Strengthening international forestry
Delegates meeting in Rome from 18 to 21 October 1983 for the Sixth Session of the FAO Committee on Forest Development in the Tropics (CFDT) agreed to propose to the Director-General a broadening of the mandate of the Committee, especially in the areas of information exchange and the coordination of international activity in tropical forestry. Delegates designated CFDT as the appropriate body to provide a continuing review of international activities and to increase cooperation and harmonization of programmes between FAO. UNEP Unesco and other members of the international forestry community.
The Committee also expressed concern about the decreasing share of money allocated for forestry in the FAO Regular Programme of Work and Budget and appealed to donor countries to increase assistance to tropical forestry through both multilateral and bilateral arrangements.
In view of its increased role in international forestry CFDT will now meet every two years instead of about once every three years as in the past. Founded in 1966 CFDT met previously in 1967, 1969, 1974, 1976 and 1980. The Committee will meet again in 1985 in a place yet to be determined. There is no increase contemplated in the number of member nations - at present 45. For the Sixth Session. Mauro Silva Reis (Brazil) was elected Chairman and Mohamed Darus (Malaysia) and Alphonse Rakotomanampison (Madagascar) were elected Vice-Chairmen.
The Committee made a number of other recommendations designed to broaden its mandate and to enhance international tropical forestry activity: (1) that the composition of the delegations reflect a broader range of socio-economic, scientific and environmental aspects of tropical forestry development; (2) that FAO continue to assist in the establishment of regional and interregional networks to support technical cooperation among developing tropical countries: (3) that national forest services intensify efforts to convince decision makers and the general public of the social, economic and environmental importance of tropical forest development; and (4) that high-priority issues be identified and described to provide the international donor community with a set of clearly defined development programmes.
AGROFORESTRY IN COSTA RICA: a multi-purpose path to development
The Committee also considered two substantive agenda items: (1) Forestry at the service of rural community development. with special reference to wood as a source of energy and to agro-silvo-pastoral systems: and (2) Improvement of the utilization and marketing of tropical timber. Under the first item. CFDT made four specific recommendations: (1) that more funding be allocated to assist research and training in this field in particular in countries where the choice of appropriate species was crucial and where agro-silvo-pastoral systems were being applied over large areas under widely varying soil and climatic conditions: (2) that particular attention be given to updating the training of forest extension workers to include the full range of agro-silvo-pastoral activities: (3) that governments pay more attention and direct more financial resources toward studying and overcoming the problems of populations living in and off tropical forests and that more effort be made at the local level to integrate forestry and agriculture for the purpose of conservation and of production of fuel, food and fibre: and (4) that ongoing initiatives by international organizations he used to stimulate research and action in the development of agro-silvo-pastoral systems at village level and also in watershed management for fuel-wood production.
The Committee also made two recommendations relating to improved utilization and marketing of tropical timber: (1) that FAO investigate new harvesting and processing technologies leading to a fuller utilization of tropical forests and disseminate this information: and (2) that FAO, in collaboration with interested governments and international organizations, pursue the collection and analysis of information on experiences and practices in forest products marketing and use this as a basis for the development of concepts and guidelines for marketing in rural development.
Reforestation centre dedicated in Thailand
On 11 November 1983 a new reforestation research and training centre known as the Sakaerat Field Station was officially dedicated at ceremonies in northeast Thailand presided over by the Prime Minister of Thailand, Prem Tinsulanond.
The station which was financed in part through grants and technical aid programmes of the Japanese Government will be operated by the Royal Forestry Department of Thailand. In remarks at the ceremony Royal Forestry Department Director-General Chamnong Pothisaro noted that the facility is part of a long-range programme to establish similar research and training centres throughout the country. with the ultimate goal of increasing forest cover in the country from the present 80 million rai (30 percent of the total area of Thailand) to 120 million rai.
The centre comprises training buildings, dormitories, laboratories. workshops and a nursery, all financed by Japanese aid, as well as additional buildings and support facilities constructed by the Government of Thailand.
AT AN APPLE NURSERY IN PAKISTAN: encouraging forestry for food
Specific targets of research and training at the field station will include nursery techniques, site classification, mechanization techniques, forest protection measures and agroforestry. The field station complements a Central Forest Research and Training Center already established in Bangkok.
