New film: Trees of hope
The Communication Division of Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC) has produced a new 18-minute film in colour, entitled Trees of hope, that highlights the interlinked crises of deforestation and fuelwood scarcity in Africa.
Shot in the Niger, Mali, Senegal and Nigeria, the film analyses various solutions such as shifting to solar energy and improving traditional stoves. Reforestation is emphasized through the example of a village wood-lot project in the Niger where foresters have learned to become rural development workers instead of mere wardens. It documents how rural people are taught to plant their own trees to produce firewood and construction materials.
English and French versions of the 16-mm film may be borrowed or purchased. Videocassettes may be purchased in NTSC, PAL or SECAM signal systems for U-matic, VHS or Betamax formats. For more information write to IDRC, Communications Division, PO Box 8500, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Eucalypt energy on Easter Island
Easter Island is better known for its archaeological wealth than for the abundance of its forest resources, which until recently consisted of little more than scattered clumps of eucalyptus. However, a Chilean government plantation project to be implemented shortly will put the island on the path of industrial fuelwood production.
According to the February 1985 issue of Chile Forestal, current annual electricity requirements on the island stand at 2 300 MW/yr, produced entirely by diesel generators consuming 700 000 litres of fuel annually. Assuming consumption increases at an annual rate of 3 percent, requirements will reach 3 million kW/yr by 1993.
Because fuel costs will then be so high, the Easter Island Board for Agriculture and Services, in collaboration with the Forestry Institute and the National Electricity Company, has been looking for new energy sources to replace oil. The choice settled on gasification of eucalyptus wood. A Forestry Institute study into existing resources of Eucalyptus globulus has confirmed that supplies are sufficient for an immediate switch to be made from oil to wood. Gasification project managers state that for the first ten years only the Vaitea forests will be exploited. Meanwhile, existing stands will be regenerated with a view to constituting a raw-material reserve for energy production, including a nursery with a production capacity of 100 000 seedlings a year.
A TREE OF HOPE eucalyptus taking root in Senegal (JOHN ISSAC/UN 153466)
The Chilean Government hopes that not only will large savings result but the island's renewable natural resources will also increase significantly.
At the edge of the forest
"A theatre where opposing interests clashed: the landowners desirous of asserting their title to the forest pitted against local communities firmly attached to their traditional user rights." In these terms J.P. Husson defines the "forest edge" in his article "The forest edge in the eighteenth century: the case of Lorraine" (Revue forestière française, no. 5, 1984).
The article highlights how fragile these areas were with their often total lack of demarcation, vaguely defined legal status and uncertain ownership. Coveted and vulnerable, the forest edge has been constantly degraded; hence its "puny appearance" and degraded vegetation. In Lorraine as elsewhere, the forest edge was always the first area to be harmed by livestock. As it adjoined farmland which was already in short supply, it was also badly cared for and overexploited by the peasants.
The forest edge also came under attack from consumers of wood, in particular the large wood-burning factories using the simple coppice system.
Peasants went there to look, for leaves, branches, moss and humus to enrich their fields. The poor went there also, to fetch wood for heating and baking bread.
As a result, forest-edge soils became fragile, eroded and, to judge by contemporary descriptions, sandy and leached as well. They formed an arena where "nothing but heather and juniper grows".
The author's conclusion is that this description of the forest edge in the eighteenth century is a reasonably accurate reflection of the main problems still faced by a still largely rural society.
Desertification in Mali
Historians describe Mali as a land of history and culture, of myth and legend. However, it has long been an important trade centre as well, with thriving markets where the paths of caravans carrying gold, iron and cola from the north and salt from the south would converge.
During the last decade, however, Mali, like its neighbours in the Sahel, has been struck by a series of dramatic ecological disasters. Some of the specific factors contributing to this crisis are examined by G. Jean, Mali's Special Adviser to the Director-General for Water and Forests, in his article "Drought and desertification in Mali: current situation and outlook" (Revue forestière française, no. 2, 1985).
Mali has had to cope not just with the problems common to all Sahelian countries but also with ones peculiar to its own geography. The Sahel is an area of nomadic herders, among whom can be counted a large proportion of Mali's population. Because of the drought's effect on surface water resources, the number of traditional watering holes has fallen sharply and cattle have tended to concentrate around those remaining, often exhausting the surrounding grazing land in, the process. Consequently, around each important pool there may be a band of desert extending up to 25 km in all directions.
Yet until recently, the Sahel was Mali's one real source of wealth -its safety valve - since the River Niger not merely traverses the area but forms a vast inland delta branching out into thousands of channels, or forming huge lakes which wash over the fertile arable and rich pasture land (bourgoutières). This is the zone to which the transhumant livestock retreats during the dry season and also where the largest rice fields are to be found.
The present situation is the result of the coordination of three factors: the bitter struggle between herders and farmers; the alarming drop in the floodwater level in the delta over the last 15 years which has led to the disappearance of the bourgoutières and the desiccation of thorn forests; and the ever-increasing size of livestock concentrations.
WORKER IN THE FAYA FOREST fighting desertification in Mali (F. MATTIOLI/PAM)
As a result, the delta region, which has the potential to he the richest and most populous area of Mali, is being subjected to accelerating degradation, while the sand that is invading the towns and villages and silting up the lakes and channels threatens to block the River Niger completely.
Fay Banoun, Rome
Dying forests and air pollution
Scientists and nature conservationists from the industrialized countries of Europe, meeting in Strasbourg on 8 and 9 June 1985 at the second International Conference on Action to Combat the Dying-off of Forests and Atmospheric Pollution, announced the creation of an international tribunal for monitoring air quality.
In a concluding "Strasbourg Declaration", the Conference called for urgent action, including the compilation of an international directory of forest damage: a complete assessment - including impacts on national economies - of damage from atmospheric pollution; national and international information campaigns; the introduction of an anti-pollution tax covering as many emission sources as possible, and the adoption of rules to reduce pollution from power stations and industrial plants at the operator's own expense; and the promotion of clean and cheap means of transport and sensible and efficient use of energy.
Those wishing for more information may write to the Association federative régionale pour la protection de la nature, 7 rue des Balayeurs, 67000 Strasbourg.
Cooperative action on Mediterranean forests
At the end of 1978, the European Economic Community decided to finance an ambitious five-year programme for reconstituting and improving Mediterranean forests, specifically in Italy and France. The objectives were to assist Mediterranean agriculture by reducing soil and climatic constraints caused by erosion, summer drought, forest fires, and unreliable water flows. The first steps were taken in 1980, the final stages, begun in 1984, will be completed by 1989 at the latest.
It was within the context of this common action that the second series of meetings organized by Forêt Mediterranéenne on developing the Mediterranean forest heritage took place at Avignon in June 1984. Besides France and Italy, participants included Spain, Algeria, Morocco and Turkey. A special December 1984 number of Forêt Mediterranéenne was devoted to the event.
A forthcoming issue of Unasylva will carry a report on the 17th Session of Silva Mediterranea - the Joint Committee on Mediterranean questions of the African, European and Near East Forestry Commissions - which met from 2 to 6 December 1985 at La Grande Motte near Montpellier, France. The meeting explored new ways of cooperation among Mediterranean countries on forestry research and development.
