FAO forestry paper on natural forest management America
The future for timber in North America
Understanding armillaria
Shifting cultivators
Amenagement et conservation des forêts denses en Amérique tropicale. H.F. Maitre, D. Laurent, C. Fargeot, V. Favrichon & A. Coic, eds. 1992. FAO Forestry Paper. Rome, FAO.
Amenagement et conservation des forêts denses en Amérique tropicale.
Over the past several years, the Forest Resources Division of the FAO Forestry Department has produced a series of regional studies on the management of humid tropical forests. The current volume, covering Latin America and the Caribbean, complements Forestry Papers Nos 88 and 89 which deal, respectively, with Africa and Asia.
This study is based on national reports, prepared specifically for the book, as well as on previously existing project reports and other documents. Data and analyses are presented under the following headings: Area and type of forest; Forest policy, legislation and administration; State of the resource (inventory and deforestation); Economic factors and wood utilization; Research; Forest management projects and programmes; and Conclusions. Each of the headings includes a detailed bibliography.
Under each of the broad headings, country information is organized into subregional groupings. The first subgroup includes Mexico, Central America and Belize, a relatively homogeneous area in terms of natural forest formation. The second group includes the forests of Suriname and French Guyana which, for their size and particular formation, are an exception to the rest of Latin America.
The third and by far the largest group includes the countries of South America whose territories cover the Amazonian forest ecosystem: Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela.
In addition, the study includes six case-studies of natural forest management efforts: the Celos management system in Suriname; forest management research in the Brazilian Amazon; French Guyana; two studies in Peru; and one study in Mexico.
This work should serve as a reference benchmark for all those, foresters and non foresters, concerned with natural forest management and should help to increase understanding of the complexities of this subject as it is related to Latin America.
Keepers of the forest
Keepers of the forest land management alternatives in Southeast Asia. M. Pofftenberger. 1990. West Hartford. CT, USA, Kumarian Press.
"Deforestation can be slowed, even reversed, given the political will and the daring to break with nineteenth century management tradition," says M. Poffenberger in the introduction to this densely packed and interesting book. A major thesis, which the following chapters develop, is that conflicts between state land management policies and locally operating forest-use systems is a major cause of forest land mismanagement throughout Southeast Asia.
Following are three sections based on information from Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. The first section carefully documents the evolution of forest management since the mid-seventeenth century in Java, the pre-colonial area in the Philippines and since 1900 in Thailand. The second shifts to tools and techniques for participatory management of forest areas, while the third gives examples of forestry activities being implemented in the three countries to increase local participation in and benefits derived from the management of forest areas. Much of the philosophy behind the approaches of the second and third sections derives from the programme carried out in the region over the last 20 years by forestry agencies, universities and NGOs, with leadership and funding provided by the Ford Foundation. Some of the most knowledgeable foresters and scientists working in forestry in Southeast Asia have contributed to this book's examination of forest management crises and the need for a bureaucratic reorientation to tackle the problem of disappearing forests.
Even being familiar with the history of these countries, the authors find the rapid and erratic changes in policies relating to forest and land tenure documented in the first historical section to be disconcerting. They argue that radical changes in tenure rights, in some circumstances, and lack of clarity over ownership of tree and forest products, in others, are key factors to understanding the speed with which Southeast Asian forests have been depleted.
Part two presents the tools and techniques for participatory management used in the same three countries. The introduction sets the stage by examining the crucial aspects of institutional change, the use of working groups made up of foresters and members of other agencies and institutions, (often social and other scientists from local universities) and representatives of the Ford Foundation. The major idea is to use mapping and other diagnostic tools to provide information for understanding the local situation. Based on this understanding, within the bounds of the political environment, pilot activities are designed and implemented to introduce such changes as differing tenure and agroforestry approaches and appropriately designed activities. The goal is to establish areas which benefit both agencies and local people in such a way that the forests are managed in a sound manner.
Part three, Empowering communities through social forestry, gives case examples of pilot activities in which the working groups and agents of change have helped to negotiate modifications in bureaucratic structures and have fostered collaboration between rural communities and agencies involved in forest management.
Although it does not provide simple solutions, the book illustrates an approach that is beginning to show promise of addressing some deep-seated problems. The authors suggest that if a planning group representing the various interests receives a continuous supply of locally relevant information, it will help break the cycle of increasing conflicts and rampant and unplanned tree harvesting. They show conclusively that "solutions" dealing with the technology of management without attempting to understand the history of an area or the depth of mistrust and conflict among its people are bound to produce little lasting change in forest management.
M. Hoskins
Timber trends and prospect for North America. ECE/TIM/53. 1990. New York, UN. Price: US$ 32.00.
Given the long planning horizons involved in forestry and the strategic importance of timber resources, over the years in many areas of the world there has been continual concern about the adequacy of forest resources to meet anticipated future demands. In Europe, this concern has been reflected in a series of studies commissioned by the Timber Committee of the UN Economic Commission for Europe and FAO.
The present study, undertaken jointly by the United States Forest Service and Forestry Canada (the two countries' respective national forestry agencies), assesses the prospects for timber supply and demand in North America up to the year 2005. The text begins with a discussion of the North American forest resource in terms of its size, location and ownership distribution by area and volume. The following sections discuss the trends and prospects for raw material supply and forest product demand. They encompass a look both at past history and at the potential future. The implications of the forecast forest product demand for timber is then investigated. This involves an analysis of technological trends and other patterns observed in recycling and by-product usage which may substantially influence product yields per unit of timber input.
