Impressions During an Extended Tour of Forested Regions in Asia and the Pacific by an Officer of the Division of Forestry and Forest Products
ONE of the outstanding impressions gained from traveling through Asia and Oceania is the strong contrast between those countries with millions of people who are in critical need of lumber, fuelwood, and other forest products, and countries with large undeveloped stands of virgin timber. There is a further contrast between nations where past and continued interest on the part of government officials has resulted in building up strong forest services, research institutes, and forestry schools, and other countries where similar development must await awakened governmental interest.
Again, the contrast is very marked between countries with temporarily unsettled political situations and those where relative quiet prevails. In the former, little attention and a meager proportion of the national budget is being expended for agricultural and forestry activities, with resultant low production in logs and saw timber; in those countries where comparatively peaceful conditions exist, rapid progress is being made in increased logging and sawing, new construction in plywood and pulp and paper industries.
Outstanding features of the situation in Asia are the existence of a large fund of experience on the part of forestry technicians in the administration of public lands, in forest products and silvicultural research, in water conservation and erosion control; and the willingness of technicians to lend a hand to their fellow foresters in other countries where facilities along these lines leave much room for improvement. It was most encouraging to see the very considerable progress in repair of war-damaged cities. One of the principal factors retarding even greater progress is the lack of building materials - mainly lumber and plywood - which a little planning and capital investment could supply without too much difficulty from resources within the region.
Above all, there is great eagerness on the part of foresters and people for new ideas, for exchange of information, and for progress toward a greater degree of self-sufficiency in wood. They all want greater production and trade in lumber and other forest products.
In an atmosphere of differing degrees of experience, rates of development, and willingness on the part of technicians to co-operate, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, working with other international organizations and with the governments of Asia and the Pacific, has an excellent opportunity through the forthcoming Conference on Forestry and Timber Utilization to help the nations solve their problems. These include forest, soil, and water conservation, organization of forest services, research and education, and all phases of timber utilization and distribution. There is, especially, a great need for expanding international trade in many forest products.
Forest Situation in Asia and the Pacific
These are the principal impressions of an Officer of the Division of Forestry Forest Products on a tour of Pakistan, India, Burma, Siam, China, the Philippines, Indo-China, Malaya, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, and the Fiji Islands during the months of March through July 1948, assisted by previous experience in Japan.
These impressions are based on discussions with government officials of cabinet rank and at technical levels, with educators, research workers, loggers, sawmill operators, tradesmen, exporters, importers, labor union officials, and ordinary consumers. Inspections were made of logging operations, sawmills, pulp and paper mills, veneer and plywood factories, experiment stations, nurseries, forest plantations, and log and timber markets.
Summary
In summarizing the information gathered, it is most convenient to describe separately the general situations in Asia and Oceania.
Asia
Asia, for purposes of this discussion, is taken to include British North Borneo, Burma, Ceylon, China India, Indo-China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaya, Pakistan, the Philippine Republic, Sarawak, and Siam. This region has a land area of more than 2,500 million hectares, 20 per cent of which is forested. With a population of 1,224 million people - the most populous region on earth - it has a per caput productive forest area of 0.3 hectares. In view of the rapidly increasing population in practically all of these countries, it is inevitable that this per caput area of productive forest will be seriously reduced unless vigorous remedial measures are taken.
The region is largely one of broadleaved species; less than 20 percent of the forest is coniferous; most of the productive coniferous forests are in Japan, China, India, Pakistan, and the northern Philippines. A sizable portion of the coniferous forest, as in Japan, consists of artificially reforested areas. The hardwoods are largely dipterocarps, composed of a large number of species per hectare, only a few of which are of presently known merchantable value. In this type of wood, with careful planning, exploitation can be greatly expanded. In Burma, India, Indo-China, Java, Malaya, and Siam there are important teak forests, for which sound forest-management methods have been worked out.
