A summary of work in forestry, 1954-55
Technical assistance reports
Direction of work
Forest policy
Forest technology
Forest economics
Inclusion of forestry within the scope of FAO has given over the past decade a decided impetus to the development of forest resources and industries throughout the member countries of FAO. An accompanying feature worthy of special note has been the establishment of closer ties and understanding between producers (the forester and forest owner) and the users of forest products (industry and trade), and between both these groups and research specialists. Scientific analysis of the nature and extent of existing forests and of the demand for timber and its uses has increased while more attention has been given to the relation between the several aspects of forest development and between forestry and other segments of national economies.
Progress under the Technical Assistance Program continued throughout 1954 and 1955. Missions in 17 countries are concerned with forest production, while 16 missions are dealing with utilization and primary conversion of forest products. A training sawmill has been set up in Chile, in a forest area where correct management techniques can be demonstrated. Research centers for forestry or forest products have been organized in Burma, Iran, Mexico Philippines, Thailand and Turkey Preliminary work on regional research centers for the Near East and Latin America has been carried out.
A number of important meetings sponsored by FAO during the year included the Latin American Conference of pulp and paper experts at Buenos Aires, organized jointly by FAO, the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLA) and the United Nations Technical Assistance Administration (UNTAA) with the Government of Argentina; and the Fourth World Forestry Congress organized by the Indian Government at Debra Dun. As background to these meetings two economic studies have been published, World Forest Resources and World Pulp and Paper Resources and Prospects, while a contribution was also made to the United Nations World Population Conference held in Rome in September 1954.
There has been increasing co-operation between FAO and other agencies interested in the field of forestry notably with the regional Economic Commissions of the United Nations the International Union of Forest, Research Organizations (IUFRO), the Commonwealth Forestry Bureau, the International Union for the Protection of Nature, and with the United States Foreign Operations Administration - (FOA).
The Forestry Division has co-operated with the Agriculture and Economics Divisions on range management and soil conservation, arid zone forestry, watershed management, economics and statistics. Outside consultants have been increasingly employed, some on a voluntary basis.
The supervision of work, under both the Regular and Technical Assistance Programs, is in some degree hampered by limited travel funds.
The office of the Director-General maintains responsibility for all forestry activities while direct responsibility is delegated after the initial stages to the technical officers concerned, to Technical Assistance officers, or to a regional forestry working group. The following section describes the work accomplished during the year under review.
Documentation
The collection and organization of reference documentation has continued. A member of the Commonwealth Forestry Bureau made a short visit to Rome in December 1954 to advise on how the technical reference service and forestry library might be used more effectively, and a reciprocal visit of an FAO staff member to the Bureau at Oxford was arranged. To keep abreast of current literature, the Organization makes use of the Centralized Title Service of this Bureau, issued in conjunction with Forestry Abstracts: also, the monthly bibliography published by the United States Department of Agriculture; and Forstarchiv.
Serial publications issued during the year, which analyze and synthesize the information obtained by FAO, are referred to in later sections. The established periodicals continue to appear - Yearbook of Forest Products statistics' Timber Statistics Bulletin with Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), and Unasylva. A special number of the latter, issued in connection with the Fourth World Forestry Congress, summarized the present situation in regard to forestry knowledge and progress. Two noteworthy papers appeared in Unasylva on "Forestry and Fundamental Education" and "Climatic Classification in Forestry."
Haiti, The future of the country is in their hands.
The Joint FAO/IUFRO Committee on Bibliography, for which FAO provides two members and a secretariat continued the work of producing official language editions of the English text of the Oxford System of Decimal Classification for Forestry, published early in 1954. At a meeting in Nancy in September, the Committee agreed on the procedure for producing a multilingual forestry dictionary, including terms and definitions, and the work of preparation has started. At the same time, FAO has been building up an Arabic glossary of forestry terms in collaboration with special consultants.
