The second World Consultation on Forest Tree Breeding made a number of general and technical recommendations. This paper reports on progress made on each of the general recommendations, as of October 1976. As information was lacking in some areas, participants are invited to inform the Secretariat of any significant progress which is not adequately covered by this report.
1. RECOMMENDATION: Tree improvement has an essential part to play in countries where afforestation is becoming increasingly important. In the tropics and subtropics, where growth rates are frequently high, gains from tree improvement may be rapid and substantial. The Consultation noted with satisfaction the development of forest genetics and tree improvement programmes in tropical countries since the first World Consultation on Forest Genetics at Stockholm in 1963. The value of such planned programmes to the economies of tropical countries was reiterated and their continuation and expansion recommended.
PROGRESS: Progress has continued, and at least 20 tropical countries now have tree improvement programmes. Early efforts were largely devoted to the identification of plus trees and the establishment of seed production areas, but emphasis is now shifting to the establishment of seed orchards. Provenance research is being conducted on a much greater scale.
2. RECOMMENDATION: In recognition of the importance of tree improvement programmes in developing countries, multilateral and bilateral aid agencies should continue and expand their assistance in this field. In particular, there is need for more assistance in the form of specialist advice, training centres and fellowships.
PROGRESS: Since 1969, FAO has provided tree breeders to work on FAO/UNDP projects in Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Indonesia, Iraq, Madagascar, Malaysia, Nigeria, and Turkey, while a much larger number of countries have received assistance in species and provenance trials, and seed procurement. Some of these projects provided fellowships for training in tree improvement and species research.
A number of countries have benefited from bilateral arrangements for assistance in tree improvement, for ex ample, India and Thailand (Danish aid), Nigeria (United Kingdom), and Congo (France).
Successful training courses on forest tree improvement were held in Hungary (1971), Kenya (1973), and Australia (1977), and one on forest seed collection and handling in Thailand (1975).
3. RECOMMENDATION: The Consultation considered that there was now sufficient evidence to justify the wide application of the results of genetics research to forestry practices. Government services were, therefore, urged to sustain or enlarge programmes for the mass production of genetically superior trees revealed as suited for use in forest and urban environments.
PROGRESS: Although a number of governments have expanded programmes for mass producing superior trees and others have initiated new programmes, the pace of reforestation, particularly in developing countries, still far exceeds the supply of improved seed.
4. RECOMMENDATION: More attention should be paid to breeding forest trees for products other than wood (e.g., tannin, seeds and fruits, honey and beeswax) and for environment mental benefits such as soil stabilization, shelterbelts and aesthetic values. Particular attention should be given to trees to be grown to provide social benefits and amenity values in urban areas.
PROGRESS: Little progress has been made in breeding better trees for soil stabilization, shelterbelts and most other non-wood products, although a few developed countries have made some improvement in trees for urban areas, resin and tannin. Greater attention in urban tree breeding is now being given to improving resistance to diseases and tolerance to abiotic stresses.
5. RECOMMENDATION: The Consultation recommended to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Union of Forestry Research Organizations (IUFRO), the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), and the International Biological Programme (IBP) that they: (a) urge governments and institutions to take action forthwith to protect and conserve the germ plasm of forest tree species and provenances that are in danger of extinction; and (b) collaborate in compiling directories of forest tree species and provenances in danger of extinction, and of nature reserves, parks, etc., where native forest trees are being conserved.
PROGRESS (a): The UN Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm in 1972 stressed the need for governments to take effective action to preserve the world's genetic resources, and made specific reference to forestry species. One of the results of the meeting was the formation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); genetic conservation is one of its primary concerns.
Specific proposals for a global programme for improved use of forest genetic resources, including conservation, were drawn up in 1974 by the FAO Panel on Forest Gene Resources. More detailed guidelines on in situ and ex situ conservation were contained in the 1975 FAO/UNEP pilot study entitled, "The Methodology of Conservation of Forest Genetic Re sources". A start at implementing the global programme has been made through the current UNEP-financed project on "Conservation of Forest Genetic Resources". Some seed and funds have already been distributed for the establishment of provenance conservation stands of tropical pines and eucalypts in developing countries in the tropics, and for the collection of substantial quantities of seed of additional species and provenances for conservation.
