and family.
PETER J. VAKOMIES (Canada) has been appointed as Chief of the Forest Industries and Utilization Branch, one of the four technical branches of FAO'S Forestry and Forest Products Division. Born in Finland in 1920, Mr. Vakomies graduated in pulp and paper technology and wood chemistry from the Finnish Institute of Technology at Helsinki. After working in the Scandinavian pulp and paper industry for several years, he moved to North America and became a Canadian citizen. From 1959 until he joined FAO, he was a vice-president of Sandwell and Company Ltd., in charge of their European operations.
ITALY. On Arbor Day last March, 531 new forest guards joined the Italian Forestry Corps after formally subscribing to the oath, read by the officer-in-charge of the forest guards' school, and upon completion of a six-months' course of study. The Italian Forest Service consists of militarily organized civil servants, its technical staff being also entrusted with police duties mainly in regard to the observance of forestry laws. A bill passed recently by the Italian Parliament almost doubled the staff of the Italian Forestry Corps, whose strength is now 700 university-trained foresters, over 5,000 rangers and forest guards, and some 2,000 technicians and clerks: that is, one university graduate for less than 10,000 hectares of forest land, and one ranger or forest guard for each 1,000 hectares. In February 1963 DR. VITANTONIO PIZZIGALLO succeeded, as Director-General for Mountain Economy and Forestry, PROF. ALBERTO M. CAMAITI, who has reached the age limit after 36 years of service in the Italian Forestry Corps.
