Allo-Forêt
Choosing temperatures for seed germination
Testing fungicides
Canada: More forest expansion; concern over acid rain
A Chinese mountain village
New international mountain society
Bringing modern science into herbal medicine
The problem of combining electricity and forest development
A telephone information service set up by the Direction des forêts and the Office national des forêts in Paris gives guidance on forestry problems, information on French forests and careers in forestry, and other particulars in French, English and German. The system is proving a great success because it is fast and easy to use. To reach Allo-Forêt, Centre d'information et d'orientation, Paris, ring 551.61.71.
Peak germination of unstratified long-leaf, shortleaf, loblolly and slash pine seeds occurred at 75°F for all species, according to tests reported on by James P. Barnett in the Southern journal of applied forestry (3/1:13-14, 1979). When stratified, the same seeds germinated satisfactorily in a temperature range of 65º-85ºF.
Longleaf seeds germinated better at lower temperatures, and at temperatures of 95°F all species, under all conditions, showed lower germination. This information should be of direct use to nurserymen, who germinate container-grown seedlings in greenhouses.
Captan and Arasan proved to be the least toxic fungicides for protecting container-grown seedlings from damping off, according to research reported by William H. Pawk in "Tree Planting Notes" (30/1: 3-4, 1979). While seeds can be sterilized by soaking them in hydrogen peroxide, this does not protect them from reinfection during germination. The problem was to find a fungicide that would provide protection while not reducing germination.
Fifteen fungicides were tested on loblolly, slash, shortleaf and long-leaf pine seeds. While Captan and Arasan tested out best, a number of other fungicides - Demosan, Terraclor, Banrot and Truban - were effective for certain species under certain conditions. All of the nine other fungicides tested reduced germination for some species under certain conditions.
The intention of expanding forestry production and concern over acid rain were expressed by Canada at the 1981 meeting of the Soil Conservation Society of America held in Spokane, Washington. J. Blair Seaborn, Deputy Minister of Environment, said that Canada intends expanding the production of its forests by 50 percent over the next 20 years. He did not give details.
Mr. Seaborn said that an agreement is needed as soon as possible between Canada and the United States to deal with acid rain from industry that is damaging the environment of both countries. He estimated that more than half of the acid rain that falls in eastern Canada originates from industries located in the United States, while 15 to 20 percent of the acid rain problem that the United States has noted in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State comes from Canada. Oxides of sulphur and nitrogen emitted from coal-fired electricity-generating plants and from non-ferrous smelting industries are considered the major sources of these emissions. Acid rains are known to have a severe effect on fish production from lakes and a definite, but less well understood effect on coniferous forests.
Nestled in a valley of the Zhanggon Mountains, 1600 m above sea level, lies Baishiyuan village. It is situated in Wuyuan county, an area in northeastern Jiangxi province noted for its green tea. Set amid verdant fir trees and tall bamboos, the village centres around a clear stream crossed by the covered Fengyu bridge, which is a popular gathering place for the villagers. The people of Baishiyuan village reflect the changes taking place in countless other villages throughout China.
At the entrance to the village, a girl in braids is riding a water buffalo to take it up the mountain to graze. A robust-looking, similing boy comes along with a bamboo fish trap containing eight silver-scaled fish just taken from the stream where he had placed it the night before. Three elderly people out in the vegetable gardens of their private plots spread night soil amid high trellises where golden cucumber flowers are in full bloom.
On a path of the mountain two men appear carrying axes and rifles. The short one is Wu Quankai, 55, whose job is to protect the forests. The other, Wu Jiaxing, 57, is deputy leader of the forest brigade. It is the job of nine people in their brigade to patrol 3 400 hectares of mountain forest, including more than 2 000 hectares planted with fir trees and saplings and 1 200 hectares of bamboo. The brigade has sold a total of 74 000 m³ of logs to the State. It also takes every opportunity to educate the people about preserving the forests. If commune members want to build new houses or to make furniture, they may buy wood at a low price from the brigade.
Deadwood is gathered and divided among the villagers as firewood. At the spring festival, the brigade will give two kilograms of pork to each family without charge and then hold a meeting to warn that if someone dares to steal logs, he will be forced to kill his own pig and send one kilogram of pork to each family in the whole village and to make a self-criticism as well. Everyone is made aware how important it is to protect the forests.
Wu Jiaxing has come to the mountain to see how the work of felling the trees and transporting the logs is proceeding. Only two years ago, people had to carry the logs down the mountain. Now the logs, suspended from a 7-km cableway, slide down across the valley. This saves a tremendous amount of labour and increases efficiency by 16 times. Now the brigade can ship out 2 500 m³ of logs per year.
