EVERY two years the full Conference of FAO meets to examine the entire field of the Organization's work and to lay down policy directives for the future.
The Tenth Session was held at Rome Headquarters in November 1959 and delegates of the 76 member countries of FAO proceeded to elect Cyprus and eight African countries to Associate Membership in the Organization (Republic of Chad, Gabon Republic, Madagascar, Nigeria, Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Republic of Senegal, Sudanese Republic and Somalia) and one African country, Guinea, to full membership. Somalia, Nigeria and Cyprus, as well as the Cameroons and the Republic of Togo, were asked to apply for full membership as they acceded to independence.
This accent on the emergence of the new Africa was marked also by the election of the Liberian delegate, Richelieu Morris, as Chairman of the Conference - and probably one of the best Chairmen there has been. Elected as first Vice-Chairman was Soesilo H. Prakoso, Director-General of the Directorate for Forestry and Land-Use Planning in Indonesia and a former chairman of FAO's Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission.
The tone for the Conference was set by Professor Arnold Toynbee, the famous British historian, who delivered the first McDougall Memorial Lecture in honor of the Australian who was one of the leading figures in the creation of FAO. Speaking on population and food supply, Professor Toynbee noted that the year 1945 saw both the establishment of FAO and the harnessing of atomic energy as a weapon of warfare. These two historic events were at opposite poles of the gamut of human achievement. Yet there was an historical connection between them. " By 1945, man was within sight of acquiring the power either to pro vide a humane standard of living - spiritual as well as material - for the whole human race or alternatively to commit genocide, a new word that we have had to coin to describe an atrocity that was previously beyond our reach. "
Attending the Conference were 37 foresters from 32 countries and for the first time those from the underdeveloped parts of the world outnumbered those from the more advanced regions. In all, 53 delegates participated in the meetings of the Forestry Committee which was presided over by J. Jungo, Inspector-General of Forests, Switzerland, and the report of this Committee, with some amendments, was subsequently endorsed by the full Conference.
Substantive results were approval and endorsement of FAO's Mediterranean Development Project, of which the Project Leader had been Egon Glesinger, Director of the Forestry and Forest Products Division; creation of an African Forestry Commission and of a North-American Forestry Commission, thus completing the pattern of these regional bodies to cover all member countries of FAO; a decision to include wildlife management within the sphere of responsibility of the Forestry and Forest Products Division; and clear indications of the expansions which it is desirable to work into FAO's program for the next budget period, 1962-63.
The Conference unanimously re-elected Mr. B.R. Sen as Director-General of the Organization for another four years. Replying to this signal mark of confidence, Mr. Sen said, " If the Organization is better fitted today to accept the challenge of its objectives and fulfill more efficiently its responsibilities, it is largely due to the support you have given me as well as to the dedication and loyalty of my colleagues. "
TO FORESTERS EVERYWHERE:
I take this opportunity to send you a personal invitation and warm welcome to the Fifth World Forestry Congress. American foresters look forward with pleasure to renewing old friendships and to making new ones at this meeting of the world's foresters. Come join us at Seattle, 29 August to 10 September 1960.
Sincerely,
RICHARD E. MCARDLE
Chief, United States Forest Service and Chairman, Organizing Committee Fifth World Forestry Congress
