The participants discussed the possible problems (listed)
and requested clarifications or answered as follows:
Q1) Receiving the questionnaire on paper/via e-mail/floppy disk
A1) Countries prefer to receive the questionnaire
in all three forms.
Q2) Downloading via the Internet
A2). Accessing the Internet is not a problem
as all member countries in the group use it for communication and information
purposes.
Q3) Understanding the data structure: JQ1, JQ2,
DOT1, DOT2, SP1, ITTO1, ITTO2, and ITTO3
R3) There are no problems in understanding the data structure. But some confusion exists with the item
titled "Industrial Roundwood (wood in the rough)” in trade, which simply
means “unprocessed”. It was recognized that the term, created by trade organizations responsible for traded product classification,
is misleading. Two suggestions were made: to delete “wood in the rough” in
the title or leave the title unchanged but define “wood in the rough”.
In most countries, there is difficulty in identifying “of which tropical”, notably
in terms of imports since common names are usually used in the trade documents.
The suggestion is to provide a list of tropical species existing in all countries.
Q4) Using classifications: SITC Rev. 3; HS96
A4) Using classifications SITC Rev. 3 and
HS96 is not a problem since all the countries conform
with either one of these classifications.
Q5) Definitions
A5) Definitions – countries follow the
FAO definitions so there is no problem here.
Q6) Using EXCEL
A6) All countries are familiar with EXCEL.
Q7) Communication with FAO/ITTO
A7) Communication with both FAO and ITTO should
be maintained.
Q8) Collecting/integrating different data sources in the JQ Production/Trade
A8) Collecting/integrating different data sources for production
and trade. Coordination among offices is non-existent or very limited. In
some countries such as Sri Lanka and Nepal, there are different agencies collecting
the same data resulting in conflicting or inconsistent data sets.
The group discussion concentrated on estimation of
the consumption of other industrial wood, fuelwood, including wood for charcoal,
and charcoal; this took into consideration that almost all of the participating countries
do not report systematically and FAO is forced to estimate in order to have
a comprehensive picture of roundwood produced.
Background
As part of the Yearbook of forest products 2000, production estimation of fuelwood,
including wood for charcoal, and charcoal has changed. On the other hand “Other Industrial Roundwood”
has not changed, production continues to be based on a per capita basis.
Countries do not report fuelwood statistics very often.
So, for many countries, FAO must estimate fuelwood production. Recently, FAO
revised the complete series of fuelwood production figures dating
back to 1960, based on a new model for fuelwood consumption that is believed
to produce more reliable estimates. In some countries, these new estimates
vary greatly from those that were produced earlier.
Fuelwood, including wood for charcoal, and charcoal
For many countries, fuelwood and charcoal production
is not reported every year. Production of these products is believed to be
significant in many of these countries and these statistics are required to
calculate total roundwood production. Consequently, FAO estimates fuelwood
and charcoal production. These estimates are now based on a statistical model
relating fuelwood and charcoal consumption to a number of other variables.
These variables include: population; income; the distribution of population
between urban and rural locations; forest cover; oil production; temperature;
and land area. Full details of the model used to produce these estimates can
be found in the Global Forest Products Outlook Study on the FAO website. In
some countries, these new estimates vary greatly from those that were produced
earlier. However, the model used to produce these new estimates is believed
to produce more reliable estimates than were presented in the past. As identified
in the past, production statistics that are estimated from this model rather
than supplied by countries are identified with an “F” in FAO’s statistical
database (FAOSTAT).
Other industrial roundwood production estimates are
based on Table 1.
Table 1. Estimating industrial roundwood
Countries |
Production per head of population assumed in computing estimates |
|
Other industrial roundwood (C) |
Other industrial roundwood (NC) |
|
CUM |
CUM |
|
Bangladesh |
0.0030 |
|
India |
0.0001 |
0.0056 |
Indonesia |
0.0155 |
|
Laos |
0.0250 |
|
Malaysia |
|
0.0387 |
Philippines |
0.0401 |
|
Sri Lanka |
0.0310 |
|
Thailand |
0.0468 |
|
Viet Nam |
0.0272 |
The participants observed that:
1. Per capita consumption estimation of fuelwood and other
industrial wood as given in the sheet provided during the workshop seems to
be on the high side.
2. Estimation on the basis of the study conducted is possible
for fuelwood and other industrial wood only.
3. Charcoal, as a regular source of energy in member countries
is not very common.
4. The estimation of consumption of other industrial wood
and fuelwood on the basis of the recent study is possible but analysis of
such a study with periodic field verification or ground-truthing is essential.
5. Population estimation projections of the affected group
have to be viewed with relevant parameters.
6. Estimation of the consumption of fuelwood and other
industrial wood may be affected by the increasing supply of other energy sources
for the affected group over time.
7. A considerable number of member countries might not
have been included in the target study for energy consumption owing to local
disturbance or other unforeseen reasons. In such cases, estimation for such
countries could be unrealistic.
As part of the discussion, country studies on estimations of other industrial roundwood for selected countries
in the region were envisaged.
The participants were divided into two subgroups to
discuss issues related to the main problems (and their solutions) of forestry
information systems (FIS) in assessing, disseminating and using wood product
statistics for increasingly sophisticated users. The first subgroup composed
of Cambodia, the Philippines, Viet Nam, Thailand, Nepal and
Sri Lanka identified the following problems and provided solutions.
Problems
Solutions
Potential users of data
Problems
Lack of well-established mechanisms for information
flow within the country
Data quality
Solutions