Appropriate technology in logging
Acorns: a crop for the future
World timber trade increases
Wood energy in dry countries
FAO promotes wood energy
Logging operations in developing countries can be divided into two broad groups: those carried out in natural forests and those carried out in plantations. The natural forests still dominate in the tropical regions. It was in the natural forests that forest harvesting first began, and in many countries they still are the only or the main source of wood supply for the forest-based industries. Harvesting in these natural forest types is oriented toward a few large trees of high commercial value. With rapid depletion of much of the natural forest resources in developing countries and in light of the market pressures for wood products, there is now an increasing awareness of the importance of utilizing the lesser-known and underutilized species as well as more small-diameter trees, in order to be able to extend the forest resource base to meet present and future needs.
Plantation or human-made forests are increasingly being established in the developing countries for productive as well as protective purposes. Often they have been set up as buffer plantations for the industry, to decrease the negative impact of the receding natural forests. Short-rotation plantations have been established to supply the fibre requirements of new pulp and paper mills and for large-scale programmes of energy production, or as a source of fibre-wood or charcoal supply for the rural and urban populations. In some countries the established plantations have already been harvested on reaching their first or second rotation cycle, while in many others the human-made forests are gradually reaching their rotation age and decisions on the harvesting technology and systems have to he made.
The logging equipment used for large trees in natural tropical forests, such as heavy-duty wheeled and crawler tractors, yarders, trucks and loading equipment, is usually trig and costly, and many of these technology alternatives are inappropriate in the human-made forests. On the other hand, many of the single- or multipurpose logging machines currently used in the plantation forests of highly developed countries are just as inappropriate at present for use in most of the developing countries.
The described scenario of different forest formations - in addition to the various existing logging alternatives and the interaction of the climate, soil characteristics, and the morphological configuration of the terrain, among other variables, together with the wide scale of socio-economic conditions prevailing in the countries - is a clear indication that the choice of an appropriate logging technology is not easy.
An appropriate level of mechanization should he adopted according to the conditions prevailing in each c country. To a large extent, this is determined by the cost ratio between labour and machines. With respect to the machines, it is not only the initial price of the equipment that is important tent hut also the operational costs and degree of operational efficiency that can he attained in each country. If, for example, spare parts are scarce and costly, mechanical repair shops are not readily available, and there are few trained operators, sophisticated logging equipment will not meet the requirement of the country hut will constitute a burden.
There is therefore a recognized need to develop or adopt the technology - high, intermediate or basic - best suited to a set of situations or combined effects related to characteristics of the raw material, the terrain and the level and quality of production: the degree of mechanization and efficiency of actual logging operations: the availability and cost of labour; occupational and safety levels; energy availability and cost; and socioeconomic as well as ecological conditions on site, among other things. As the above-mentioned conditions can vary greatly from country to country, the transfer of logging methods must be undertaken with a high degree of planning, work studies, research and training.
The switch to smaller trees coming from natural forests and plantations in many developing countries strongly indicates an urgent need to modify the traditional logging methods or systems and adopt appropriate logging technology together with efficient work organization. It is interesting to note that in many industrialized countries, smaller equipment is being reintroduced so as to reduce capital investment and fuel operating costs. An example is the use of the agricultural tractor with forestry attachments. This approach can also be applied in many developing countries.
The role of FAO. In order to assist developing countries in improving their harvesting operations, an important activity of the Forest Logging and Transport Branch of the FAO Forest Industries Division is to promote, undertake or participate in case-studies of selected logging equipment and methods to investigate and determine production and cost levels under specific working conditions through work and time studies. In addition, work organization is analysed and defined in the most efficient way. The results of the case-studies are widely distributed to the interested countries.
The basic or intermediate logging techniques considered for case-studies consist of oxen logging, forestry logging attachments for agricultural tractors small ground-skidding winches, plastic chutes, small mechanical loading cranes, trailers for wood transport and self-loading small trucks, among others.
The success of case-studies to he undertaken depends to a great extent on the direct assistance provided by the local institutions. The Forest Logging and Transport Branch would therefore be very grateful to hear from interested forestry organizations willing to give the necessary support in undertaking these case-studies in their countries on introduced or locally developed appropriate logging technology.