Large areas in almost all these countries have suffered severely from the evil effects of the " Four Horsemen" of land misuse: overcutting, roving agriculture, repeated burning, and heavy grazing. The consequences of critical soil erosion and recurrent floods are visible in much of this region, resembling the erosion in the Western Hemisphere. But, because of Asia's much heavier population pressure, the situation here is much more aggravated, and human and national lives are at stake now! Efforts to correct this situation have just begun in Burma, China, India, the Philippines, and parts of Indonesia, but they are hardly on a scale large enough to keep pace with the continuing destruction. Governments must become aware of the vital need for attacking this spreading disease of the land. Ceylon and Japan have, by contrast, made considerable progress in this direction.
The demand for fuelwood and charcoal is tremendous in China, India, and Pakistan, and in feet throughout the region. The need for lumber and plywood, particularly for repair of war-damaged houses, is not being met. Softwoods are the principal short item in almost all countries, and must be obtained through imports. A distinction must be made between urban and rural housing requirements. In the latter, because of tradition, low incomes, and, in some areas, the difficulty of obtaining lumber, there is widespread use of mud with only a framework of poles, as in the dry areas of India and Pakistan, or of bamboo and thatch, as in the wet regions of Burma, Indo-China Indonesia, Malaya, the Philippines, and Siam. As industrialization progresses it is to be expected that lumber, plywood, and other wooden building materials will be needed more and more in the cities.
Oceania
In Oceania, which includes Australia, Fiji Islands, Hawaii, New Caledonia, New Zealand, and other islands, there is a total land area of 855 million hectares, which is 9 percent forested. With a total population of 12 million people, this means a per caput productive forest area of 4.2 hectares. Population, at least in the case of the two largest countries, Australia and New Zealand, is increasing fairly slowly. The region is primarily one of broadleaved forests, with less than 15 percent in coniferous species. Eucalyptus forests are important in Australia; Podocarpus, Nothofagus, kauri, or Agathis, and rimu or Dacrydium are the principal timbers in New Zealand; and the dipterocarps are common in the various islands. The major share of coniferous stands in Australia and New Zealand is the result of large-scale afforestation programs, both governmental and private, using exotic species to a large extent.
Evidences of overgrazing and erosion are visible in Australia and New Zealand, and the effects of roving agriculture and repeated burning are to be seen in the Fiji and other islands.
Modern wood-using industries have been recently expanded in Australia and New Zealand. Government operation of sawmills and paper mills have played an important role in this development.
Owing to their climate and comparatively high income, Australia and New Zealand use wood for houses to a greater extent than the other countries of Oceania and most of the countries of Asia.
Australia is importing softwood timber, principally from New Zealand's exotic coniferous plantations, and is stepping up the harvest of its own plantations in an effort to meet the serious housing shortage.
In both Oceania and Asia there are good possibilities.: for expanding active trade in forest products within the region and with Europe and the Western Hemisphere. One important factor in such trade expansion is the absence of uniform grades, sizes, and drying specifications, particularly for hardwood lumber. The longer-established teak trade is better situated in this respect. Before the war there was a sizable trade in logs, as for example that in the Philippine lauan for veneering in Japan. There are many expressions by timber-trades people that as their aspirations are realized for building up local industries, in some cases on an integrated basis, the trade in logs will decrease, shipping space and shipping costs will be reduced, and more of the "value added by manufacture" will be kept at home.
Resources Survey
In an effort to determine the extent of their forest resources, a number of countries are assembling aerial photographs taken during the war and seeking to develop ground-survey methods that will utilize these photographs. New Zealand is making excellent progress in this direction and considerable work is being done in Australia, Burma, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Countries such as Burma, India, Indo-China, and Malaya have rather detailed records of standing timber, volumes and growth rates for those parts of the state forest land already under management. Information on new areas not yet subject to exploitation is in most cases based only on rough estimates. There is consequently a great need for the inauguration or enlargement of modern forest-survey programs to utilize the latest techniques in combining aerial photographs with ground surveys. The experience of the New Zealand and other forestry services should be of considerable help to neighboring countries.