International collaboration
The Organization has continued to assist governments in the formulation of sound forest policies through international go-operation, relying for this purpose mainly on the regional Forestry Commissions which now include most member nations. The inclusion of the North American and African regions has also been discussed. Mention has been made of the World Forestry Congress, and of the Buenos Aires meeting and matters have been further discussed both at meetings concerned with other fields of FAO activity, and at those organized by other international agencies such as the International Union for the Protection of Nature.
The four regional Forestry Commissions (together with the joint European/Near East Subcommission on Mediterranean Forestry Problems - Silva Mediterranea) facilitate within each region the exchange of technical and economic information among governments with similar problems and conditions. The third session of the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission was held in Tokyo in April 1955. The European Forestry Commission held its seventh session in Geneva in November 1954, and the eighth session will take place in Rome next October. The Near East Forestry Commission held its first session in Teheran in September 1955, and in October the fifth session of the Latin American Forestry Commission will take place in Caracas, Venezuela.
Near East
The holding of the first session of the Near East Forestry Commission was delayed to give time for substantial progress to be made in regard to recommendations formulated by the inaugural regional forestry gathering, the Near East Forestry Conference, held in Amman in December 1952. These included the creation of a regional forestry school for the Arabic-speaking countries, and the organization of a regional research center, for both of which institutions the Government of Syria has offered to act as host. Another project was the study of problems affecting both forestry and agriculture, such as range management which is so important for this region. The technical meeting on forest grazing, held in Rome in the spring of 1954, provided -the necessary background. Mention has already been made of the compilation of the Arabic forestry glossary.
The activities of forestry Technical Assistance experts working in countries of the region, the organization of a highly successful seminar on forest policy in Istanbul in September 1954, and the contacts established over the past two years with the forest authorities in the various countries by the regional forestry officer stationed in Cairo, have all contributed to the progress of forest policy in the region.
Latin America
In Latin America, Technical Assistance has been carried out on a large scale, the missions dealing both with specific problems and with the formulation of sound forest policies as a contribution to the economic development of countries of the region. The two largest Technical Assistance undertakings are in Mexico and Chile, while in the Amazon valley a forestry mission is taking part in a comprehensive project for the whole basin. Experts have taken part in the Central American Integration Scheme, carrying out appraisal of forest resources, preparing management plans, advising on methods of improvement of existing forest industries and the establishment of new ones. The possibilities were examined for developing pulp, paper and board industries in the Caribbean area. Lecturers have been assigned to courses in tropical forestry in Turrialba, in co-operation with the Inter-American Institute of Agricultural Sciences, and in Puerto Rico in co-operation with the United States Forest Service.
The second volume, recently issued, deals with the ambrosia beetles of the genus Dendroctonus which are the most destructive pests of the pine woods of Guatemala.
All species of this genus can infect completely healthy trees, although many species prefer diseased trees as hosts. Any conifer attacked reacts by an abundant secretion of resin, which often drives out or drowns the larvae. Nevertheless, their powers of resistance to secretions are considerable, greater than- those of other genera of Scolytides.
According to the authorities, there are 25 species of Dendroctonus, which live exclusively on conifers, and all of which, with the exception of one which exists in Europe, are indigenous to the continent of America, from Canada to Honduras. Their economic importance is considerable. The yearly damage still caused in the United States by various species is put at an average of $20 million. Pour species of Dendroctonus have been found in Guatemala, three of which, namely Dendroctonus adjunctus, D. mexicanus and D. parallelocollis, appear to have very similar habits, while the fourth species, D. valens, is larger and more destructive.
National progress reports on forest policy submitted to the fifth session of the Latin American Forestry Commission, to be held in Venezuela in October, 1955, show that progress in forestry is still slow, and that many governments attach too little importance to the place of forestry in their economy and for the conservation of soil and water. The meeting of pulp and paper experts organized in Buenos Aires in 1954, showed the contribution that this aspect of forest production could make to economic development.
Europe, including the Mediterranean
Following the publication in 1953 of European Timber Trends and Prospects, prepared jointly by the secretariats of FAO and ECE, the European Forestry Commission has attempted to promote a dynamic forest policy to overcome the problems of forest development in the region. The Commission is continuing to give special attention to the question of the small private forest, a pattern of land tenure which is of particular importance in Europe.