Outside the village the commune members are very busy stacking logs. People in the sawmill at the eastern edge of the village are busy, too. In the past no one bothered with the branches, even the large ones. Now the mill makes full use of these, processing and selling them for construction and furniture, for an income of 80 000 yuan each year.
Opposite the factory, under a maple tree, stands a bamboo shed, where eight men are busy slicing metre-long bamboo tubes into four pieces to fill an order from a construction unit. Older people who cannot go out to work stay at home making bamboo chopsticks, which they sell to the State. Other sidelines include the processing of mushrooms, edible fungus and fruit for edible oil.
A new highway passes in front of the tea-processing factory. More than 20 young people are working under the scorching sun to extend it westward into the mountains. It is a vital transport line. Formerly, large logs could be moved from the mountain only in summer when the stream was in spate, just a dozen days each year, so a large number of logs rotted on the mountain. Other local products had to be carried from the mountain on shoulder poles. But during the past two years the brigade, with help from the Government, has completed 10 km of the highway and purchased two trucks which carry logs out of the area.
In recent years, because of the development of a diversified economy, the average income per person has increased to 164 yuan, or 60 percent more than three years ago. But because of the scarcity of cultivated land, the villagers can produce enough grain to feed themselves for only three months of the year and for the rest have to depend on the State or buy grain at a higher price.
Resources in such remote mountain areas must be further tapped and fully utilized. As the population grows, more housing will be needed, and medical care and cultural life will have to be further improved. These problems will not be solved overnight, but much progress has been made.
Taken from "A day in a mountain village," by Chen Rinong, an article appearing in China Reconstructs, March, 1981.
To improve cooperation and communication between organizations and individuals involved in mountain research and policy, a new International Mountain Society has been established. It will publish a quarterly scientific journal, Mountain Research and Development, and try to encourage research and disseminate information. The magazine is being supported by the United Nations University and Unesco. For information and subscriptions write: International Mountain Society, P.O. Box 3148, Boulder, Colorado 80307, USA.
Modern science and technology began by rejecting most of the traditional knowledge and methodologies of less-developed nations. It was assumed that their techniques were primitive, that their customs were based largely on superstition and that their knowledge was limited where it was not outwardly incorrect or irrelevant.
Slowly this perspective has changed. Many of the traditional practices in developing nations in agriculture, chemistry, medicine and many other disciplines have been discovered to contain insights relevant to the modern scientific world. An example is the use of medicinal plants, once regarded by some as the product of superstition, but which has now gained new respect. New efforts are being directed toward using such plants in a manner consistent with modern science and technology.
In Asia, the most active country in this field is China. Ethnic Chinese of all educational, social and economic classes throughout southeast Asia show a marked aptitude for using herbal medicine. There is much to learn from the Chinese system of herbal medicine, which has achieved high standards by developing scientifically controlled methods of extraction and concentration keeping intact the active agents of the plant materials.
Other Asian countries such as India, Thailand and Bangladesh have also been making progress in bringing science and technology into traditional medicine and pharmacology. Thus it is appropriate that Asia has seen the beginning of a series of symposia on medicinal plants and spices, the fourth of which was held 15-19 September 1980 in Bangkok. It was attended by 362 delegates from 33 countries. The symposium consisted of two sessions, one dealing with inventories, production and processing technologies of wild plants and other higher-yield cultivated species, and the other concerned with specialized research in biochemistry and pharmacology.
The focus of the meeting was a statement made by the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) calling for a blend of modern and traditional medicine and pharmacology. UNIDO announced that it had developed a methodology for "economic mapping" of spontaneous medicinal flora which was first tested in Nepal. It has also developed cultivation technologies which it says are important for establishing and improving qualitative and quantitative requirements for each species to be further processed. The agency is already giving assistance in setting up extraction and processing units for medicinal plants as well as in conducting research for biochemical, pharmaco-dynamic and micro-biological control.
Some difficulties were illustrated by the situation in Thailand, where the traditional Thai pharmacy uses 500 plants, mostly wild, from at least 130 different botanical families. Of these 500 plants, at least 150 are not yet identified or analysed by modern Thai pharmaceutical research institutions. Administration of plants or herbs is not based on a one-to-one relationship between disease and cure. Diseases or ailments are classified in broad, general terms by symptoms; doctors will then prescribe the greatest possible variety of herbs. Experts believe that the therapeutic effect of these traditional drugs is mild and therefore would like to isolate the active ingredients in order to market more potent and effective varieties. The great problem lies in isolating the active ingredients among so many drugs.