Unesco also has been very active in encouraging germ-plasm conservation, including forest tree species. Following on the work of the IBP (which was terminated in 1974), the Unesco programme for Man and the Biosphere (MAB) project 8 published in 1974 "Criteria and Guidelines for the Choice and Establishment of Biosphere Reserves", and as of September 1976 more than 40 countries had proposed over 200 areas as part of the international network of "biosphere reserves". This network is intended to 1) combine the ecological preservation of representative ecosystems with research into their functioning, 2) investigate man's impact on natural systems, and 3) develop the means to monitor this impact.
PROGRESS (b): With regard to directories of forest tree species and provenances in danger of extinction, in 1970 and 1971 IUCN issued data sheets on endangered and rare species for inclusion in its "Red Data Book," Volume 5, on Angiospermae. Volume 5 of the "Red Data Book" is now under revision and is to be issued under the new title, "Plants."
In addition, IUFRO working party, S2.02-02, on gene resource conservation, has begun to prepare data sheets on tree species undergoing genetic impoverishment, but not sufficiently endangered to warrant inclusion in the "Red Data Book." All tree species are to be considered, but particularly those of economic importance as sources of wood, food or fodder. Seventeen species have been covered to date.
Also, among the tree species listed by the FAO Panel on Forest Gene Resources for priority action in the global programme, are 25 which were identified as being endangered with extinction or severe depletion of the gene pool.
Regarding nature reserves and parks where native forest trees are being conserved, IUCN published in 1971 the second edition of its "United Nations List of National Parks and Equivalent Reserves," and up-dated it through 1975. This provided the basis for an expanded version under the title, "World Directory of National Parks and other Protected Areas," consisting of data sheets on the areas' conservation status, which have been published in instalments since 1975 Under the auspices of IUCN, two studies comparing in situ conservation needs to achievements were also prepared: "The Distribution of Protected Areas in relation to the Needs of Biotic Community Conservation in Eastern Africa," and, "Conservation Review of Tropical Rain Forests: General Considerations and Asia."
A Unesco directory of biosphere reserves is also planned.
6. RECOMMENDATION: The working groups of IUFRO provide a valuable means of promoting international cooperation, but the Consultation felt that certain needs were not being met by the working groups presently existing. IUFRO was requested to establish additional working groups dealing with tropical pines and hardwoods; hybridization among species and provenances; and damage to trees by cold, drought and other environmental extremes.
PROGRESS: In 1971, a reorganization of the research units of IUFRO was undertaken. There are six divisions. Division 2 deals with forest plants and forest protection, and contains eleven subject groups and three project groups, including: physiology (S2.01); species, provenances and gene resources (S2.02); breeding (S2.03); genetics (S2.04); genetic resistance to insects and disease (S2.05); and air pollution (S2.09). Among the many working parties are those on tropical species provenances (S2.02-08); eucalypt provenances (S2.0209) and breeding tropical species (S2.0301). Also, under the two tropical working parties, ad hoc action groups have been set up on Gmelina arborea, Tectona grandis, tropical hardwoods genetics, tropical eucalypts, Araucarias, selection and breeding populations, provenance trials, international provenance trials economics, distribution maps, seed data, and Triplochison scleroxylon.
7. RECOMMENDATION: The establishment of several regional centres for seed collection and distribution, such as those operating at Canberra, Oxford (England) and Humleback, or proposed for Macon (U.S.A.) and Mexico, was greatly welcomed. Such regional centres were necessary for the introduction of new variations, for study of inherited variation, and for conservation of gene resources. Early attention should be given to the possibilities of setting up additional regional seed centres, especially in western Africa and South America.