Technical Assistance activities were completed in Austria in 1954 but continue, although on a reduced scale, in Yugoslavia. A meeting of all the experts who have worked in that country was arranged for September 1955, when their recommendations were co-ordinated in a comprehensive development plan. In co-operation with ECE, certain members of the joint Subcommission on Mediterranean Forestry Problems, which held its fourth session in Athens in June 1954, are studying the contribution of forestry to the economic development of Southern Europe. A eucalyptus study tour in Morocco was organized by this body in October 1964.
The activities of the joint FAO/ECE Committee on forest operations and training of forest workers, and of its various working parties, are referred to later in this report, together with the work of the ECE Timber Committee which is jointly serviced by FAO and ECE. The European Forestry Commission's working party on torrent control and protection from avalanches, held a study tour in the Swiss Alps in July 1954 for the particular study of snow behavior, causes of avalanches, and defensive measures.
Asia and the Pacific
The third session of the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission was held in Tokyo in April, 1955 attended by representatives of 18 of the 21 member countries. The majority of the countries in this region follow well-founded forest policies, although in some cases forest law and administration has not kept up with the development of forest industries. Certain important forestry problems, such as the control of shifting cultivation, remain to be solved, and Technical Assistance is chiefly concerned with this and other specific problems. These include control of the arid zone of Rajasthan in India, reforestation techniques in Thailand, setting up forestry and forest products research institutes in Burma, logging in tropical forests of Indonesia, and mechanical tree-planting in Ceylon. A training center on the application of statistical methods to tropical forestry and associated research will be held in India in late 1955.
The Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission has established a number of subsidiary bodies, including a subcommission on teak, working parties on grading and standardization, public education in forestry and watershed management, and two research committees on silvicultural and forest management research and on forest products research.
Fourth World Forestry Congress
The Organization assisted the Government of India during 1954 in the preparations for the Fourth World Forestry Congress. Ministers and delegations from all the States of India participated, together with representatives of professional and trade organizations. From abroad, 150 delegates from 45 countries and six international organizations also attended.
Tropical forestry was given prominence at the Congress and recommendations on management policies were made to assure fuller production from mixed tropical forests.
A number of recommendations of the Congress are being given effect by the Organization, while others are being submitted to the regional Forestry Commissions and to the Conference of FAO for consideration and decision. They will guide FAO action in the years ahead until the next World Forestry Congress, contemplated for 1960.
Technical Assistance
The number of experts engaged on direct advice and guidance in member countries in the middle of 1954 was slightly lower than in 1953. This was due to financial limitation on the operational budget.
By the middle of 1955, activities had recovered and 38 forestry experts were assigned to 19 countries. Three experts are working in three Central American countries, 15 in six South American countries, six in four Near East countries, 11 in six Far East countries, and one in Africa. This is a marked increase over the number of experts in the field in 1954, and both the number of experts at work and the number of countries, of assignment represent the highest so far attained. Since the approval at mid-year of the 1955 supplementary Technical Assistance Program, a number of posts remained still to be filled during the autumn. It is, therefore, probable that, during the latter half of 1955, the number of forestry experts in the field will exceed 50. At the same time, the number of Technical Assistance officers at Headquarters to service the forestry program has been reduced from four to three.
The activities of the 38 experts in the field in June 1955 were classified as follows: forest policy - 11 experts, including legislation, administration, education, forest range management, and general forestry; forest technology, 23 experts, including ecology, silviculture, management, afforestation, logging, sawmilling and forest industries, forest economics - four experts, including survey and inventory, marketing and economic development. In Latin America, the field experts are equally divided between forestry proper and utilization. In the Near East, owing to different regional conditions, most of the experts are concerned with aspects of forestry proper, while in the Far East the majority are working on aspects of utilization.
Over the past 18 months, 42 final reports of missions have been published.