Industries
Knowledge of the number, size, and production of sawmills and other wood-using plants in the several countries is, with few exceptions, unfortunately rather sketchy. In a few countries there is a complete record of each mill, its location, its raw-material resource, and its annual production, required by a permit or licensing system. The other extreme exists in most countries, which have no record whatever of such installations. Where mills depend entirely or in large part on government-owned forest land there are usually fairly complete records but where they work on privately owned timber this is not the case. In countries where plans and blueprints have made or are being translated into actual construction and operation of pulp and paper mills, sawmills, veneer and plywood plants (as in Australia, India, and New Zealand and to some extent in Indo-China), advantage is being taken of the latest developments in machinery and technical processes. For the most part however - and this is probably more true of long-established mills and logging operations there is much room for modernization and increased efficiency.
Statistics
With the growing realization of the tremendous unsatisfied demand for all forms of wood products, many governments are strengthening their statistical agencies in order to obtain information on forest resources as a basis for planning new developments in forest industries. Data as to requirements, consumption, production, and distribution are also quite necessary for intelligent planning of export and import trade.
Forest Management
On the basis of past experience and research, the fund of knowledge about the management of the numerous forest types varies considerably from country to country. The India Forest Service has a fine heritage of scientific work in the handling of sal, Shorea sp., and chir pine, Pinus longifolia, forests.
Beginnings have been made in Indo-China, Malaya, and the Philippines in the development of silvicultural methods for the dipterocarp forests, but much more needs to be done, especially in the undeveloped stands of Borneo, New Guinea, and parts of Indo-China, Malaya and Siam. Reforestation methods have been developed over a long period in China. Silvicultural treatment for coniferous plantations has been or is being developed in Australia, Japan, and New Zealand. Further work is needed in the best ways of handling the eucalyptus forests of Australia and the indigenous Nothofagus and mixed conifer types in New Zealand, to assure natural regeneration, to increase growth rates, and to move toward sustained yields.
The Burma Forest Service and the Dutch foresters in Java have developed highly satisfactory systems of teak forest management. The preparation of charcoal is often combined with clearing of low-value forest for conversion into pure teak plantations. When tile timber has been cleared, teak seeds are sown, sometimes with other species, and farm crops are cultivated between the rows of trees for several years. In Java the system has been worked out so that yields are obtained from early thinnings long before the remaining trees are mature for high-value lumber. Old trees ready to harvest are girdled two or three years before cutting; they dry out and can then be floated in streams or more easily hauled on land. In parts of Java the logs are hewn into railroad ties or squares, which are later whipsawed into boards. To please fastidious buyers in Java, some teak logs are hewn into perfect cylinders, thereby wasting considerable wood, which is deft as chips in the forest. Such material, if slabbed at a sawmill, could be used to make short cuts for furniture. Fortunately, this practice is dying out. The demand for teak from Burma, Java, and Siam is extremely high, and the resumption of prewar trade with foreign markets is to be expected.
Information as to growth rates and yields is incomplete for most forest types in nearly all countries. There are exceptions in Burma and India, but foresters in every country are keen to expand their work in this important phase of forest management.
Technical Properties of Species
Good progress has been made in testing the wood of most dipterocarp species in the Philippines and of the eucalypts in Australia. Some knowledge is available from prewar work at Dehra Dun, India; Kuala Lumpur, Malaya; Buitenzorg, Java; and at the Meguro Experiment Station, Japan. A joint approach to this problem could be highly profitable to all countries.
The interest of government officials has been translated in varying degrees into policy, legislation, government organization, and budgets.
