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Editorial - Toward new initiatives in utilizing lesser-known species

For several years, international attention has been drawn to the question of what to do with "lesser-known" or "secondary" tropical hardwood species. Nearly every recent international meeting on tropical forests or tropical timber has discussed this topic in some detail but, as yet, there is no clear agreement on what must be done to expand market acceptance of this resource.

Tropical timber producers are stressing that better utilization and marketing of lesser-known species would generate increased economic returns to the forests and thus make possible better forest management. Importers and consumers are arguing that present timber markets can be maintained or perhaps even expanded by including lesser-known species for both new and traditional end-uses within the flow of tropical timbers. The difficulty lies in deciding where and how to make the necessary financial and human investments to achieve these ends. Such decisions are not easy to make, because there is no single formula that can be applied to increase the acceptance of lesser-known species overnight.

The two articles on the topic in this issue of Unasylva take different approaches to the problem. Freezaillah B.C. Yeom of Malaysia, drawing upon his experience as a forest-resources manager in Southeast Asia, evaluates available information and weighs both positive and negative aspects of the development of lesser-known species within the wider context of resource-management efforts. From the United States, James S. Bethel, with extensive practical forestry experience at both national and international levels, evaluates, from the standpoint of the user, the facts and the conclusions that he and other well-known experts in the field of forest-resource development have drawn from them. Both articles - not least because of the contrasting views expressed - provide thought-provoking insights and information for those concerned with the formulation and implementation of action programmes for lesser-known species.

The world's tropical forests, it has been said, will provide us with answers to questions we have not yet learned how to ask. This is particularly true of lesser-known species. The age of genetic engineering has begun, and these species may well hold genetic secrets that could prove invaluable in the future. At the same time, forest products are becoming increasingly more sophisticated - but the development of new products will depend largely upon the establishment of appropriate forest industries for the processing of woods at present considered unmerchantable.

Lesser-known species are therefore an important element of the forest of the future, and they deserve special attention in present-day forest-management decisions.

MIXED HARDWOODS IN INDONESIA - most species are underutilized


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