As regards Fellowships, 18 Fellows from nine countries, were studying as of mid-1955. the same number as one year earlier. An increase to 25 is expected during the latter half of 1955.
Forest policy relates to activities necessitating considerable policy decision, although practically all the forestry work of the Organization involves at one time not only aspects of policy but also of technology and economics. To some extent, fortuitous circumstances have determined the exact projects handled under this title. For instance, work on poplar and chestnut described below, which properly belongs to the field of forest technology, is dealt with by staff of the forest policy branch.
Activities, already referred to in the section dealing with international collaboration, involve forest policy as does the technical supervision of the Expanded Technical Assistance Program work. In order to ensure that all undertakings are in conformity with the principles of forest policy adopted by the Sixth Session of the FAO Conference, an analysis was carried out, during 1954, of the forest policies and laws operative in the countries receiving Technical Assistance.
Special studies of certain policy issues of international concern, included types of forest ownership and their effect on forest management as part of the FAO work on land tenure and agrarian structure. A forestry staff member participated in the seminar on agrarian structure organized by FAO in Bangkok in late 1954.
The Division participated in a study of shifting cultivation typical case studies relating to Africa will shortly be published as a forestry development paper, to be followed by two concerned with Latin America. A final analytical paper will appear in 1956.
Technical Assistance missions to advise on forest policy and associated matters are at work in Chile, Bolivia, Brazil (Amazon), Ethiopia, Iran, Libya and Paraguay. The Near East regional seminar on forest policy has already received mention.
Special policies
A program of work has been outlined for arid-zone forestry and control of desert conditions, following outstanding work carried in Libya under the Technical Assistance Program. A study on the policy, technical and economic aspects of growing timber outside the forest has also been started.
The International Poplar Commission, for which FAO provides the secretariat, met in Madrid in April 1955, when Argentina, Egypt, Iran, and Syria were elected as new members. Membership now includes countries from four continents. Canada and Yugoslavia have indicated their wish to join. Representatives of Finland, Greece, Pakistan and the United States of America (non-members), attended the session in Spain. Members of the Commission have go-operated with the secretariat in preparing a comprehensive monograph on poplars which will be published toward the end of 1955.
Preparations have been made for the third session of the similar commission formed to deal with Castanea, the International Chestnut Commission, which meets in Rome in September 1955.
The Permanent Working Party on Cork-Oak of the Subcommission on Mediterranean Forestry Problems met in Spain in May 1955. Discussions were held on the need for an accurate inventory of cork-oak forests to determine the areas where the future of this forest type is jeopardized by lack of regeneration or excessive exploitation, and the acreage that should be restocked each year in order to maintain an adequate growing stock. The policy to be followed is closely bound up with agrarian structure and forest grazing. Although there is increasing competition from synthetic products especially in France, Germany and the United States, cork-agglomerates are finding a greater number of uses.
Conservation
This heading relates to two types of activities; on the one hand, revealing the direct and indirect influence derived from forest cover and from associated lands, and, on the other encouraging the development of services and agencies having responsibility for conservation and fostering a sympathetic public opinion.
A publication on forest influences is in preparation and will be issued in the FAO forestry study series. Attention has been mainly concentrated on forest grazing and range management, in collaboration with the Agriculture Division. Forestry staff members have attended the meetings of the FAO pasture and fodder development working parties for the Mediterranean and Near East and have also taken part in the training center on range management organized by the United States Foreign Operations Administration (FOA) in Iran in the summer of 1955.
Arising from the technical meeting on forest grazing, organized in Rome in March 1954, a technical panel has been established of specialists in range management, upon whom the Organization can draw for advice and information. With the help of this panel, two studies have been undertaken, one on the cultivation of trees for fodder, and the other on equipment and methods for eradioating noxious vegetation from both forest and range areas. The principles of range management and forest grazing, laid down by the Rome meeting, have been widely publicized among forest services through the regional Forestry Commissions.