R. Heinrich
FAO Forest Industries Division
The acorns from oaks (Quercus) and tan oaks (Lithocarpus) have been used as food for many thousands of years. They occur in the early town sites in the Zagros Mountains and at Catal Huyuk (6000 BC) and were a staple food for many people until after AD 1900. Now they are used by only a few groups, most notably the Koreans - between 1 million and 2.5 million litres of acorns a year are harvested in the Republic of Korea. Mook is available in the United States at Korean delicatessens.
Acorns are a perennial "grain" crop that can play an important role in restoring degraded lands and feeding hungry and malnourished people. They provide up to 600 kcal and 8 g of protein per 100 g. They offer well-balanced amino-acids that are complemented by milk, legumes or meat, and they provide plentiful vitamin A (180 IU/g) and vitamin C (up to 55 mg per 100 g).
Many oaks will produce 500 litres of acorns per tree when mature. Acorn production of 3 500 kg a year is common in wild forests. Higher yields could be achieved in oak plantations. In many cultures, acorns were once the "grain" of choice. They can be again, in sustainable agroforestry systems.
Further study of all the oaks is needed to identify the sweetest, best-tasting acorns for food and the oiliest acorns for making acorn oil - which is very similar to olive oil.
LOGGING OPERATIONS IN INDIA a variety of appropriate logging technologies
Oak trees also provide fodder for animals (acorns and leaves); cork for insulation, bottle corks, and many other purposes; sugar from scale insects - the "manna from Heaven" mentioned in the Bible; food for wildlife, especially game species (deer, turkeys, and hears); erosion control excellent shapes and colours for use in landscaping and for shade; a variety of hardwoods for use in furniture and manufacturing; excellent wood, including fuelwood and food for silkworms. Oaks are also involved in several types of mushroom anti fungi production, including shitake and truffles.
ACORNS AND ACORN-MUFFINS a useful food source
They could he used for land reclamation and agro-ecosystem development in many areas of the world. The various species can tolerate a very wide range of climatic and soil conditions, including very hot or cold climates very saline or alkaline soil, and wet or intermittently flooded ground.
In the western United States, oaks were a vital element in the food chain for native Americans. They provided up to half a tonne of acorns a family every year. These could he gathered in 24 hours. They stored well, for several years, and made life easy.
Acorns contain ample amino-acids for nutrition in a balanced diet for people, cattle, pigs, sheep, and chickens. Unleached hitter acorns may cause problems if fed in high proportions, hut leached and sweet acorns present none. Acorn meal tastes somewhat like peanut butter corn meal and toasted almonds and can he mixed with flour in recipes as if it were corn meal
David Bainbridge Berkeley, California
The volume of world trade increases by some 8 percent in 1984, in contrast with the very modest pick-up in the preceding year, which had followed two years of stagnation and decline.
The import boom in the United States accounted for about one-half of the rise, but a considerable stimulus came also from the nearly 6 percent growth in imports into the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) countries. Imports into the non-oil developing countries also picked up in 1984, though not enough to offset earlier falls, whereas those of oil exporters continued to contract.
All country groups, although to markedly different degrees, registered substantial growth in export volume in 1984, with especially rapid expansion coming in Japan, where exports rose at almost twice the average world rate. Exports from North America also increased very fast, owing largely to the dynamism of trade between Canada and the United States. US exports grew nearly as fast as those from Europe, though at less than one-third of the rate of import growth.
The uneven growth of world trade led to large imbalances, with opposite signs, in the United States and Japan. The continued widening of the United States deficit stemmed mainly from the upsurge in imports, while for Japan the spectacular growth in the surplus was caused by its strong export performance. In Europe - both Western Europe and the centrally planned economies - there were some improvements in current accounts, mainly because of favourable export developments.
The large share of intraregional flows in Western European trade makes the region very dependent on its own trade developments. Thus, though the volume of Western European exports to the United States rose by 39 percent in 1984, this increase accounted for less than half of Western Europe's export growth of some 7-8 percent. For the European centrally planned economies, the intraregional trade links are even stronger: a rise of over 50 percent in their exports to the US contributed only half a percentage point to the area's export growth.