One value in improving and disseminating information in this field is that the enhancement of an industry in medicinal plants could be a real asset in rural community development. Hong Kong, which has the largest herbal drug market in the world, imported $260 million worth of natural drugs in 1979. India has developed a prosperous medicinal plants industry worth $130 million annually, and phytochemical trade throughout Asia has increased five times over the past 10 years. Exports in particular are growing. As the acceptance of herbal medicine increases and as scientific advances are made, the whole industry could accelerate at an enormous rate. This would stand to benefit those rural communities which had developed the means to grow, gather and deliver the desired plants.
The symposium also touched on the subject of spices, which are important in several Asian countries for both production and export. International trade in spices amounted to an estimated $160 million in 1975. Ninety percent of this trade is attributable to just nine spices, all found in Asia: pepper, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, cassia, mace, nutmeg, pimento and cardamom. Of these, pepper is the most important. One country, India, accounts for one fourth of the world's spice trade.
In Asia spices are used in food flavouring, cosmetics, medicine, pharmacy, perfumery and several other industries. Although 70 different spices are found there, very little technical information about them is available.
ROBERT WAZEKA in Rome from a report by J. TURBANG in Bangkok
Despite the fact that Brazilian sawnwood exports account for less than 3 percent of the world's total trade in that product, and that less than 10 percent of Brazil's sawnwood production comes from its extensive Amazon reserves, the country is in a very favourable position with respect to tropical timber supply and trade. In addition to having one of the world's largest reforestation programmes (over 450 000 ha planted per year), its vast reserves of dense tropical forest in the Amazon (280 million ha) are virtually intact. A recently completed survey of forest removals using LANDSAT imagery interpretation and ground truth data confirms that less than 1.11 percent of this area or 3.12 million ha was cut over through 1978. The Brazilian Forestry Development Institute (IBDF) is now in a position to follow these cuttings through its satellite monitoring programme but will need more financial and human resources to carry out the job of controlling unwarranted removals. There is also concern over the fact that the rate of deforestation is increasing, since over 60 percent of the 3.12 million ha were cut between 1975 and 1978. Clearly, a rational forest policy and viable forest management alternatives need to be established for the Amazon. These are among IBDF's principal tasks for the 1980s and considerable progress has already been made.
In order to better plan and control development of the forestry sector for example, the IBDF is implementing a comprehensive data collection, analysis and dissemination system (SISF). In addition to the up-to-date trade statistics obtained from computer tapes of the Export Board of the Bank of Brazil and published in the FAO Forestry Department's Monthly Bulletin, the system will give precise data on Brazil's natural and planted forest resources. The SISF is being developed and implemented in stages and the Forestry Resources Information Sub-system is expected to be fully operational by late 1981.
Furthermore, in an effort to obtain alternative energy sources to replace imported petroleum, Brazil is developing the prodigious hydroelectric potential of the Amazon basin. This will inevitably involve the flooding of large areas of forest. To protect the turbines and safeguard navigation on the artificial lakes, these forests must be removed. This presents an excellent opportunity for Brazil to produce large volumes of high-quality timber for domestic and international markets without cutting into the permanent capital base of its Amazon forest resource. In other words, the Brazilian forest industry sector can concentrate its efforts on efficiently removing these forests condemned by hydro-electric projects (eventually totalling over one and a half million hectares) and leave the remaining Amazon forest resource for future development on a sustained yield basis.
The IBDF, in conjunction with FAO's Forestry Development Project and the forestry research programmes of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Enterprise (EMBRAPA), the National Amazon Research Institute (INPA), the Amazon Development Superintendency (SUDAM) and regional universities, is developing rational sustained yield management techniques for the Amazon forests. Using the wood production from the flooded areas as a kind of "safety valve", the IBDF will gain the time it needs to carry out this research and apply it in pilot projects. When the flooded area wood supplies are exhausted, Brazil will be in a position to produce tropical timber from its managed reserves without degrading or diminishing them. In this way the IBDF expects Brazil to become a leading world producer of tropical sawnwood and panel products on a sustained basis within the next two decades.
It is also expected that firewood, charcoal, wood alcohol and other chemicals will be produced from the considerable forest and forest industry residues which will be available in the Amazon. This will alleviate Brazil's dependence on imported petroleum and avoid pollution in the form of open burning or dumping of industrial wood residues. At the same time the utilization of non-commercial species for energy production will act as a management tool by cleaning the forest and assuring improved natural regeneration with a superior mix of valuable species.
The Tapajós National Forest in the Amazon state of Pará will be the pilot project area used for testing management techniques on an industrial scale in order to determine their ecological impact and socio-economic feasibility. A forest policy for the Amazon has also been developed and when its final version is approved and implemented, it will assure the economic development of the Amazon region through the rational development of its principal natural resource: its forests. Through the research and development efforts now under way, IBDF will prove that the forests of the Amazon are not an obstacle to its development but rather the best means to that development.
MAURO S. REIS President, Brazilian Forestry Development Institute