The problems of watershed management are receiving increased attention. The working party on torrent control and protection from avalanches of the European Forestry Commission, has already been referred to. The Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission is now establishing a some what similar working party, and several Technical Assistance missions are operating in fields of related interest.
A technical panel on forestry education, as recommended to FAO by the Fourth World Forestry Congress, is in process of formation, whose first task will be to supervise the preparation of a revised edition of the FAO Directory of Forestry Schools. FAO has published a paper entitled World Festival of Trees and distributed extracts to school authorities under the title School Forests. Assistance has been given on preparing a manual on conservation for the Boy Scout Movement.
Activities concerning the techniques of establishment, growing, protecting, harvesting and use of forest crops are handled by the Forest Technology Branch, which aims at obtaining a balance between production in the forest and fuller utilization of forest products.
All such activities must be based on research, and the Organization has continued to stimulate investigations in certain important fields.
A tropical silviculture consultant reviewed current literature and indicated future research needs. His summary was approved, with some modifications, by the Fourth World Forestry Congress and will be published in a volume on Tropical Forestry, now in preparation. Limited financial contributions have been made to the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) for research on problems of special interest to FAO. The Organization provides the secretariat for IUFRO and staff members participated in the annual sessions of its Permanent Committee, in Nancy in September 1954, and Stockholm in September 1955. The Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission has asked FAO to establish regional advisory committees on silvicultural and on forest products research, and similar committees will probably be formed in other regions. The members of the FAO technical panels on wood chemistry and on mechanical wood technology exchange information on progress in research and on results.
Part of the work carried out by the expert has been to design and construct a new lumber shed, 145 x 18 meters, by a prefabrication method not previously employed in Thailand. The shed was made up from a small range of standard wooden girders and trusses which were prefabricated to patterns marked out on a workshop floor and then hoisted and bolted together to form the new shed. By employment of this method the work was carried out largely by unskilled labor.
Under the Technical Assistance Program, experts have been advising on the establishment of forest research institutes and forest products laboratories in Burma, Iran, Mexico and the Philippines, and on research programs in Thailand and Turkey. Progress has been made with the creation of regional research centers for the Near East and for Latin America.
Silviculture and management
Under the Regular Program, these activities are carried on chiefly in support of field projects such as the Technical Assistance missions carrying out investigations of silvicultural practices suited to the forests of the Amazon Valley, mechanized planting operations in Ceylon, management of natural forest and plantations in Chile, organization of a section on logging research and training at the Forest Research Institute in India, silvicultural methods and reforestation in Syria, and reforestation and afforestation methods and programs in Turkey. A number of publications in the World Forest Planting Manual series have been published, prepared initially by special consultants, including Handling Forest Tree Seed (also containing international Heed testing rules), Tree Seed Notes (for arid areas and humid tropical) Tree Planting Practices for Arid Areas, and Tree Planting Practices in Tropical Africa (now in preparation). Similar papers are planned dealing with temperate and tropical Asia, while completion of papers on Latin America, Europe, and on Choice of Species, have had to be deferred to late 1955. A revised 1955 edition of the Forest Seed Directory has been issued, and the English text of Eucalypts for Planting is ready for publication.
Work has continued on the widespread introduction of eucalypts, and mention has already been made of the eucalypt study tour in Morocco. The Commonwealth Forestry and Timber Bureau, Australia, is preparing a comprehensive annotated bibliography on the genus, with some help from FAO, while initial preparations have been made for a world conference on eucalypts to be held in 1956 or 1957.
While the Organization endeavors to strike a balance between the interest of plantations and the management of natural forests, priority has so far been given to the needs of those regions and areas where centuries of nomadism and overgrazing have led to the gradual and progressive ruin of the forest and serious soil degradation. This has meant much correspondence on seed problems, planting and tending techniques, and much time spent on the seed exchange clearing-house service. A subcommission on teak has been started in the Far East region and increased attention in the future will be given to tropical rain forest.
Expensive road transport is used to carry beech logs from the interior of Croatia over the denuded Velebit Coast Range to a small export port on the Adriatic.
