THE Conference of FAO, meeting at Rome from 4 to 26 November 1955, said in its final report that its review of progress in world forestry over the last decade testified to the wisdom of FAO's founders in deciding to include forestry within the scope of FAO. The place of forestry in the development programs of Member Governments had thereby been enhanced. Certain accompanying features of the Organization's work in forestry were especially gratifying: the establishment of closer ties and understanding between producers (the forester and forest owner) and the users of forest products (industry and trade), and between both these groups and research specialists; better appraisals of the extent and nature of existing forests; more scientific study of the demand for timber and of its rational use; wider recognition of the relationship between forest development and other sectors of national economies, and notably of the interdependence of forestry and agriculture.
While noting that governments had made some considerable progress in the past ten years in informing public opinion on the protective and productive roles of the forest, the Conference stressed the need, especially in the less developed regions, for more intensive mass educational work to arouse the "forest consciousness" of the populations, particularly of the younger generation.
To carry out a detailed consideration of the Director-General's program of work in forestry for 1956 and 1957, the Conference set up a Technical Committee on Forestry and appointed as its Chairman Mr. Susilo Hardjoprakoso, Director of Forestry, Ministry of Agriculture, Indonesia. The Committee, which in turn elected as its Rapporteur Mr. J. H. Jenkins, Forest Products Laboratories Division, Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources, Canada, comprised representatives of 32 countries. Well-known personalities who served on the Committee included Richard E. McArdle, Chief of the United States Forest Service; Tom Gill, Chairman of the Committee on International Relations of the Society of American Foresters; Anton Ceschi, Chairman of the Forestry Subcommittee of the Austrian National FAO Committee; Eino Saari, leader of the Finnish delegation to the FAO Conference; F. Merveilleux du Vignaux, Directeur-général des eaux et forêts, France; Walter Mann, Ministerial Director, Germany; C. R. Ranganathan, Inspector-General of Forests, India; Mahmoud Zair, Directeur-général du Ministère de l'agriculture, Iran; Alberto Camaiti, Director-General of Forests, Italy; Nils Ihlen, Director of the Norwegian Forest Society; Y. S. Ahmad, Inspector-General of Forests, Pakistan; H. M. E. Näslund, Chief Director of the Swedish Forest Research Institute; J. Keller of the Swiss Inspection fédérale des forêts, chasse et pêche; Sir Henry Beresford-Peirse, Deputy Director-General, Forestry Commission, London; and, as observer, Aldo Pavari, President of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations.
Adopting the report of its Committee, the Conference expressed satisfaction with the trend of the actions taken during this period by the regional Forestry Commissions for Europe, Latin America, the Near East, and Asia and the Pacific. The method of relying increasingly on working parties to deal with technical subjects, was commended: the worldwide scope of the Organization's forestry activities required that adequate travel funds should be at the disposal of the Director-General.
As yet, no forestry commission exists for the North American region, and the Conference noted with satisfaction that the countries concerned were planning to discuss this matter together on an informal basis.
As regards the Far East, the Conference urged an intensification of effort in projects relating to the housing problem and to sound watershed management. Attention should also be concentrated on the special problems involved in making inventories of tropical forests through the use of aerial survey methods. The Director-General was asked to give priority, under the Technical Assistance Program, to the development in the region of a research and training center in aerial survey techniques for tropical forests.
Notable precedents created in Latin America in the past two years had been the agreement reached between the Government of Venezuela and FAO for the establishment of a Latin-American Forest Research and Training Institute, and the convening, in collaboration with the Argentine Government, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the United Nations Technical Assistance Administration, of a Latin-American meeting of pulp and paper experts at Buenos Aires in 1954. The Conference welcomed the establishment of an advisory group of experts to give help to countries that want an impartial assessment of alternative schemes for pulp and paper industries and guidance in the planning and initiation of new projects.