Copies of the report may be purchased from the UN in New York or Geneva, or through UN sales agents.
Armillaria root disease. Agriculture Handbook 691. C.G. Shaw III & G.A. Kile, eds. 1991. Washington, D.C., USDA Forest Service.
The fungi of the genus Armillaria occur worldwide. They infect the root systems of many species of woody plants that are of importance in agriculture and forestry. In addition to being economic pests of considerable importance, they are interesting because they possess a number of unique attributes including bioluminescence, multiple morphological forms and in vitro fructification.
Although the genus Armillaria has been studied for over a century, the present knowledge base is confusing. For example, it is only recently that mycologists have accepted the fact that it comprises a number of species with distinct geographic ranges and pathogenicities. Therefore, this comprehensive publication fills an important need.
As the editors point out in the preface, the objective of this work is to provide a synthesis of the state of knowledge of Armillaria spp. It covers the taxonomy, biology and physiology and also reviews resource impacts, dynamics and management of root diseases caused by this group of fungi. Coverage is global and there are numerous references to Armillaria spp. in Africa, Asia, the Pacific and South America in addition to North America and Europe where this group of fungi has been studied most intensively.
The book is divided into eleven individually authored chapters. The authorship reflects the worldwide scope of this publication and includes contributions from experts in Australia, Canada, England, Finland, France, Germany, New Zealand, Scotland and the United States. The chapters cover a wide range of material and are entitled: Nomenclature, taxonomy and identification; Life cycle, infertility and biological species; Ontogeny and physiology; Inoculum and infection; Infection, disease development, diagnosis and detection; Pathogenicity and virulence; Host stress and susceptibility; Ecology and disease in natural forests;
Armillaria in planted hosts; Modelling the dynamics, behaviour and impacts of armillaria root disease; and Avoiding and reducing losses from armillaria root disease.
Each chapter is written in a readable, narrative style, accompanied by graphics, tables and black and white and colour photos of excellent quality. Also included is a long list of literature citations and scientific and common names of most of the plants referred to in the text. Biographical sketches of each of the authors are also included.
This work is unique in its coverage of an important group of agents causing root disease in a wide range of woody plants. The worldwide coverage, breadth of information and exhaustive list of literature citations should make it a standard reference for forest pathologists, pest management specialists and foresters.
W.M. Ciesla
Shifting cultivators: and natural resource management in the humid tropics. Warner, K. 1991. FAO Community Forestry Note No. 8. Rome, FAO.
In this FAO Forestry Department concept paper, anthropologist Katherine Warner has put together a strong case that blaming shifting cultivators or "Integral swiddeners" (as she prefers to call them) for the deforestation of the humid tropics is misdirected. "Shifting cultivation," she states, "is a complex agricultural system that is well-adapted, under certain conditions, to the environmental limitations of the tropics. It is not primitive, nor necessarily destructive. It requires in-depth knowledge of the tropical environment and a high degree of managerial skill to succeed." The bulk of her study then proceeds to analyse what Southeast Asian, African, and Amazon basin shifting cultivators know and how they manage their environment adaptively and sustainably, even though contemporary tropical agricultural development projects in the same areas routinely fail.
The technology and "local knowledge" of the shifting cultivator is both broad and complex. The farmers stagger, interplant and diversify their planting of crops; they selectively weed, coppice and "manipulate" tree growth; they reap a wide array of forest products; and they supplement their diet with forest game and fish. Warner demonstrates that the traditional forest-fallow farming system, because of the method, scale and temporariness of clearing, is non-destructive arid, "in many instances, ...actively [aids] in the re-establishment of the forest". Burning, which is an integral pan of shifting cultivation, is both essential and generally beneficial, she argues. The swidden farmer, whose few hectares of clearing represent "only a temporary intervention in the forest ecosystem", emerges as a knowledgeable user and manager of forests, trees and soils, and the forest-fallow system is presented as both a benign and significant pan of the larger ecosystem.
Warner concludes with policy implications arising from the sustainability and success of shifting cultivations. Her 28-page bibliography attests to both the exhaustiveness of her survey and to the amount of serious research that has been done on shifting cultivation since the seminal studies of Boserup and Allan on agricultural change and African forest-fallow systems, respectively, in the 1960s.
Two points remain to be addressed. The first is who is to be "blamed" for large-scale deforestation if not those representing commercial interests and if not the "integral swiddener"? it is not in the scope of Warner's study to deal with the extractive commercial industries but, among small-scale farmers, it is the recent "dislocated migrants" or "pioneer swiddeners", drawn to the land but lacking generations of local knowledge, whom the author blames as the "culprits" (but no doubt recognizes as the victims).
The second basic question concerns the future for shifting cultivation. Given increases in population densities and cumulative pressures on the resource base of the tropical forests, traditional shifting cultivators in many areas have already been forced to shorten the fallow and extend the periods of cultivation. While there is much to learn from the shifting cultivator, and there is ample evidence that it would be short-sighted for governments to attempt to phase out shifting cultivation without providing local people with sustainable and economically viable alternatives, Warner acknowledges that integral swidden "cannot serve as a model for the future of tropics".
G.L. Thomas
