Forest fire policies
FAO Meeting on Public Policies Affecting Forest Fires.
1999. FAO Forestry Paper No. 138. Rome, FAO. ISBN 92-5-104289-6.
Wildfires had significant impacts on people, property and forests throughout the world during the widespread drought associated with the 1998 El Niño episode. These fires killed many people; caused severe health problems from air pollution in Indonesia, Malaysia, Central America, Mexico and the United States; disrupted air and sea navigation: damaged rain forests in Brazil and Mexico; and caused the evacuation of thousands of people from their homes. Slash and burn agricultural practices, land clearing, severe drought and unnatural accumulations of forest fuels all served to produce fires of disastrous proportions. Even countries possessing advanced fire management technologies were not able to cope with the severity of the situation until weather conditions moderated.
FAO Meeting on Public Policies Affecting Forest Fires
Recognizing that nearly all the countries of the world, encompassing all stages of economic development, are suffering the environmental, social and economic consequences of damaging wildfires, FAO convened a conference in Rome, Italy, from 28 to 30 October 1998 to identify, analyse and discuss public policies that affect forest fires. Seventy-one participants from 39 countries and 13 international organizations, including the private sector and NGOs, reviewed public policy implications that were presented in five regional papers. Following this review of the global fire situation, five regional working groups produced recommendations on planning and policies for fire prevention, suppression, use, mitigation and rehabilitation measures. These recommendations and suggested actions to be taken by countries were presented to the forestry ministers when they met in Rome in March 1999.
The important challenge to policy-makers in establishing sustainable forest and land use management practices lies in reconciling the positive roles of fire as a beneficial servant to humankind with the negative effects of fire when it becomes a bad master. Unfortunately, the present policy situation related to forest fires is generally a reactive one where governments respond to wildfires following a serious outbreak of problems. The more productive policy model would be a proactive one where governments provide a wide range of mitigation strategies before emergencies arise.
Policy-makers and the general public need to understand that a strategy that only focuses on the emergency preparedness and response side will not be sufficient in the long run. Only when sustainable land use practices and emergency preparedness measures complement each other do long-term benefits accrue for society.
This publication is presented in two parts. Part I contains the regional papers analysing the main socio-political causes of forest fires and the measures adopted to prevent and reduce their impacts; it provides the focus for the exchange of information and ideas among the participants and presents the main conclusions and recommendations of the meeting. Part II brings together the papers and contributions provided by meeting participants.
Economic and environmental impacts of forest roads
Road infrastructures in tropical forests: mad to development or road to destruction?
1999, Rome, FAO and the International Technical Tropical Timber Association (ITTTA/ATIBT).
This publication was initiated by the International Technical Tropical Timber Association (ITTTA) in November 1997 to assemble opinions, ideas and proposals from representatives of various concerned parties: political decision-makers, scientists, professionals and ecologists. The objective of the publication is to draw readers' attention to the role of forest roads and their importance in the social and economic development of tropical countries, and to the danger that forest roads can present for the environmentally sound management of forest ecosystems.
Road infrastructures in tropical forests: mad to development or road to destruction?
It appears that forest roads have economic advantages but endanger the environment. On the one hand, they are necessary for forest access and for the transport of wood and non-wood products to national and international markets. From this point of view, they contribute to national incomes and to the development of tropical countries in general. On the other hand, they appear to facilitate agriculture and hunting by opening up the forests - and hence lead indirectly to deforestation and the destruction of wildlife. Thus, forest road networks have both positive and negative impacts. What should be done about it?
Given the developing countries' need for development, the contributors to this publication generally conclude that forest roads are in some way a "necessary evil": forestry activities should not be stopped, but everything should be done to minimize the direct, and especially the indirect, environmental risks. Of course, it is the foresters who are being called on to take the necessary care in the construction of road infrastructures. But this is by no means enough. The general political environment has to be made favourable and protective to regional development and especially to forest management.