In no region is the need for an expansion of forestry so pressing as in the Near East, and the Conference noted with satisfaction the holding of the first session of the Near East Forestry Commission in Iran in September 1955. It commended the Director-General for the increased attention being given in his program of work to arid zone forestry. The compilation of a first Arabic forest terminology was noted with great interest.
The conclusions of the FAO/ECE study on European Timber Trends and Prospects had given direction to the current work programs of both the European Forestry Commission and the Timber Committee of the Economic Commission for Europe. The Conference noted with satisfaction the recent rising trend of industrial wood output in Europe, the increased European forest potential revealed by new national inventories, and the relative smoothness with which the timber market in Europe had adjusted itself to a rapid expansion in the intra-regional trade in 'forest products in recent years.
The Conference endorsed the activities of the working parties on eucalyptus and cork-oak of the Joint Sub-Commission on Mediterranean Forestry Problems, as well as the work carried out by the International Poplar Commission and the International Chestnut Commission. It welcomed especially the collaboration of foresters in the deliberations of the group of experts meeting under the auspices of the Economic Commission for Europe to study specific plans of economic development in southern Europe.
The Conference hoped that the Organization would be able to play a more active part than hitherto in forestry development in Africa south of the Sahara. It particularly expressed the hope that collaboration between FAO and the Commission for Technical Cooperation in Africa South of the Sahara could be intensified in the coming years.
While fully endorsing the value of the forestry work carried out under the Expanded Technical Assistance Program, the Conference appreciated that the deliberations and recommendations of the regional forestry commissions showed that governments could in several instances derive greater benefit from this program at less cost if a higher proportion of the Technical Assistance funds available to the Organization could be devoted to regional as distinct from national projects.
The Conference found the Director-General's proposed program of work in forestry for 1956 and 1957 to be well-conceived and appropriately balanced, from the standpoint of both subject matter and equitable distribution all over the world. To help him in giving the right balance of emphasis to the various lines of activity of his program of work in forestry, the Conference wished to record the following comments.
Land-use and conservation
While in certain areas of the world the course of economic development generated increasing pressure to convert some forest land to animal and crop production, in no part of the world should such changes in land-use be sanctioned without the advice of the forest authorities, since the most drastic consequences for the soil and water regime could attend ill-considered deforestation. The Conference fully endorsed the emphasis given in the Director-General's program to forest influences, range management (forest grazing) and watershed management, and hoped that this work might be even further strengthened. It drew the attention of governments particularly to the need for more intensive study of forest influences in the tropics, where many countries were embarking on large river-valley development projects.
Forest legislation and forms of forest land ownership
Although some delegates questioned the immediate value of analytical studies on forest legislation and on the relative value and effects of different forms of land ownership, it was generally conceded that this type of work was a pre-requisite for the initiation of sound forestry programs in the less developed regions and afforded essential background information for experts operating under the Technical Assistance Program.
Silviculture and management
The Conference endorsed the emphasis given in the forestry program to improving forest production and singled out for special mention the work in tropical forestry and planting techniques. It approved the proposal to convene a world technical conference on eucalypts in the autumn of 1956 and noted with great appreciation an offer made on behalf of the Government of Italy to act as host country.
Utilization
The Conference wholly approved the program of work on utilization of the products of the forest, calling attention to its direct bearing on general economic development, especially of the less advanced countries. It commended the Director-General on his proposal to call a technical conference on fibreboard and chipboard and hoped that a wide attendance could be secured of technicians and representatives of producing and consuming interests.
Forestry statistics and special studies
The Conference noted with satisfaction the progress achieved in many countries in raising the standard of national forestry and forest products statistics. It stressed the practical import to foresters and wood users of the joint study of FAO with the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) now proceeding on trends in the utilization of wood and its products; of the study of timber trends in the Far East, due to be undertaken in co-operation with the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE); and of similar regional studies which of themselves would induce an improvement in statistical methodology and the scope of data collected.
The Conference expressed its sincere gratitude to the Government of India for having organized the Fourth World Forestry Congress in December 1954. It noted that the recommendations of the experts assembled at Dehra Dun were entirely in keeping with the objectives and program of FAO.