Policy and Legislation
The Indian Forest Act, dating back to 1878, originally promulgated by Sir Dietrich Brandis and built upon by other stalwarts of forestry in Asia, is still the basis for the forest services of Burma, India, and Pakistan. Other countries have somewhat less detailed and less complete policies or legislation, but the functions of their government forest services depend upon the current interest of high government officials, as in China, the Philippines, and Siam. Under the general direction of their metropolitan governments, local forest administrators in Fiji, Indo-China, Indonesia, and Malaya have drawn up rules and regulations to govern the administration of public forest land. In Australia the individual states have their own forest legislation, which is now in process of being gradually co-ordinated with Commonwealth policy. In New Zealand the numerous fragmentary forest acts are being reconsidered for possible consolidation into one clearly stated policy.
With the achievement of varying degrees of independence, the nations involved need to re-examine their forest policies from the viewpoint of their own people's requirements with regard to greater local manufacture, raising domestic consumption levels, more careful attention to watershed protection, and development of unexploited forest areas.
Organization
The administration of state forest land has been handled by well-developed forest services in what is now Pakistan, in India, and in Burma. These services are now almost entirely in the hands of the foresters of the respective countries, with only nominal temporary guidance from former European members. Foresters who had been in subordinate grades have been moved up into responsible positions and are eager to demonstrate their ability to carry on the work of the services they inherited. The organization in Malaya consists of European foresters in the top supervisory positions, with Malayan foresters working under them. In varying degrees, the services in Indo-China and Indonesia are being reorganized so as to include more local foresters, with a decreasing number of European foresters as advisors. In the Philippines, the number of American foresters, which never was very large, had been consistently reduced until, with the achievement of independence in 1946, the service was entirely made up of Filipino foresters.
In Australia each state has its autonomous organization under a state forestry commission. Its work is subject to voluntary co-ordination with the policy of the newly organized Commonwealth Bureau of Forestry. In New Zealand there is one strongly organized state forest service for the entire country. China has in part carried out plans for strengthening its national forestry bureaus, but still depends upon the interest of individual provincial governors. Further development along this line must await the settlement of political and economic difficulties.
Siam is studying the report of the FAO Mission before taking up the reorganization of its forest service, which at one time was a very active organization.
Research
There are some outstanding research institutions in the region. The Forest Research Institute at Dehra Dun, India, has for many years carried on dendrological, Silvicultural and forest-products investigations. With the current reorganization, including the replacement of all European personnel by Indian technicians, greater emphasis is to be placed on applied research, especially on forest products. The Institute has an excellent herbarium, photograph collection, museum, and records of Silvicultural experiments. It is willing to make its facilities available to technicians from neighboring countries.
The excellent equipment of the forest products laboratory of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research at Melbourne, Australia, is already being used by visiting technicians from other countries, and the staff wants to enlarge this type of co-operation. Good facilities have been restored since the war at Buitenzorg, Java and at Kuala Lumpur, Malaya. Efforts are being made to increase the small staffs and the administrators are willing to invite technicians from other countries. The war badly damaged the research facilities at Saigon, Indo-China; at Los Baños, Philippines; and at Meguro, Tokyo, and other places in Japan. These are being slowly rebuilt, but many of the valuable experimental records unfortunately cannot be replaced.
Forest research in China, under the National Forestry Research Bureau, is actively conducted at two large stations in Chungking and Peiping, principally in the field of seed, nursery, and planting problems, and on a more diversified scale at the headquarters laboratory near Nanking. Additional research, principally in reforestation, is carried on by ten universities and several memorial park foundations in China. Plans have been drawn for comprehensive research programs.
New Zealand's comprehensive program in silviculture and forest products awaits the settlement of budget and personnel questions. Research in Siam is as yet undeveloped. In the past, research in what is now Pakistan and Burma was done largely at Dehra Dun, India. The development of independent research in these two countries has not yet been decided upon.
Excellent work is being done at a number of botanical gardens, among them those at Buitenzorg and Singapore, at Sun Yat-sen University and Nanking University in China, and at the imperial universities in Japan.