Palm-oil for energy
Malaysia is planning a pilot plant for the conversion of palm-oil into diesel fuel. This fuel has burning qualities similar to those of traditional diesel fuels, as well as chemical stability and ignition properties. To use the palm-based diesel, vehicles need no engine modifications. Pollution and corrosion are reduced, without loss of power. In terms of cost, conversion is economically viable if crude palm stearin, which is cheaper than crude palm-oil, is used as the base material. The pilot plant now being planned will have an annual capacity of about 22000 barrels. Further expansion is planned after more feasibility studies.
Far Eastern Agriculture
May/June 1983
IUFRO and developing countries
In September 1981, John Spears of the World Bank and Marco Flores Rodas. Assistant Director-General for Forestry in FAO, proposed at the Seventeenth World Congress of the International Union of Forestry Research Organizations (IUFRO) an enlarged role for the Union, wherein forestry sciences would be brought to bear on problems in developing countries. As an outgrowth of their proposal, the Congress recommended:
· additional research to maximize forestry's contribution to rural development, energy production and conservation;· cooperation with the World Bank/FAO in accordance with suggestions by governments and international agencies:
· modification of IUFRO's structure to take full account of changing emphases in forestry;
· funding for forestry research in developing countries with emphasis on improving the capability of national institutions:
· alternative arrangements for supporting national research institutions.
A CLOSER LOOK AT PALM-OIL: now being converted into diesel fuel
In May 1982, at its first meeting after the Kyoto Congress, the Executive Board appointed a committee to explore possibilities for an enlarged role and to consult with potential national and international donor agencies. The committee was chaired by the Vice-President and included Paulo Galvao of Brazil, Riccardo Morandini of Italy Salleh Mohamed Nor of Malaysia. El Hadji Sene of Senegal and Jeffery Burley of the United Kingdom.
The committee recommended the employment of a special coordinator and a series of workshops that would mobilize existing scientific and technical information on significant forestry problems in developing regions and identify where additional research was needed.
Bob Buckman,
IUFRO News
Forestry investment conference
"Investment in Forestry - the Needs and Opportunities" will be the theme of the Twelfth Commonwealth Forestry Conference, which will be held in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, from
9 to 25 September 1985. The aim of the conference is to discuss what needs to be done to secure the many anti diverse social, economic and environmental benefits of well-planned forestry investment, using available land labour, skills and scientific knowledge.
Themes of the conference will be: (1) what investment is needed: (2) sources of finance and other resources: (3) making the best use of financial and other resources; and (4) the way ahead: Commonwealth cooperation.
For more information write to: R.N. Burgess. Secretary Office of the Standing Committee on Commonwealth Forestry, Forestry Commission, 231 Corstorphine Road, Edinburgh EH12 7AT Scotland, UK.
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Tropical renovation «One now frequently reads statements to the effect that so many hectares of tropical moist forest are annually "disturbed", "converted", "being eliminated", "irreparably damaged by shifting cultivation", or simply "disappearing". To this list must be added one of the most frequently quoted but most simplistic, misleading and damaging clichés of them all: that the tropical forest is a nonrenewable resource. The reality, of course, is very different. There is no evidence warranting the assumption that secondary forest, with protection, cannot advance ecologically to the species-richness of a primary forest. Indeed, what little evidence there is justifies the opposite assumption. Potsherds and other evidence of previous human occupation have been found in the tropics under what was assumed to be primary forest. Furthermore, any forester working in the tropics knows of the quite extraordinary recuperative powers of tropical moist-forest ecosystems. In most instances the interaction of man and forest ecosystems in the tropics, except in the drier zones close to large cities, does not result in the complete elimination of forests, woodlands and trees. As in the temperate regions of the world in the past and currently, the interaction is much more complex, and the results range from the development of stable management regimes for a diversity of forests and forest products to the conversion of forest land to other uses. Is there anyone who claims that the vestigial secondary forests of Western Europe, and the logged-over, species-rich hardwood forests of the northeastern United States - now vigorously regenerating and colonizing abandoned farmland - have no conservation value?» Laurence Roche Forest Ecology and Management |
The only International forestry magazine: Unasylva
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Establishing PULP & PAPER MILLS
A guide for developing countries
Useful articles on the specific features and different stages of establishing a new pulp and paper industry in a developing country plus a summary report of discussions on the topic by the FAO Advisory Committee on Pulp and Paper.
An FAO publication
Reasons for building plants · Feasibility studies
Project implementation · Operation and marketing
Social integration
Construction and contracting · Appropriate technology · Used-paper machines · Technical auditing
Financing · Cost reductions
Protection · Free trade · Infant industries
FAO FORESTRY PAPER 45 (1983)
(Available only in English)