The Conference endorsed the recommendation made by the Congress that FAO should establish a panel of experts on forestry education, noting that the Director-General had already taken steps to implement this proposal. However, it could not at this time accept the Congress's proposals for the creation of new international commissions, sponsored by FAO, on exotic species for planting in the tropics and on forestry in arid zones.
It authorized the Director-General to take such steps as are necessary and appropriate to assist in organizing the Fifth World Forestry Congress in 1960.
To give guidance to the Director-General in framing his 1958-59 program of work in forestry, the Conference discussed a number of important problems in world forestry, and drew attention to some of the major tasks which confronted Member Governments and to ways in which the Organization could help in arriving at solutions.
World wood resources and requirements
The Conference discussed the relation between world forest resources and prospective wood requirements, and drew the attention of Member Governments to the following conclusions:
1. An expanding world economy and the rapid increase in populations promised substantially to raise industrial wood needs; this increase would be most pronounced in the less developed areas of the world.2. Technical changes taking place in the wood-using industries, as well as changes in consumer needs, had changed, and would continue to change, the pattern of industrial wood requirements. For example, the need for pulpwood would grow more rapidly than requirements of other major categories.
3. The changing needs of industry implied changed requirements from the forests. But adjustments in forest policy could take effect only slowly; once initiated, they could not easily be reversed. Moreover the forester, besides raising forest output and adapting it to the changing needs of industry, had to bear in mind the forest's productive capacity over the long term and to pay due regard to the protective functions of the forest.
4. For the formulation of forest policies, whether at the national, regional or world level, an understanding of the implications of technical and economic trends in wood use was no less important than the assessment of the extent and nature of existing forest resources.
The Conference therefore urged member countries to devote increasing attention to the quantitative and qualitative appraisal of current and prospective wood resources and requirements. It requested the Director-General to continue his efforts to assess region by region, present and future demand and supply for wood, in order to provide member countries with the elements necessary for formulating national forest policies and also their import or export policies, thus facilitating, where appropriate, the elaboration of regional production and trade policies.
Finally, the Conference suggested that the topic of world wood resources and requirements should be a major theme for the Fifth World Forestry Congress which, it was hoped, would be attended by the chiefs of the forest services of all the countries of the world.
Tropical forestry
The Conference noted that economic progress in the less developed areas of the world, as well as the expected increase in wood requirements in all regions, now rendered necessary more concentrated attention on the problems of tropical forestry. Hitherto, harvesting of heterogeneous tropical forests has been difficult, selective and wasteful, but in recent years technical advances which have broadened the raw material basis of the wood-using industries offer new hope of more complete utilization.
However, many problems, mainly of an economic nature, remain to be solved. The magnitude of these problems tends to divert attention rather to the establishment of man-made forests, sometimes of exotic species, either where the existing tropical forests have been cleared or on other areas. But the Conference decided there was no occasion to adjudicate finally between natural forests and plantations in all circumstances. The choice could only be resolved case by case, with a full knowledge of local needs for forest products and the silvicultural and ecological possibilities in each locality. This dilemma called for much more precise data than were presently available concerning the silvicultural, technical and specially economic aspects of exploiting natural tropical forests and of establishing and exploiting plantations.
The Conference therefore requested the Director-General, in drawing up his program of work in forestry for 1958, 1959 and subsequent years, to give attention to:
1. technical studies on the methods for the natural or artificial regeneration and development of the tropical evergreen forest, and the silvicultural systems and management methods to be applied;2. the fostering of technical, technological and industrial research and the dissemination of the results, so as to enable as complete a use as possible of the produce of tropical forests of all categories;
3. comparative economic studies on the silviculture and utilization of the various types of tropical forest;
4. the collection, analysis, and publication of information on all aspects, but especially on the economic aspects, of the establishment of pure or mixed plantations of indigenous and exotic species in the tropics.