Education
The training of forestry technicians is an essential step in improving the standards and enlarging the scale of forestry work throughout Asia. With the inevitably growing appreciation of forest conservation, and improving forest utilization, the need for well-trained technicians will become more and more apparent. There is a continuing increase in the enrollment of forestry students in many countries. It is heartening to report the current operation of well-equipped schools for professional training at Dehra Dun, India, at 10 universities in China, at the University of the Philippines, at Los Baños, and at Canberra, Australia. All of these schools have accepted and are willing to accept forestry students from neighboring countries. There is also a forestry school at Creswick, Victoria, in connection with the University of Melbourne.
There are schools for training ranger and guard personnel at Dehra Dun and Coimbatore, India; Murree, Pakistan; Pyinmana, Burma, with the possibility of enlarging the school to professional status at the University of Rangoon; at Prae, Siam, with the possibility of having a professional school set up in the Agriculture College at Bangkok. There is one vernacular school at Kuala Lumpur for guard personnel of the government service. There is a guard school at Pnompenh, Indo-China, and plans exist for granting scholarships to local foresters to attend the school at Nancy, France. There is a program under way to initiate 5 ranger-type schools in Indonesia. One of which would be in Borneo. The forestry education system of New Zealand is being completely reorganized; the proposal being given most serious consideration is that of having undergraduate work provided in science at the four universities, with graduate work in forestry supplied by the training and research staff of the State Forest Service at Rotorua.
Forestry Publications
An important medium for the exchange of information among administrative, research, and industrial foresters is through the publications of professional forestry societies and government forestry services. There were a number of such publications in Asia and the Far East before the war; some were interrupted during the war, but most have been resumed, and there is a possibility of new journals being issued
Those now being published in English include The Indian Forester, The Malayan Forester, The Philippine Journal of Forestry, the Australian Forestry Journal, and the New Zealand Journal of Forestry. The Empire Forestry Review, of course, has carried considerable material on Asia and will undoubtedly continue to do so. Tectona, covering forestry work in Indonesia, is published in Dutch with some English summaries. Chinese and Japanese publications have not yet resumed publication since the war. Publications in Burma, Pakistan and Siam are in the planning stage.
Obviously the maximum benefit of information exchange would accrue if all journals were published in one language. This may not be practicable, but it is to be hoped that at least summaries of all articles will be given in that language which is most widely understood in most countries of Asia and the Pacific. Furthermore, exchange of publications between countries ought to be arranged as soon as possible, to make sure that libraries of forestry schools, research stations, government and industrial organizations receive all such journals.
Logging
Logging operations for the most part are carried on by private enterprise as timber concessions on state forest land. In Burma, the large private teak companies are being nationalized. The governments of Australia and New Zealand also carry on logging operations on public land.
As for logging methods, in Burma, India, and Siam well-trained elephants are an important source of power; considerable effort is put into trapping and training these animals. In parts of Indo-China, Java, and the Philippines, buffaloes are used in logging. However, there is a growing tendency to replace animals with power machinery. This is especially true in the Philippines, where United States Army tractors, bulldozers, logging arches, and other equipment left over from the war are being used on a large scale. More such equipment will be used as the problems of monetary exchange are solved.
Sawmills
Sawmill operations in Asia still use slow, worn-out machinery in most places. Production per man-hour with such equipment tends to be very low, but traditional usage and the difficulties of foreign exchange retard the adoption of modern sawmill machinery. A more important factor, which tends to encourage the use of faster new machinery, is the current change in wage rates for mill labor. The traditionally cheap labor of Asia is gradually demanding higher wages, which will only be justified if production per man-day increases.
In the Philippines many U. S. Army sawmills are being worked full-time to produce an increasing amount of lumber for export. The more progressive operators are seeking to buy modern equipment to replace these sawmills as they wear out. Most mills are powered by steam, but in many places diesel and electric motors are replacing them. There is considerable room for installation of more dry kilns and preservative-treating plants. The demand for lumber is so great, of course, that most operators do not feel justified in spending the money or taking the time to season or treat lumber. However, some of the more progressive operators see the advantage of selling well-dried lumber.
