Cheluvamba Mansion, location for the Conference.
The International Forestry and Timber Utilization Conference for Asia and the Pacific was held in the Cheluvamba Mansion at Mysore City, India 28 March to 8 April 1949.
The Government of India and His Highness the Maharaja of Mysore State were hosts to this FAO-sponsored Conference, the first to be held on forestry and forest products problems in Asia and the Pacific. Member governments officially represented by delegates were: Burma, Ceylon, France, India, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippine Republic, Siam,* and the United Kingdom. Australia and China were unfortunately not represented. Five other countries - the Republic of Indonesia, Korea, Nepal, Portugal, and SCAP-Japan - sent observers, as also did two international organizations, UNESCO and the International Meteorological Organization.
* Since then Siam has become officially known as the Kingdom of Thailand, as of 11 May 1949.
Shri Jairamdas Daulatram, Minister of Food and Agriculture, Government of India, representing Prime Minister Pandit Nehru, inaugurated the Conference. His Highness Shri Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar Bahadur, Maharaja of Mysore, warmly welcomed the delegates, and a message to the Conference from the Prime Minister was read by Shri K. L. Panjabi, Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture.
Minister Daulatram then addressed the Conference, emphasizing the intimate relationship between forestry, agriculture, and soil and water conservation. "It is," he said, "in a way in the fitness of things that the first Regional Conference on Forestry should be held in India. Forests have played a part in the social and spiritual life of our country which they may not have played elsewhere. Wise men in India did not look upon forests simply as an unwanted waste of land which man could put to better use or as the abode of wild and untamed lives hostile to human peace and welfare. In the eyes of India's sages forests had a great place in the life of man. They could serve his spiritual needs also. It is in the forests more than in the field that man is brought close to nature. Out of that close contact emerges a balanced judgment on the varieties of human life, and one is better able to fix man's place in nature and the place of forests in the evolution and progress of human society. And so it was in the retirement of the forest that the great seekers of truth found the truth and sang and spoke about it till it has come down to India's present generation through the sacred books of this country.
"Today, however, forests have ceased to have any spiritual inspiration or message. They are the means of our physical welfare through their effect on climate, agriculture, and industry. But even that role man has not permitted forests to play. In almost every country and more so in the countries of the East there has been a progressive denudation of the forests, and to that extent our soil has lost its structural guardian. The erosion of the top soil has become a grave danger to agricultural production for meeting the needs of growing populations. Half of the population of the world crowds upon the fields of Asia; and more and more of the forest area is encroached upon to enable man to feed himself, and his crops go on pushing the trees out. The soil thus becomes more and more subject to erosion.
"In our own country the problem is no less grave than anywhere else and it needs to be handled on a national basis and with maximum interprovincial and state co-ordination. I realize that in India as elsewhere this cannot be a short-term program. Our country has resolved to achieve freedom from imports of foodgrains by the end of 1951. The provinces and states are being approached to join in attaining this object of supreme national urgency. Though we are planning to concentrate on intensive cultivation with better use of water, manure, and seeds, it would be unwise not to design the nation's program of soil conservation for simultaneous implementation.
"You who are gathered together are men of experience and learning, and I would welcome it as a fruitful result of the Conference if your decisions laid full emphasis on the framing of urgent plans for a rational integration of forest and agricultural policy so as to save our soil from progressive impoverishment.
"No instance can be more striking from this point of view than the present position of fuelwood for the villager's home. Denied proper facilities in this respect, he encroaches upon the food which the land badly needs, and uses the manure as fuel. He forces himself into the vicious circle of less manure and less yield. An effective program for rapid increase in fuelwood for the rural masses which can be reconciled with a rational policy of forest development would be a blessing for the agriculturist in most Asiatic countries.
"But while deliberating upon the measures of service to the rural masses or city industries, the experts and specialists in forestry from the countries of Asia come close to each other, forgetting for the moment their distinctive nationalities, and are bound together by the strong ties which common research into nature's secrets and common aims to serve humanity naturally create. The bond of science and the brotherhood in service bridge all international gulfs and create a sense of fellowship, a spirit of human kinship, and a feeling of cultural identity which I feel is at the present moment a greater contribution of such international conferences than even the concrete economic result which must inherently result from your deliberations. India is only too anxious to help in forging such cultural links. It was our great teacher and leader, Mahatma Gandhi, who preached the identity of man, be his color or creed what it may, and it is in that spirit that India should and would participate in conferences like yours of today. "
The Secretary-General then read a message from Mr. Norris E. Dodd, Director-General of FAO, expressing the hope that this Conference, like meetings in the other fields of FAO's activity which had been organized in Asia for 1949, would further illustrate how the well-being of people depends on the wellbeing of the land and its vegetation, and especially on the use that is made of the land and its vegetation. Healthy forests on the hills, wisely handled, mean irrigation water in the valleys for rice and other foods, clear streams and regular supplies of drinking water, and uniform water-flow for river transport and in some places for hydroelectric power, Mr. Dodd pointed out. The forest produce itself means fuelwood for cooking; lumber, bamboo, and plywood for houses; and paper for books and newspapers. Forests can and do mean employment for large numbers of people in logging, in sawmilling, in tree planting and tending. In short, the forests mean life.