Finally, the Conference strongly supported the Director-General's proposal to convene a special meeting of experts on the various aspects of tropical forests and the utilization of their products, to consider the problems outlined above, and expressed the hope that it would prove possible to arrange such a consultation at an early date, preferably in 1956,
Productivity in forest operations and industries
The Conference endorsed the long-term aim of the Director-General's program in forestry: to ensure the most productive use of forest land, labor and capital. It noted that emphasis in this program had so far been limited to raising in forest operations and to forest workers' training, through both the Regular and the Expanded Technical Assistance Programs. Believing that it was not less necessary to take parallel measures to increase productivity in forest industries, the Conference
1. requested the Director-General to continue his efforts to secure the improvement and where appropriate the mechanization of forest operations, particularly logging;2. urged that this work be extended to all regions, taking due care to ensure that regional efforts were correlated and overlapping studies and activities avoided;
3. drew the attention of the Director-General and of Member Governments to the urgent need to promote greater efficiency in the several forest products industries, thus ensuring more rational use of the output of the forest and minimizing waste;
4. emphasized the contribution that could be made to the achievement of this objective by the exchange of technical information, the holding of technical consultations and by Fellowships.
Regional co-ordination of forest research activities
The Conference reaffirmed the importance of research in the proper development and use of the world's forest wealth, including research into the possible uses of atomic energy, and stressed the advantages that could accrue to member countries if a proper degree of integration and co-ordination of research activities were assured. It registered its approval of the tangible progress made in research co-ordination in those regions where research institutes already in being were very limited in number. This was evidenced by the formation of regional research organizations in the Near East and Latin-American regions, with central institutes in Syria and Venezuela respectively. The Conference agreed that the Director-General should establish research co-ordination committees under the regional Forestry Commissions in the Near East and Latin America and also in the Asia-Pacific region, as requested by the respective Forestry Commissions.
The Conference also noted with approval the Director-General's intention to bring about such research co-ordination in consultation with the International Union of Forest Research Organizations.
Forest and agriculture land use problems in watershed management
This subject was discussed by a joint meeting of the Conference's Technical Committees on Agriculture and Forestry, and subsequently the Conference emphasized the extreme importance of these problems, and specially commended the inter-divisional approach to them adopted by the Organization.
As the result of its discussion on watershed management, the Conference strongly drew the attention of governments to:
1. the fact that the management of watersheds was a basic activity in agricultural and forest production;2. the fact that the aims in watershed management were directed toward the application of soil conservation and the control and use of water;
3. the importance of conservation practices in the use of lands for agriculture, grazing and forestry: the consequences of overgrazing and mismanagement of range lands and the disappearance of plants valuable for forage production and soil conservation, can be devastating;
4. the seriousness of shifting cultivation in both the agriculture and forest economies particularly of tropical areas;
5. the tremendous magnitude of the problem of watershed management: FAO could only furnish advice and guidance in this field and the real action on corrective measures must be taken by governments;
6. the fact that this is an international problem and that international co-operation is often required;
7. the highly variable conditions around the world and the need for research in watershed management and hydrology as well as for education programs to aid individual landowners;
8. efforts by FAO to organize training centers and related educational activities for the benefit of technicians concerned with watershed management: it was noted that such a training center was planned for the Far Eastern region in 1957 and that India had generously offered to serve as host country for the center.
The Conference recommended that the Organization, in continuing its studies on watershed management and related problems, draw up a specific program indicating priorities for implementation by governments and by FAO, in order to achieve tangible improvements. It drew attention to the great importance of watershed management in flood prevention and control but recognized that there were also other objectives in watershed management, for instance the elimination of stream pollution including siltation, the improvement of navigation, and the development and improvement of domestic and industrial water supplies.
The following countries were represented on the Technical Committee on Forestry: Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Burma, Canada, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Philippine Republic, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America, Viet-Nam and Yugoslavia. The delegations of some Member States were too small in numbers to permit whole-time participation in the Forestry Committee. Representatives of Brazil, Ireland and Jordan attended some meetings.