There was also a large rise in 1984 in the volume of trade between the Eastern European countries and the USSR. This probably reflected fuel and raw-material deliveries to the Eastern European countries to support the upswing of production growth in the latter.
In 1984, East-West trade continued to expand. Western trade with Eastern Europe showed a pronounced pick-up, but Western trade with the USSR slowed substantially. In both cases, the pace of development appeared to speed up as the year progressed. At the same time, the Western trade deficit with the Eastern countries widened further (see table).
ECE and East-West trade: changes in trade volume (Percentages)
|
|
1980 |
1981 |
1982 |
1983 |
1984 |
|
ECE exports |
3 |
1 |
-1 |
2 |
8 |
|
Developed market economies |
3 |
- |
-2 |
2 |
9 |
|
Centrally planned economies |
2 |
2 |
5 |
6 |
6 |
|
ECE imports |
- |
-3 |
- |
5 |
11 |
|
Developed market economies |
-1 |
-3 |
-1 |
5 |
12 |
|
Centrally planned economies |
4 |
-1 |
2 |
4 |
5 |
|
East-West trade |
|||||
|
Western exports to Eastern Europe |
-2 |
-5 |
-16 |
- |
6 |
|
USSR |
9 |
15 |
5 |
2 |
1 |
|
Western imports from Eastern Europe |
-2 |
-8 |
-4 |
9 |
19 |
|
USSR |
-5 |
-8 |
10 |
7 |
3 |
Source: ECE Economic Survey of Europe in 1984-85.
SHIP IN PORT-GENTIL, GABON world trade grew in 1984
In trade with Eastern Europe, the rapid growth of the Western markets and a strong export drive by the Eastern European countries contributed to the rise in Western imports from that region. In terms of commodities, manufactured and particularly semi-manufactured goods, primary products and fuels contributed to the rise. Western exports to Eastern Europe, which had stopped declining only in 1983, rose in 1984. The relatively slow growth of Western exports reflects Eastern European countries policies aimed at a further improvement of their financial positions. The growth in Western deliveries was concentrated in primary products. Semi-manufactures and consumer goods.
After the strong revival in 1984, the outlook for world trade in 1985 is now one of a more moderate increase reflecting in particular a reduced growth of imports into the United States. Western European imports will make a significantly higher contribution to world trade than in 1984, although no increase in their growth rate is foreseen. In most of the European centrally planned economies, improvements of the external balance remain an important policy priority. However, after the significant easing of the balance-of-payments constraint in the last few years, there should remain room for continued growth of imports from the West.
ECE report
An FAO study carried out in 1983 attempted to assess the fuelwood situation now and up to the year 2000 in Morocco, the Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic and Tunisia and to recommend plans, plantation programmes and projects that could be undertaken to remedy the situation.
In the Sudan, Morocco and Tunisia, fuelwood (including charcoal) is the most important source of energy used for domestic purposes (cooking and heating). It is used by troth rural and urban populations. Charcoal and fuelwood substitutes such as fossil fuels and, to a lesser extent, electricity are increasingly being used in the towns. The poor, however, have even in towns to depend on fuelwood; in rural areas they use animal dung and agricultural residues. In the Syrian Arab Republic, fuelwood is not an important source of energy, because fossil fuels and electricity are extensively used instead. Thus, the contribution of fuelwood to total energy consumption for domestic purposes in the countries visited was found to he as follows: the Sudan, 85 percent: Morocco, 87 percent; Tunisia. 73 percent; and the Syrian Arab Republic, only 0.4 percent.
The sources of fuelwood - which are mainly the natural forests - are diminishing and degrading at a fast rate, mainly because of an alarming amount of overcutting and encroachment on the forests by agriculture (especially mechanized agriculture in the case of the Sudan) but also because of overgrazing, fire and a lack of means for proper forest management. The one exception to this is the Syrian Arab Republic.
Regarding the four countries visited, it can be said that the arid and semi-arid areas of the Sudan are in a situation of acute fuelwood scarcity: even with overcutting, the needs of the population cannot be met. In the remaining parts of the country, a deficit will evolve before the year 2000: needs will be met only by overcutting. All the other three countries are already in a deficit situation.