Introduction of sustained yield management to Yugoslavia's forests its facilitated by construction of permanent forest settlements in the forests of Pljesivica, Croatia.
Utilization
In the report of its third session, the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission was concerned that improved forestry practices and management were not keeping pace with the growth of new forest industries and the expansion of forest operations. Similar apprehensions have been expressed for other regions.
Many of the Technical Assistance missions concerned with forest policy are also advising on the systematic development of forest industries. Other missions directly concerned with various phases of industrial development have been conducted during the year in Chile, Colombia India, Indonesia (pulp), Paraguay, Philippines (pulp), Thailand and Yugoslavia. Assistance has been given to the Chilean Government in the opening of the Llaneacura demonstration sawmill while, in the Amazon Valley, FAO is assisting the Brazilian Government in the development of this area on the basis of forest industries.
Under the Regular Program, working parties of experts have been implementing the recommendations of the Third FAO Conference on Wood Technology, the report of which has been published. While the working parties are mainly concerned with scouring standardization of methods of test of wood and wood-base materials, they are also preparing a Systematic classification of wood base commodities, an agreement on principles of structural grading, and a manual on improving the small sawmill. They will report to a fourth conference in 1957.
Only limited attention could be paid to housing and improved use of constructional timber, but a major effort has been made in the pulp and paper fields as described elsewhere in this report. Consideration was given to the future scope of the work of the technical panel on chemical wood utilization, at a restricted meeting of members at Zurich in July 1955.
Equipment
To assist in improving forest productivity by the introduction of better machinery and equipment, the Organization maintains current documentation on machines and equipment manufactured throughout the world and provides information on new equipment and the modernization
of forest industries. Purchases are arranged under the Expanded Technical Assistance Program (ETAP) of material destined for experts, demonstration centers and training.
A new edition of the catalogue of wheel and crawler tractors has been prepared, a staff member attended a meeting in Lisbon in early 1955 of the International Standards Organization's group on tractor testing. A world directory of manufacturers of saws for primary conversion of logs is in preparation. "Equipment News" has appeared as a regular feature in Unasylva, and a series of separate Equipment Notes published: 42 such notes have been published
to date and 45,000 copies distributed to technicians, services and organizations that have specially requested them. Information papers have been prepared by consultants and issued on stoves and ovens for wood burning, and on movable and fixed kilns for charcoal manufacture (in French only). Other papers have been started on wire ropes and gables for forest extraction, and wood chippers for dealing with forest and sawmill waste.
A technical panel of 120 specialists in the various fields of forest operations and wood-using industries advises the Organization on methods and equipment. There have been meetings of the study groups set up by the joint FAO/ECE committee on forest operations and training of forest workers in June 1954; the group on principles tractors for forest operations met in Geneva in April, 1955 the group on working methods and performance trials in Hamburg in May, and the group on vocational training of forest workers in Copenhagen, also in May. This group discussed measures for the safety of forest workers, a subject which is to be dealt with in a study prepared by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
The Agricultural Department will take charge of the blocks between wind belts and manure will be introduced to improve the soil and good pasture will be grown. All the blocks will be fenced and the cattle will be allowed to graze each block successively according to a management plan and under the supervision of the village headman (with the advice of representatives of the Agriculture and Forest Departments).
The photograph shows the preparation of seed beds for trees later to be planted out on "patana" areas.
Published in 1955, World Forest Resources gives the results in text and tables of the world-wide inventory undertaken by FAO in 1953.
Attention has been paid to improving the coverage, reliability and international comparability of forestry statistics. National statistics in the field of production, trade and consumption have been collected by Technical Assistance officers as part of their field work. A draft long-term program for forestry and forest products statistics has drawn up which will be discussed by special statistical working parties on definitions and classifications. As recommended by the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission, preparations have also been made to organize statistical seminars in the Far East.
Technical Assistance experts have advised on carrying out forest inventories in tropical and subtropical countries including India, Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador, Iraq, Syria and Thailand on the interpretation of serial photographs, and compiling forest maps.
