"I am greatly interested in the problems of forestry and attach great importance to conservation of forests. To people in the East, as indeed in the whole world, the numerous problems of forestry hold out a great challenge. It must be met if the world is to be made a better place to live in. Fundamentally, the problems are the same in all countries, and I am sure that the coming Forestry and Timber Utilization Conference for Asia and the Far East will not only provide the means of pooling the world's knowledge and experience of forestry, but will also, by bringing together the foresters of the countries of the East, strengthen the brotherhood of forestry and the bonds of friendship which already exist among the nations participating.
"I send my best wishes for the success of the conference."
- JAWAHARLAL NEHRU
Prime Minister of India
THE first step of a practical attack on the great problems of the development of forest resources and possibilities of the woodworking industries of Asia and the Pacific must be a stock-taking of the situation and a definition of the main problems that will have to be overcome. This is the objective of the Forestry and Timber Utilization Conference for Asia and the Pacific which FAO is convening and which the Government of India has kindly agreed to hold at Mysore, starting 28 March 1949.
The Annual FAO Conference at Washington in 1948 recommended the convening of the Forestry and Timber Utilization Conference for Asia and the Pacific. This Conference will make recommendations and set up the machinery required to carry them out. In arranging the Conference FAO has at all times been in close touch with the Economic Commission of the United Nations for Asia and the Far East.
In view of this Conference, the present issue of UNASLVA has endeavored to give a summary picture of the Forestry and Forest Products situation in the region as far as this was possible with the help of the countries concerned and of the data at FAO's disposal. The picture is obviously incomplete and perhaps the emphasis on various factors is not properly distributed - but that is the purpose of this Conference, to provide a complete and true picture on which to base future work.
