P. Wardle
A brief overview of the collection, analysis and use of international forestry statistics.
Philip Wardle is Senior Forestry Economist at FAO.
Publications on forestry statistics
People talking casually about forestry and forest industry like to include a statistic here and there to show off their knowledge, to make an impact or to entertain the audience. However, the use of these statistics becomes serious when the issue is policy determination or investment decision-making, and when the decisions will impinge on the environment, the economy, the supply of materials and products and, ultimately, on the income, security, safety and quality of life of large numbers of people.
Forestry statistics - essential for economic decision-making...
Forests cover nearly 30 percent of the world's land area. The products of these forests contribute more than 2 percent of the world's economic output and are of particular importance as a source of employment, income, goods and services to rural people. They contribute 17 percent of the energy supplies of the developing countries overall and a much higher percentage in many of the poorer countries.
Forest products are a substantial component of international trade, accounting for 3 percent of the value of world mercantile trade. For many countries, both industrialized and developing, income from export sales of forest products is a significant part of overall trade; for example, Finland gains 60 percent of its foreign income from forestry. Trade information is needed by merchants and importers as well as for transport and the organization of port installations. Many production inputs the machinery for forest industries and logging, fertilizers, chemicals and even plant material and seed - are widely traded, and decisions on their marketing as well as their production depend on information on the forestry sector.
Knowledge of the magnitude and detailed composition of forestry and forest industry operations is important for decision-making in education, training and research. For example, statistics on volume by species help to focus research on wood characteristics and processing technology as well as to steer industrial investment to appropriate equipment and processing.
When statistics are lacking, effective decision-making is a chancy affair. An example is that of forest products other than wood. Data on products that are significant in international trade, such as cork, rattan, bamboo, gum arabic and naval stores, are available but the statistics for the myriad of local products, produced and consumed in households or traded only in local markets, are unknown. As a result, the importance of these products is often underestimated, with negative consequence for the local communities.
Countries' capacity for contribution to international forestry statistics
Fortunately, a renewed effort is being directed at identifying and assessing the role of non-wood forest products.
...and for meaningful discussions on the environment
Information on forest resources, forestry sector activities and products is highly pertinent to the evolution of discussions on the environment and sustainable development - at local, national, regional and global levels. Indeed, the fundamental importance of data and information is identified as a basic requirement of many of the programme areas of Agenda 21, adopted by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED).
For example, at the international level, sound relevant statistics on the use of forests and forest products are needed for understanding their complex interrelationships in the global carbon cycle and in the conservation of the world heritage of ecological and genetic diversity. This understanding is fundamental to a rational implementation of the recently framed international conventions on climate change and biodiversity. Information related to the impact of forest harvesting, e.g. forest area harvested annually, areas of secondary forest, harvesting intensity and average annual wood volume removed per unit area, is crucial in making environmentally sustainable management decisions.
Basically, international forestry statistics are designed to be objective collections of data on forest resources, forest sector industry and primary forest products for all countries, to be analysed and interpreted on a comparable basis.
Who in the international community presents international statistics on forestry?
FAO is the main centre for the collection and analysis of data and the dissemination of international statistics on forestry and forest industry. Coverage includes forest resources, production and trade in forest products, prices and industry capacity. Indeed, the collection, analysis interpretation and dissemination of statistics is the first function mandated in the Organization's constitution. FAO collaborates with the UN Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) with respect to information on its member countries. The United Nations Statistical Office (UNSO) collects comprehensive trade statistics and these data are drawn on by FAO in the compilation of forest products trade statistics.
The main FAO publications on forestry statistics are the reports of the periodic forest resources assessments (the most recent assessment is the main subject of other articles in this issue of Unasylva); the Yearbook of Forest Products; Forest Products Prices (published biennially); and the annual Pulp and Paper Capacities. The ECE publishes statistics for its member countries in the Timber Bulletin for Europe. FAO also distributes forestry statistics in machine-readable form on "AGROSTAT PC"; the data of the Timber Bulletin for Europe also are available on diskette.
Selected forest product series are published in the UN Statistical Yearbook; in UN Industrial Statistics; and in the yearbooks of Unesco and UNCTAD. The UN Energy Statistics Yearbook includes series on fuelwood and charcoal. All of these come from the data collected in FAO. The World Bank also draws on FAO for data on the sector.
The World Resources Institute's World Resources - a Guide to the Global Environments includes a range of country statistics (from FAO) on forest resources, wood production and trade as well as on the protection of natural areas and their management and on rare and endangered species. It is based on data from the World Conservation Monitoring Centre and other international organizations.
The International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) and several regional governmental and non-governmental organizations collect and publish statistics on tropical timber. There are also many regional industry and trade organizations as well as trade journals that collect and publish statistics in great detail about their component of the sector. Thus, there is a wide range of international sources both UN and non-governmental - for international forestry statistics.