Veneer, Plywood, and Fiberboard Plants
There are only a few veneer and plywood plants in most of these countries, despite the great potential market for such products. The housing shortage is critical in many countries and could be alleviated if more plywood were available. There is considerable talk and some planning, especially in India and the Philippines, for the development of such an industry. Australia and New Zealand are increasing, their production of plywood as one means of meeting their housing demand.
There is considerable interest in fiberboard and wallboard plants in New Zealand and Australia which already have a few such installations. The potential market for this material is quite important but throughout a large part of Asia the use of woven bamboo for wall panels will, because of tradition and low income, withstand the competition of higher-priced lumber, plywood, and fiberboard.
Fuel
Perhaps the most extensive use of wood in this entire region is for cooking and heating, in the form of fuelwood or charcoal. In many countries, and especially in China, firewood is weighed on scales and the price is so high that few families can afford to buy more than a very small bundle - a handful of sticks - at a time. In Pakistan and India fuelwood and charcoal are scarce and cooking is done with dried animal dung. There is considerable activity throughout Asia in collecting and trading fuelwood and charcoal; many small sampans and barges can be seen loaded down with such product) moving between the islands and along the coasts. In many parts of China, young plantations are destroyed long before they are ready for cutting, to supply critically needed fuelwood. There are many instances of pruning side branches to stimulate new branch growth for fuelwood production like a pollarding or coppice-in-the-air system. Unless some alternative fuel is provided for a period long enough to allow the plantations to reach large sizes, there is little hope of solving this critical problem in countries of high and increasing populations.
Trade
Many of the countries are seeking to build up export trade and are faced with the problem of reconciling their own domestic needs for reconstruction with the high-priced-export market, which would bring in much-desired dollars and pounds. The Philippines are trying to build up an export trade with the United States; New Zealand is bending its efforts toward foreign markets for exotic pine lumber, most of which now goes to Australia. Southwestern India wants to resume trade with the Near East, but regulations require the major proportion of production to be sold on the domestic market.
One serious difficulty in fostering import and export trade lies in fluctuating currencies. Still another difficulty is shipping space, and, in the case of Australia and New Zealand, a question of loading and unloading available ships.
To meet the demands of certain high-priced markets it is necessary to have available large quantities of dry lumber. The scarcity of dry kilns in many countries is a retarding factor, but one that can be overcome without serious difficulty.
Timber trade among Asiatic countries, and especially between them and the countries of Europe and the Western Hemisphere, would be simplified and greatly stimulated if buyers, producers, and sellers would agree to uniform grades and specifications Efforts in this direction are being made in Singapore; in the Philippines, in Australia and New Zealand. These efforts need to be co-ordinated so a system of grades and sizes can be accepted generally
There is considerable organization among sawmill owners, exporters, and importers in certain parts of the region. This is especially noteworthy in the Philippines, in Australia, in New Zealand, and to some extent in India and Burma. These associations are in an excellent position to promote the development and acceptance of uniform grades and sizes. Many of them are already interested in such an undertaking.
At the same time, organization of labor is spreading, especially in Australia and New Zealand, and more recently in Malaya and the Philippines. In Australia and New Zealand, labor unions have played an important part in obtaining improved housing facilities for both single and married men on logging operations and in sawmill towns. With housing as the key to the manpower shortage, the success of the unions in this direction has resulted in a more suitable working force in the wood-using industries than in other industries. As labor organization increases there will undoubtedly be a tendency towards higher wages, which in turn will require higher production per man-day. This should mean the more general adoption of modern machinery in all parts of the wood-using industry.
In view of the problems facing the region it is obvious that no one country can solve all its difficulties alone. Many problems are common to a number of countries. With this in mind, the member governments of FAO at the 1948 Washington Conference requested the Director-General to call a Forestry and Timber Utilization Conference in Asia early in 1949. This idea has been also endorsed by the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East at several of its meetings. Above all, it is to be hoped that the conference will arouse sufficient interest to stimulate governments to build up their forest services and thereby improve the standards of living within their countries.
