SOON after the arrival in Rome of Mr. B. R. Sen as Director-General of FAO, just over a year ago, the Director of the Forestry Division and Mr. Gunnar Myrdal, then Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, drew his attention to certain recommendations made by FAO's Mediterranean Forestry Subcommission in the light of experience gained in ECE's Survey of Southern Europe. These recommendations called- for a fundamental study of the possibilities and limits of restoring the forest cover to those enormous land areas all around the Mediterranean which have become and remain denuded and practically unproductive.
The Director-General regarded this as a challenging idea.
It soon became clear, however, that a successful program would require a newer and broader approach, and that piecemeal attempts at development in each sector separately, as seemed to have prevailed hitherto, would not achieve the purpose. In order to succeed, plans would be required based on the closest possible co-ordination between a variety of measures affecting reforestation, crop production and grazing, and properly related to basic policies concerning employment, transport development, water utilization, and so forth.
These, however, were generalizations which left many questions unanswered. This was the reason for deciding last April to undertake a preliminary exploration of the whole problem, so as to obtain a clearer idea of its real nature before deciding whether, and in what form, further action should be taken.
The result of this exploration was a comprehensive report entitled Mediterranean Forestry Programs in relation to Agricultural Rehabilitation and General Development, which was submitted to the Ninth Session of the Conference of FAO in November 1957.
This interim report did not claim to give all the answers, nor was it expected that all its suggestions should be retained since further investigation might lead to a revision of ideas. Also, the short time available made it impossible to prepare a really satisfactory document giving figures properly cross-checked and reasonably complete. The immediate purpose of the report was to provide an analysis of the information already available on some of the countries of the region, to indicate the gaps which would have to be filled before proceeding further, and to outline some tentative conclusions which could be drawn from that analysis.
The interim report was based primarily on four country studies relating to Iraq, Syria, Greece and Spain, compiled solely by the Secretariat and not reviewed or endorsed by the governments concerned. In these country studies, an over-all survey was attempted of the available physical, human and financial resources, of the recent rate of progress, and of the degree to which land, manpower and even industrial capacity appeared to be less than fully used.
The lessons learned from the study of these four countries were then pooled with more general information collected meanwhile with regard to all the countries bordering the Mediterranean region, and particularly for the eastern countries of that region.
Discussion of this report by the Conference, to which reference is made elsewhere in this issue, revealed general agreement about the importance of a broad and bold attack on Mediterranean agriculture and forestry, and the Director-General was authorized to proceed with a Mediterranean Development Project in 1968 and 1969. The Director-General insisted that "this project will not result in producing just another study... our most immediate aim is to produce plans for action for each participating country, but after as careful a study as circumstances permit".
The aim of this project will be to help countries in the Mediterranean area to develop their forestry and other land and water resources at an accelerated pace in order to contribute to their general economic and social development. The emphasis will be on programs in the fields of forestry, pasture, water development and related agriculture improvements. Not only technical aspects will be dealt with but also the cost of the necessary investments and the prospective benefits, and the steps to be taken for implementation. The question of how the necessary investments could be financed and what complementary measures are needed in the field of economic and financial policy, must also be studied.
The degree of consideration to be given to such aspects as lie beyond FAO's recognized field of competence will depend, first, on the desire of the countries concerned to see these aspects treated, and second, upon FAO's ability to enlist the active co-operation of other United Nations Agencies.
Two successive stages of afforestation work on terraces directly sown with Scotch pine, in the province of Burgos, Spain.
Courtesy, Spanish Ministry of Agriculture