The objectives of the Conference, Mr. Dodd considered, could be met through the application of modern scientific knowledge, acquired through research and disseminated by technicians. Such application can be given meaning only by governmental action, through legislation, through budgetary provisions, forest services, adequate staff and modern facilities, and through continuity of interest. Without such administration, the decisions of delegates would remain only on paper. Forest services, as governmental agencies, must depend not only on the sympathetic comprehension of presidents, ministers, and civil servants, however, but on the people's understanding of their own responsibilities in the proper husbandry of land and forests, and of the benefits they might obtain. Mr. Dodd hoped that this Conference would stimulate action by individual governments and joint efforts by all the governments in the region.
As Mr. Dodd's personal representative to the Conference, Mr. Marcel Leloup, Director of FAO's Division of Forestry and Forest Products, listed in his opening speech "many factors which if properly utilized can help a great deal in meeting the problems before us. First of all, there exists in this region a large group of experienced foresters, whose many years of work have already produced partial solutions on a small scale within their countries. Such solutions may well point the way, if applied on a large scale, toward meeting the needs of their own and of neighboring countries. We have a large fund of knowledge on methods of reforestation, after many years of experience, in several countries in the region. We know of the excellent results obtained in the management of teak forests in Burma, Indonesia, and other countries. We know that considerable progress has been made in forest management methods for the rain forest dipterocarps. And we know also of the work done in fuelwood reserves for local village use, for example, in India and Burma. We have available to us methods of soil erosion control that have been very successfully demonstrated in several parts of the region.
"We can point with pride to the outstanding research institutions at Dehra Dun, Kuala Lumpur, at Buitenzorg, at Melbourne, and in several parts of Japan. It is especially heartening to know of the functioning of the fine professional forestry schools and also of the ranger-grade schools.
"With regard to legislation, the basic principles have been adopted in almost all countries, and in certain countries such laws have attained a high degree of development.
"In the field of utilization we can point to needs for modernizing logging and sawmilling operations but at the same time we can learn from progress already being made in these fields in certain countries in the region. The use of efficient sawmill machinery has proved highly profitable in those parts of the region where it has been tried, and the problem of training woods and mill labor in the use of modern machinery in these countries has not proved as formidable as some had expected."
Mr. Leloup hoped that delegates would keep before them in their deliberations (1) the picture of the tremendous human resources in the countries represented here; (2) the growing needs of these ever-increasing millions of people for such things as fuelwood and dumber in particular, which must be met if this human resource, so to speak, is to make its maximum contribution to the welfare of Asia and of the world; (3) the fact that these needs must be largely met through the rational exploitation of previously undeveloped timber resources; and (4) the fact that land which has been almost ruined by the abuses of overcutting, overgrazing, repeated burning, and roving agriculture in the past must be restored to productivity through large-scale conservation programs of reforestation, erosion control projects, and flood prevention measures. "If we are successful in this," he said, "we shall, by adding our concern for coming generations to the traditional respect for past generations, have contributed to the welfare of Asia's peoples and of peoples everywhere."
The delegates, in giving the greetings of their respective governments, expressed the strong desire that the Conference produce concrete recommendations for the solution of the numerous serious problems facing the countries in the region.
The final item of business of the first plenary session was the election of the permanent chairman. The head of the Indian delegation, Sir T. Vijayaraghavachariar, formerly Vice-chairman, Imperial Council of Agricultural Research of the Government of India, was unanimously elected.
A Steering Committee consisting of the heads of all delegations met early on the second day to examine credentials, consider rules of procedure, nominate a slate of officers, and finalize the agenda, which had been drawn up in draft by FAO. At the second plenary session the Conference adopted the recommendations of the Steering Committee in these matters without division.