PROGRESS: Considerable progress has been made at the national rather than the regional level; most countries have set up national seed co-ordinating centres to which requests for seed can be directed. The seed centres in Macon (U.S.A.) and Mexico have become operational and both have been instrumental in collecting and distributing research quantities of source-identified seed.
8. RECOMMENDATION: The Consultation endorsed FAO's efforts to coordinate and support regional programmes for seed collection, involving also the establishment of an Advisory Panel of Experts on Forest Gene Resources. A wider geographical representation ought to be provided by including on the panel specialists from Asia, West Africa, South America and Eastern Europe. The Consultation also endorsed the action programme proposed by the panel but stressed that increased financial support would be needed, both from national and international sources, to implement such a programme. It would be useful for FAO to publish periodically in UNASYLVA the latest information on availability of provenance seed collections and on proposed seed collection expeditions.
PROGRESS: Membership in the FAO Panel on Forest Gene Resources has been expanded to include representatives from Asia, South America and West Africa, but does not yet include a member from eastern Europe. The Panel has met three times since the last Consultation (in 1971, 1974 and 1977). The original action programme drawn up by the Panel has now been incorporated into the more ambitious "Proposals for a Global Programme for Improved Use of Forest Genetic Resources," and some additional funds have been obtained.
News of provenance seed collections is reported in a new FAO publication started in 1973 called, "Forest Genetic Resources Information," which is issued about twice annually in English, French and Spanish.
9. RECOMMENDATION: IUFRO, in collaboration with FAO, was requested to publish a paper on the practical, administrative and costing aspects of seed-collecting expeditions.
PROGRESS: The following papers, with emphasis on the practical aspects of seed collecting, can be mentioned:
- Barner, H., "Procurement of Douglas Fir Seed for Provenance Research," 15th IUFRO Congress, 1971.- "Report on the FAO/DANIDA Training Course on Forest Seed Collection and Handling," FAO, 1975.
- Dobbs, R.C. et al., "Guidelines to Collecting Cones of B.C. Conifers," British Columbia Forest Service/Canadian Forestry Service, Joint Report No. 3, 1976.
Forest Genetic Resources Information also reports on seed-collecting expeditions.
10. RECOMMENDATION: Professional forestry societies were asked to incorporate into their codes of ethics provisions which emphasized the personal responsibility of foresters engaged in planting or seeding: (a) to obtain and record exact information on the provenance, primary or secondary, of the planting stocks or seeds used; and (b) to do their utmost to provide and use only seed or plants of provenances best suited to the local environment. All practicing foresters should regard meeting these responsibilities as a moral obligation.
PROGRESS: The spirit of this recommendation merits reiteration, but it is not known to what extent implementation has been pursued.
11. RECOMMENDATION: The Consultation recommended that the seed certification scheme of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) be extended to all countries as a means of providing a uniform system for the identification and control of genetic identity of all forest reproductive material.
PROGRESS: The latest version of the "OECD Scheme for the Control of Forest Reproductive Material Moving in International Trade" was issued in 1974. It provides a useful set of guidelines on seed certification and related matters but, so far, implementation has been disappointing. It is now likely, however, that the scheme will be accepted by the EEC (European Economic Community) and implementation in all EEC countries may be expected by the end of 1977. Participation of other countries in the scheme is voluntary.
12. RECOMMENDATION: IUFRO was requested to investigate the possibilities of developing and using an international system for rapid retrieval of information from tree breeding literature and experiments, and for standardizing, integrating and mechanizing character evaluation for tree breeding research, as is being done for crops research.
PROGRESS: The computerized information storage and retrieval system for international tropical provenance experiments (INTFORPROV) developed by CFI, Oxford, is a major advance in this field, but there is still need for a similar, more comprehensive system for forest genetic resource conservation. With financial contributions from the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), and guidance from the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources (IBPGR), FAO has begun developing an international genetic resources communication, information and documentation system (GR/CIDS) for agricultural crops. The IBPGR has indicated that it supports extension of GR/CIDS to forestry, but detailed study of the desirability and feasibility of this has not yet been possible.