Governments should therefore be attentive in the design of their land use plans, working closely with the representatives of the different stakeholders involved. They should base land use plans on correctly conducted environmental impact studies, economic evaluations and socio-economic studies. Foresters and farmers must be presented with an appropriate set of incentives (legal and economic) to encourage them to respect the land use plans. This means that the various stakeholders should reach an agreement before the final plans are drawn up and implemented.
The destructive elements of road construction in tropical forests could be reduced considerably by applying an integrated road planning approach and advanced design and construction techniques.
This publication is useful for all those who are interested in environmentally sound forest harvesting and engineering, which is a precondition of sustainable forest management.
Log auction systems
Guidelines for the strengthening and establishment of log auction systems.
K. Hagenberg. 1999. Rome, FAO.
Sustainable forestry aims at the conservation, management and utilization of forest resources through recognition of the ecological, social and productive roles of forests. Increasing attention is therefore given to the active involvement of people in the comprehensive and ecologically sound management and utilization of the forest resources, which also includes the sharing of benefits among the participants, in a balanced way.
Guidelines for the strengthening and establishment of log auction systems.
The number of people involved in primary forestry operations is increasing because of the encouragement of local community involvement, especially in developing countries. In countries in transition to a market economy, reforms are resulting in an increase in the number of forest owners. Individual owners or owner groups often have relatively small forest holdings and may have only limited quantities of wood for sale at any one time. They could therefore benefit from joint action to strengthen their position as sellers of wood.
One of the means of securing sustainable utilization of forest resources and maximizing and sharing the benefits is to ensure that the harvested products will be directed to the most rewarding and pertinent end uses in an efficient way. Appropriate marketing is vital to achieving this goal. Most wood from the forests is marketed to processing industries, which convert it into various semi-processed goods. One of the common methods of marketing wood from the forests is through auction, either of standing trees or of already-harvested logs.
Guidelines for the strengthening and establishment of log auction systems has been prepared by FAO's Forest Products Marketing Programme to assist forestry sector operators in improving the marketing of wood from the forest to the primary processing industries.
The information in this document is expected to be of assistance in the development of log auction systems to serve the needs of forest owners and thus contribute to the sustainable utilization of forest resources.
The unique policy environments of many important forest economies in the developed world
Forest policy: international case studies.
B. Wilson, G. Cornelius van Kooten, I. Vertinsky and L. Arthur. 1998. Wallingford, UK, CABI Publishing. ISBN 0-85199-309-5.
Forest policy involves a complex balance of governmental, social and industrial objectives in an environment in which the forests and institutions are also constantly changing. Across the various forestry jurisdictions, a wide variety of policy models have evolved in response to specific societal demands, institutional structures and forest environments.
This book examines forest policy in a selection of major forestry jurisdictions, primarily the major competitors in world softwood markets. These include the United States, British Columbia and Alberta in Canada, New Zealand, Sweden, Finland, Chile and the Russian Federation. These jurisdictions represent systems comprising natural forests, plantation forests, initial forest endowments, second- and third-generation forests, public forest landownership, private forest landownership, open markets, highly structured markets and various responses to sustainability. For each jurisdiction, a brief overview of the economy, the contribution of forestry, the resource base, the composition of the forest industry and the major stakeholders is provided.
The policy discussions cover forest management, timber pricing and export policy, environmental standards, landownership and use and the institutional setting in regard to government agencies, taxation, labour and capital. The authors comment on the evolution of the existing policy structure, and each case study concludes with an evaluation and prognosis for the jurisdiction.
The book will serve as a valuable reference for forestry practitioners, students of forestry and political economy and industrial decision-makers seeking to position their business in global forestry.
Deforestation in Viet Nam: causes and recommendations
Deforestation in Viet Nam.
R. de Koninck. 1999. Ottawa, IDRC. ISBN 0-88936-869-4.
Deforestation has been taking place in Viet Nam at very rapid rates in recent times. Forest cover was reduced from 43 percent of the country's territory in the 1940s to 20 percent or less in the 1990s. Many Vietnamese government authorities and researchers have blamed the agricultural practices of ethnic minorities for the problem, although its causes are very complex: wars, high population growth and densities, frontier settlers' increasing need for fuelwood, legal and illegal logging activities, the country's need for export revenues and agricultural expansion have all contributed to high rates of deforestation in Viet Nam. Researchers, according to the author, should aim to identify the mechanisms linking these causes and their specific impacts in order to obtain a better understanding of the deforestation process.