Delegates elected to fill offices were as follows:
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First Vice-chairman: |
Y. S. Ahmad (Pakistan) |
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Second Vice-chairman: |
F. Tamesis (Philippine Republic) |
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Third Vice-chairman |
Tan Chein Hoe (Burma) |
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First Rapporteur: |
Mom Chao Subsuekhswasti Suekhswasti (Siam) |
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Second Rapporteur: |
J. P. Edwards (United Kingdom) |
In view of the despatch with which agreement was obtained on all business matters, the Chairman adjourned the second plenary session and, after a brief intermission, opened the first general session so that the delegates could begin consideration of the items included in the agenda adopted for the Conference deliberations. This agenda provided for discussion of the following items:
A. Immediate Measures1. Provision for local needs:(a) Fuel
(b) Lumber and other products2. Expansion of production and distribution of lumber and building materials:
(a) Immediate possibilities and problems
(b) Grades, specifications, timber-testing methods
(c) Planned utilization of structural timber and bamboo
(d) Logging, milling, and road construction machinery3. Needs for trained foresters in the next 5 years, schools, and immediate exchange of students and technicians
4. Recognition by governments of importance of forest resources
B. Protection and development of resources
5. Large-scale conservation programs:(a) Erosion control, watershed protection, flood prevention
(b) Control of grazing, fire, insects, disease
(c) Substitutes for roving agriculture
(d) Game and wild-life management6. Reforestation and afforestation
7. Formulation and review of policy, legislation, and organization
8. Research and exchange of professional information
C. Industrialization
9. Raw material supply and modern inventory methods10. Trends in requirements, production, distribution, and statistical analysis
11. Integration and modernization of forest industries
12. Capital requirements
13. Labor standards; working and living conditions
14. Trade policies, including trade promotion in consumer countries
Each item was introduced through the medium of a paper previously prepared by individual delegates and distributed to all present at the meeting. In this way, discussion proceeded without delay. At the close of each morning session, working groups were appointed to meet in the afternoon to summarize the discussions, define the problem, and draft recommendations on particular groups of agenda items. After all the items of the agenda had been disposed of under this procedure, a drafting committee, under the leadership of Y. S. Ahmad of Pakistan, coordinated the results and produced a first text of the Conference report.
This report selected the high lights of the deliberations, described the outstanding problems, and embodied the various resolutions which had been put forward. At the third plenary session on 7 April, this draft was considered paragraph by paragraph and resolution by resolution by the Conference Only minor alterations were introduced and on only one point was a decision referred to the vote of the Conference
At the final plenary session on 8 April, on the motion of Mom Chao Subsuekhswasti Suekhswasti of Siam, the amended report* was unanimously approved and adopted in its entirety. The officers of the Conference then signed the report for the delegates, and Mr. Leloup and the Secretary-General signed it on behalf of the Director-General of FAO.
* Report of the Forestry and Timber Utilization Conference for Asia and the Pacific - Mysore India, 28 March-8 April 1949.
The meeting resulted in a most useful exchange of ideas and experience, and all delegations expressed thanks to the Government of India and the State of Mysore for having made the Conference possible. As a reward for their arduous labors, the delegates were entertained at receptions given by the Government of India, by His Highness the Maharaja of Mysore, by the Pakistan Delegation, and by Mr. Leloup on behalf of the Director-General of FAO. His Highness also arranged for the delegates to see the palaces, the brilliant illuminations in Mysore and the lighted fountains of the Brindavan Gardens, the elephant stables, the Technical Institute exhibitions, and the museums of Mysore, which has always been noted as one of the most progressive Indian states. The Chief Conservator of Forests of Mysore kindly arranged for visits to, among other things, the forest plantations on Chamundi Hill, government furniture and sandal-oil factories, irrigated fuelwood plantations of Casuarina and Eucalyptus, and the Jog Waterfalls and the Wildlife Sanctuary at Bandipur, where visitors saw in their natural surroundings spotted deer, sambhur, wild dogs, and a magnificent herd of bison. The Mysore Plywood Corporation conducted delegates through their very modern plywood plant at Bangalore. For the more rugged, special trips were arranged for mahseer fishing and crocodile shooting.
Films were shown on three evenings, and the delegates agreed that the FAO productions of "Green Gold" and "Battle for Bread" were outstanding among them. Arrangements are being made for loans of these and other pictures in the several countries.*
* United Nations films are available from:
Burma
: Ministry of Information Secretariat, Rangoon
France: Information Centre, 19 Avenue Kleber, Paris
Netherlands: Certain titles available in Dutch through French Information Centre, given due notice
New Zealand: New Zealand Film Library, 96 The Terrace, Wellington
India and Pakistan: UN Information Centre, New Delhi, India
Philippines: Dept. of Foreign Affairs, U.N.A., Manila
Thailand: U.N. Cinema Co., Govt. of Thailand, Bangkok
United Kingdom: Information Centre, Russell Square, London
Korea: Civil Affairs Division, U.S. Dept. of State, Washington, D. C.
Portugal: Not available at present - inquiries to Geneva Information Office, Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland
Japan: U.S. Civil Affairs Division, U.S. Dept. of State, Washington, D. C.
Officers and delegates before the Cheluvamba Mansion.
An atmosphere of understanding and accord permeated the entire Conference and the enthusiasm for working together in the future was movingly expressed by an observer from a nonmember government in the following words: "I promise that before the next Conference my country will improve its work in forest research, administration, and education, so that I can bring you good reports, not as an observer from a nonmember government, but as a full-fledged delegate from a member government of FAO."