The total deficit per year is 16.2 million m³ for the four countries combined. The deficit in arid and semi-arid parts of the Sudan is 3.2 million m³; in Morocco, 10.5 m³: in Tunisia, 2.2 million m³; and in the Syrian Arab Republic. 0.3 million m³. The total consumption, and hence the deficit, of these countries is increasing in spite of the use of substitutes, because of increasing populations; it is estimated that their total deficit by the year 2000 will be over 19 million m³ a year.
It can be said in general that there are no technical problems (e.g., planting techniques, choice of species and production of seedlings) in solving the fuelwood problem of the region, though certain details of this aspect may be improved: for example. Tree-breeding and genetics and soil identification. The tree-planting policies and the laws relating to them are not an obstacle to solving the problem either, though some of their provisions could be improved.
The real difficulties in solving this serious problem are social and economic - a lack of awareness on the part of the people and politicians and hence a lack of political decisions aiming to stop the continued destruction and degradation of existing forests and providing the means for proper forest management. Proper management may more than double the present production of the natural forests. As is known, the continuing destruction of the forests will result not only in inadequate fuelwood supplies but also in a scarcity of other forest products, and in soil erosion, floods and environmental destruction.
On the basis of the existing deficit and that anticipated for the year 2000, a programme of plantations in the different ecological zones of each country has been prepared. It has been emphasized that the present rate of tree-planting is inadequate and cannot therefore solve the problem, has to he substantially accelerated, and without delay. A project proposal for the establishment of plantations for fuelwood production has also been prepared, and other projects, which donor countries may finance in the countries of the region, and which aim to remedy the situation, have been identified.
E.D. Michaelides
Forest biomass is one of the most promising sources of energy for developing countries, troth because of the opportunity it provides to replace imported fuels and because intensified management of the forest resource helps to promote rural development and employment. The saving of foreign currency resulting from a reduction in imported energy provides an economic justification for investment in the technology needed to convert wood for use as industrial fuel. In this context, the Forest Industries Division of FAO is implementing a Wood Energy for Development Programme which aims to promote the development of dendro-energy projects using the "credit" from the replacement of imported fuels.
Through the Wood for Energy project carried out in Honduras and funded by the United Nations Interim Fund for Science and Technological for Development, the Division has shown that an investment of US$10 million will suffice to fund the equivalent of 60 000 tonnes of oil - worth US$13 million - annually creating 4 000 new job opportunities in rural sectors to produce charcoal which will he supplied to two cement factories. It has been calculated that the initial investment will he recovered in two and a half years.
This investment has not taken into consideration several additional and important benefits such as the rehabilitation of deforested lands: the control of soil erosion and the improvement of watersheds and wildlife habitats; a more productive use of marginal lands; the redistribution of national revenues toward rural sectors, with direct effects on general living conditions; and a more integrated, rational and efficient use of forest resources.
In the light of this experience, and others in Brazil, the investment of US$2 500 for each new job created seems attractive and has encouraged the adoption of wood energy in technologies in other countries of Central America and the Caribbean subregion, and also in Southeast Asia and Africa.
Similar dendro-energy projects are being implemented in Brazil, Canada, India, Paraguay, the Philippines, Sweden, the United States, Uruguay and Finland, where forest resources as an industrial and commercial source of energy are contributing significantly to the national energy balance and are expected to make a higher contribution in the future.
The Forestry Department's regular programme supports rural development based on the use of forest resources as fuel. Activities carried out by the Division in 1984, as in previous years, include the following:
1. The preparation of technical documents to enable new projects to benefit from existing knowledge and experience. Several papers have been published or are in preparation:· Simple technologies for charcoal-making.· Industrial technologies for charcoal production
· Wood and charcoal gasification and its potential contribution to energy generation.
· Small steam power plants for electricity generation.
· Timber-drying with wood based energy
· Energy conservation in mechanical forest industries.
2. Support for activities to develop appropriate wood energy conversion systems. The study "Combined production of charcoal and electricity through the pyrolysis of lignicellulosic material" is in preparation.
3. Participation in conferences, seminars and workshops, and support for cooperative networks concerned with wood-based energy.
M.A. Trossero
FAO Forest Industries Division