Forest Industries and Trade
An efficient service of current economic and statistical intelligence is maintained to cover the constantly changing pattern of production, consumption and trade in timber and other forest products, and a systematic attempt has been made to collate statistics, country by country, for the last ten years. Based on
this material, commodity reports have been prepared and published in Unasylva, a review and outlook has been included in the State of Food and Agriculture, and regional problems have been reviewed in the surveys of the Economic Commissions of the United Nations.
The Timber Committee of the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) for which FAO provides the professional secretariat, held its twelfth session at Geneva in November 1954, and the next session is being held in September 1955. The Committee's annual review of the timber situation covers the outlook not only for the ensuing year but for a longer period of two to five years ahead, in order to introduce a stabilizing factor in European timber markets for the go-ordination of forward felling programs.
The joint FAO/ECE quarterly bulletin, Timber Statistics for Europe, started in 1946, has continued to be published. The delay in publishing current statistics and market reports, has been reduced and a supplementary sheet with latest data has been issued. A new form of presentation will shortly be adopted. From 1 January 1955, new statistical series have been included, dealing with prices for pulpwood, pitprops and sawnwood, as well as for competing materials.
A working party established by the ECE Timber Committee to seek a formula for general conditions of sale for timber, met in May 1955. Delegates from 13 countries discussed possibilities of scouring a measure of uniformity in grading of sawn softwoods.
Increasing attention has been paid in Technical Assistance work to marketing problems for forest products. Missions have been or are in process of being carried out in Mexico, Paraguay and the Caribbean Area to investigate marketing organization, market facilities and trading practices, both for internal and external markets. In the Far East, acceptable grading rules are being finalized for sawn hardwoods and for hardwood logs. Grading rules for teak, squares and sawn, are still under discussion.
Forest statistics and studies
Improved coverage of statistics of production, trade and consumption, is provided in the annual reference publication, the FAO Yearbook of Forest Products Statistics. The 1954 edition contained for the first time reliable world estimates broken down into regions, and included forest products other than wood. The arrangements for collecting, processing and publishing all the data have been improved so that future yearbooks should appear with less delay.
As a continuation of the program of the United Nations and its agencies for expanding world production of pulp and paper to meet prospective needs, FAO, in collaboration with the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLA) and other agencies of the United Nations, organized the meeting of experts from the pulp and paper industry at Buenos Aires, to which reference has earlier been made. The meeting came to important conclusions regarding the Technical and economic aspects of pulp and paper manufacture from tropical and sub-tropical hardwoods and agricultural residues, development prospects, financing, research and training. Its report, together with the FAO study on World Pulp and Paper Resources and Prospects, published in 1954, was submitted to the nineteenth session of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC) in May 1955. As a result, a group of experts has been assigned to the Latin-American region under the Technical Assistance Program to help countries to go-ordinate new pulp and paper production along sound technical and economic lines.
A study on timber substitution has been started in close co-operation with ECE. In addition to a general survey of world trends, based mainly on the relation between total sawnwood consumption and activity in the wood-consuming industries, investigations have begun in three selected fields (housing, mining and railway sleepers) to find out how far substitution has progressed, and what are the future prospects.
A selection of titles of reports on forestry missions prepared by FAO Technical Assistance experts is given below. These reports, which are normally produced in one language only, are confidential documents and cannot be released for general distribution without the express permission of the Government concerned. Such permission is not granted in every case. The asterisk marks those reports available for general release.