Where does the basic information come from?
Ultimately, the only source of country data is the country itself. International organizations such as FAO depend on their member countries to make available information that only those countries are in a position to collect. The data is collected - usually in considerable detail - because it is important for policy decision-making, monitoring and control within the country. Countries will only collect and contribute information if it is of value to themselves. Thus, the statistical series assembled internationally are agreed first with the countries. An important aspect of this agreement is the recognition that they are important and worthwhile both for countries and in international series. The selection of a statistical series for international collection helps countries to focus on priority information and provides a stimulus to the gathering, dissemination and sound use of that data at the national level as well.
How comprehensive are the data?
The assembly of comprehensive national statistics on forestry and forest industry depends on a number of sources whose quality of data can vary widely. For example, in many countries, large quantities of fuelwood are harvested directly by the consuming households. Large quantities are also traded but only a small portion of the total harvest enters into markets through formal channels. There are therefore few or no formal records, and estimates have to be derived from sampling techniques, such as household consumption surveys carried out by central statistical offices, or from other special surveys.
|
Classification and definitions International organizations have established standard classifications and definitions for forestry and forest products on the basis of careful consultations with experts from member countries. The Customs Cooperation Council (CCC) has developed the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS) which is a contractual agreement on the classification and definition of items in trade used by 109 countries. The current edition of the UN Standard international Trade Classification (SITC Revision 3) corresponds exactly to the HS in the classification of products and is used by a number of countries which have not adopted the HS. These classifications provide an excellent and effective framework for trade statistics, although they do impose a limitation on the detail. In developing the HS, the CCC took little notice of the concerns of foresters in the classification for round wood trade. FAO has developed the Classification and Definition of Forest Products, which conforms with the trade classifications but goes into greater detail to meet the requirements of forestry, industry and marketing. Employment is another area where statistics are needed. The International Labour Office has developed the International Standard Classification of Occupations; however, the choice of criterion in this classification of level of skill, rather than productive sector, makes it difficult to obtain national or international information about employment in forestry and forest industry |
Records of sale of industrial round wood by government forestry organizations are usually well maintained and accurate, but in many developed and developing countries there is no equivalent record for wood from private sources. Estimates may have to be built up from reports of wood intake by major industries or by estimating wood requirement from the volume of products. In some countries, industries are required to report on wood intake and product outputs; in others, this is covered in the census of industry. In many countries, industry associations collect this type of information. Statistics on large-scale industries such as pulp and paper and wood-based panels are usually exhaustive, but data on saw-milling, with the large number of small mills and pitsawyers, is often not as comprehensive. Consequently, it is most important in compiling both national and international statistics to ensure that all potential sources of statistical information are tapped and, particularly, that production in the informal and small-scale sectors is adequately covered, using sample surveys and appropriate estimating techniques.
Generally, trade statistics on the major flows of industrial products are well recorded by customs offices and regularly reported to a country's central bank or central statistics office. In some countries, the forest authority responsible for the control of harvesting is closely integrated into the recording system and very detailed information on volume by species and quality is maintained. Even for trade, however, there may be problems of unreported informal cross-border trade.
How reliable are the data?
Questions are often asked about the accuracy of international forestry statistics. In the first place, the answer must be that this is dependent on the availability and accuracy of national data. In general, owing to the strength of international agreements as well as the importance the data have for national economic management, and because two reporters - importer and exporter - are involved, trade statistics are the most widely available and the most reliable. Statistics on the production of large-scale industry, for example pulp and paper, are generally good, while sawmilling statistics are more difficult because of the large number and small scale of enterprises involved. Industrial round wood production can be estimated with reasonable accuracy, but information on fuelwood and charcoal is heavily dependent on limited sample survey information.
Creating country capacity
FAO's mandate in the area of forestry statistics includes the provision of technical assistance designed to help its member countries identify, collect and disseminate priority statistics on the forestry sector. Through the FAO forestry statistics training programme, in recent years participants from 70 countries have participated in the Organization's regional seminars on forestry statistics in Africa, Asia and Latin America. In Europe, 30 countries are members of the FAO/ECE Working Party on Forest Economics and Statistics which meets to discuss mutual problems every two years.
The Earth Summit [UNCED] enjoined states and people to cooperate in good faith and in a spirit of partnership to seek the fulfilment of the Rio Declaration on the environment. Full cooperation in the preparation of comprehensive, accurate international forestry statistics, while not an end in itself, would certainly be a step in the right direction. Moreover, they would provide the necessary sound base from which to advance towards achievement of the larger aspirations expressed at the conference in Rio de Janeiro.