Because of difficulties associated with obtaining reliable data countrywide, the research was limited to two provinces: Tuyen Quang in the north and Lam Dong in the south. Nevertheless, it could be argued that the processes documented in these two provinces are representative of the country as a whole and therefore the study's results can be used to inform policy-makers at the national and regional levels.
The researchers' main hypothesis was that agricultural expansion was the central instrument of deforestation in Viet Nam. To test the hypothesis, diachronic measurements of changes in forest cover and instrumental factors affecting such changes had to be used. Among the elements that needed to be measured overtime and space were: land use, population distribution, transport infrastructures, forestry activities and biodiversity. Mapping was central to the researchers' approach, and the book contains a number of maps and charts showing changes in the distribution of forest types and land uses during the latter part of this century. In the two chapters dealing specifically with the results from the two provinces studied, the validity of the central hypothesis is demonstrated. The conclusion is that, in the two provinces studied, agricultural expansion by the Kihn (the dominant cultural group) - and not shifting cultivation as practised by ethnic minorities - is the instrumental cause of deforestation.
The book concludes with some recommendations. It is argued that the management of the forest heritage is an issue that must be dealt with at the local, national and regional levels, and that cooperation and coordination among institutions and nations are necessary, as logging activity and agricultural expansion are influenced by world markets and global economic processes. Emphasis is placed on the need for the Vietnamese government to re-examine its policies regarding agricultural expansion as well as commercial forest exploitation.
Finally, the author states that to address better the problem of deforestation, studies and analyses should be undertaken in the following areas:
· local people's knowledge and use of forest resources and biodiversity;
· degradation of forest areas attributed to settlers;
· ethnic minorities' nibbling at the forest;
· requirements for and uses of energy by both settlers and ethnic minorities;
· commercial exploitation of forest resources;
· forest protection policies (including the establishment of national parks);
· reforestation programmes;
· agricultural expansion policies.
An interactive guide to the major woody species of the world
The forestry compendium: a silvicultural reference, Module 1.
1998. Wallingford, UK, CAB International.
This multimedia CD-ROM is the first part of a Global Forestry Compendium that will provide detailed information on the major woody species of the world through a fully relational database framework and links to the Internet. It will also include an interactive guide to choice of species for different sites, management objectives and end products. The forestry compendium - a silvicultural reference, Module 1, contains:
· detailed information on more than 600 major tropical and subtropical tree species;· an interactive advisory system to aid decision-making on choice of species;
· bibliographic information with 25 000 abstracts;
· the TREENAMES database, with taxonometric details for more than 20 000 woody species of interest to those concerned with forestry in tropical and temperate regions worldwide;
· global and regional maps showing natural and planted distribution, climate zones and soil types;
· illustrations, including colour images and line drawings;
· a multilingual glossary of forestry terms;
· The International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) Tree seed supplier's directory;
· a taxonometric database of forest pests;
· basic data on countries, including FAOSTAT statistics on land use and forest products trade;
· full text of selected FAO and Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) documents.
A self-running guided tour of The forestry compendium can be downloaded from the Internet (http://tree.cabweb.org/efctext.htm).
CAB International enlisted the contributions of more than 100 specialists worldwide in authoring and validating data sheets and providing illustrations. Organizations that provided technical support and information include the Tropical Agriculture Research and Higher Education Centre (CATIE), the International Cooperation Centre on Agrarian Research for Development (CIRAD), the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), FAO, the Society of American Foresters (SAF), the World Bank and the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL).
Designed in accordance with responses to a comprehensive worldwide user needs survey, The forestry compendium will serve as a key resource for forest managers and officers, researchers, forest planners, policy-makers, conservationists, consultants, teachers, lecturers, students and extension workers.