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AUSTRIA |
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Application of Aerial Photography in Austrian Forest Inventory |
D.A. Boon |
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Reforestation |
R.F. Brown |
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Forestry Fund |
J.A. de Vaissière |
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Investment Program for Forestry and Forest Industries |
E. Glesinger |
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*Das Osterreichische Forschungsinstitut für Forstprodukte |
G.M. Hunt |
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Die Forstliche Bundesversucheanstart für die Waldstandsaufnahme |
M. Näslund |
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BOLIVIA |
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Forestry |
H.S. Kernan |
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BRAZIL |
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*Forest Development in the Amazon Valley |
R. Gachot, M. N. Gallant, K. P. McGrath |
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*Silvicultural Problems of Araucaria angustifolia |
L.J. Rogers |
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BURMA |
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*Integration of Forests and Industries |
J.A. von Monroy |
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CEYLON |
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*Mechanical Logging |
A. C. Decamps |
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Reforestation |
C. Letourneux |
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CHILE |
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*Forestry Development (The Agricultural Economy of Chile) |
E.I. Kotok |
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COLOMBIA |
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Planificacción forestal |
M. van Bottenburg |
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ETHIOPIA |
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Forest Policy and Forest Development |
E.H.F. Swain |
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GUATEMALA |
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* LA Entomología forestal |
F. Sohwerdtfeger and G. Becker |
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HAITI |
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La politique forestière en sa mise en œuvre. |
L.V. Burns |
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HONDURAS |
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*Extracción de resinas |
H.W. Sandermann |
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*Silvicultura |
C.E. Simmons |
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ICELAND |
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*Forestry |
R.F. Taylor |
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INDIA |
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*Control of the Arid Zone of Rajastban |
A.Y. Goor |
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*Wood Technology |
F.F. Kollmann |
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INDONESIA |
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*Logging |
F. Cermak |
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IRAN |
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Forest Range Management |
V.P. Carocci Buzi |
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*La carbonisation |
E.E.F. Uhart |
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*La politique et la législation en matière forestière |
E.E.F. Uhart |
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IRAQ |
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*Poplar Cultivation |
E. Allegri |
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*Eucalyptus Cultivation |
L.D. Pryor |
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KOREA |
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Forestry in South Korea |
Sir Herbert Howard |
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LIBYA |
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*Forestry |
J. Messines |
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Forestry Activities 1952-54 |
J. Moser |
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MALAYA |
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*First Regional Timber Grading School |
C.O. Flemmich |
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MEXICO |
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La Creacion de un Centro de Investigación Forestal y de un Laboratorio de la Celulosa |
P. Bellouard |
|
Silvicultura |
D.T. Griffiths |
|
*EI Problema forestal de México |
L. Huguet |
|
*La economía de la industria de la madera de pino |
P. Pöyry |
|
La Industria resinera |
H.W. Sandermann |
|
NEAR EAST |
*Forestry Policy Seminar (Istanbul) |
|
NEPAL |
|
|
Forestry |
E. Robb |
|
PAKISTAN |
|
|
The Medicinal Plants of West Pakistan |
G.M. Hooking |
|
Integration of Forests and Industries |
J.A. von Monroy |
|
PARAGUAY |
|
|
*Politica forestal y fomento de los recursos forestales |
E. Saari and J.J. French |
|
PHILIPPINES |
|
|
*Far Eastern mechanical Logging Training Center |
H.G. Keith |
|
THAILAND |
|
|
Reforestation |
C. Letourneaux |
|
URUGUAY |
|
|
Afforestation in Uruguay |
L.J. Rogers |
|
YUGOSLAVIA |
|
|
L'utilisation de déchets du bois |
F. Bender |
|
L'industrie des contreplaqués |
J.S. Bethel |
|
*La politique forestière |
J.A. de Vaissière |
|
*La conservation des sols |
A. Dugelay |
|
*Die Rationalisierung der Holzexploitation in Gebirgsgebieten |
A. Huber |
|
*Seed and Genetics |
C. Syrach Larsen |
|
*Die Methoden zur Verbesserung des Zuwachses und der Produktion der Wälder Jugoslawiens |
H. Leibundgut |
|
*Fast-growing Tree Species |
J. Pourtet |
|
*Les problèmes de reboisement |
J.L. Prax |
|
*Kiln Drying |
E.J. Sahlman |
|
*Sur la réorganisation de l'Institut du bois a Zagreb |
C.W. Soott |
|
*Le déroulage et le tranchage des bois |
J. Venet |