13. RECOMMENDATION: Administrators of forestry research agencies and of tree breeding programmes were urged to review the working relationships between geneticists and scientists in other disciplines, in order to provide opportunities for that meaningful multidisciplinary cooperation required to attain the goals of breeding for resistance to pests and environmental extremes, for wood quality and for other traits. Furthermore, broad systems analysis should be applied to breeding programmes to define criteria, values and operating systems.
PROGRESS: No report.
14. RECOMMENDATION: International organizations such as FAO, IUFRO and the European Economic Community (EEC) were asked to lend increased effort to coordinating the work of tree breeders on the regional plane, especially in respect to common species.
PROGRESS: Regional coordination of tree improvement programmes in North America is effected through the FAO North American Forestry Commission, but no similar arrangements exist for other forestry commissions.
15. RECOMMENDATION: In order to assure the most efficient use of the limited scientific and professional persons experienced in tree breeding, governments and organizations were urged to provide support by taking into employment technicians who could undertake much of the routine burden of tree breeding programmes.
PROGRESS: No report.
16. RECOMMENDATION: Important research results should be published in periodicals of wide circulation. Papers which have only local distribution should be sent to the Commonwealth Forestry Bureau for notice in Forestry Abstracts. Authors and editors of professional magazines were urged to include in published results such vital data as genetic variances, selection intensity, genotypic and phenotypic correlations between traits, experimental design and the error of the estimates, which have in the past frequently been omitted.
PROGRESS: No report.
17. RECOMMENDATION: The Consultation requested IUFRO to stimulate and hasten the publication of monographs on the genetic characteristics of important forest tree species, on the lines of those published by the Society of American Foresters and by the Commonwealth Forestry Institute, Oxford, England.
PROGRESS: The publication programmes of both the SAF and CFI have remained active. The genetics of many of the most important North American forest species have now been covered in the monograph series, while the CFI has issued three additional monographs in their Tropical Forestry Papers series.
18. RECOMMENDATION: The Consultation noted the inclusion in the FAO Programme of Work and Budget for 1970-71 of revised editions of the FAO Forest Tree Seed Directory and of the World Directory of Forestry Research Institutes. It recommended that these revisions be quickly completed. The new Forest Tree Seed Directory should include information on seed certification schemes in operation and on the seed suppliers in each country who complied with these schemes.
PROGRESS: A trilingual (English, French and Spanish) revised edition of FAO's Forest Tree Seed Directory was issued in 1975. As the result of a recommendation by FAO's Committee on Forestry, the Directory was simplified to provide information only on the availability of species, and varieties when known, by countries and the address of one national seed coordinating centre in each country to which inquiries can be addressed. The Directory does not list seed provenances, particular certification schemes or private suppliers.
Revision of the World Directory of Forest Research Institutes was eventually not approved by FAO's governing bodies, and was deleted from the Programme of Work and Budget on the grounds that the information quickly becomes outdated.
19. RECOMMENDATION: Recognizing the great benefits derived from this and the preceding consultation, the Consultation recommended that a third meeting be held about 1975. Appreciation was expressed for the unofficial invitation to hold the next gathering in Australia, but at the same time strong support was given to the idea of having the meeting in a developing region having a tree breeding programme in the tropics or subtropics. The agenda should be restricted to a limited number of topics that could be explored in depth.
PROGRESS: Meeting held March 1977.
a new edition of the FAO forest tree seed directory
compiled on the basis of a questionnaire sent to all FAO Member Governments. Contains information on worldwide suppliers of seeds for forest tree production. $10.00
Available from Distribution and Sales Section, FAO, Rome or through your local Sales Agent (payment can be made in national currency).
among the FAO technical papers...
a continuously expanding list of studies dealing with specific problems of forestry. Many of these papers are available in all three languages - English, French and Spanish. All are available, on payment of handling charges, from the Distribution and Sales Section, FAO, Via delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100, Rome; or through the authorized sales agents and booksellers listed on the inside back cover.
FAO FORESTRY PAPERS
