June 1953
An International Review of Forestry and Forest Products
THE NATIONAL STAKE IN WORLD FORESTRY
Can any. government be complacent over its forest resource developments and its forest administration? The 1952 Annual Report of the U. S. Forest Service offers an answer to this question for the United States in a striking presentation of "America's Stake in World Forestry."
The Chief of the Forest Service points out that the condition of the forest and range lands, which comprise a major portion of the world's total land surface, affects the welfare of millions of human beings. He confirms unequivocally what FAO maintains: that the way governments handle their forest and range resources and how well they are able to maintain or improve forest and range productivity will determine not only their national strength and standard of living but also their very survival.
The report, using FAO statistics as a basis for much of the information on forest resources, describes the world's timber supplies, shows the relationship of forests to living standards, predicts that the world's needs will increase, and discusses the possibilities of increasing production in Canada, Western Europe, Latin America, central and south Africa, southeast Asia and Oceania. It emphasizes the timber deficits in North Africa and the Near East, the need for rebuilding rather than heavier cutting in European forests, and the necessity for expanded reforestation in the critical situation in Japan. It covers the trade in the principal forest products, particularly lumber and pulp and paper, which America enjoys with other countries.
Against the background of these facts the opportunities for meeting the greater needs for forest and range productivity and output are presented. How are these opportunities to be faced; how are these needs to be met? The key' according to the U. S. Forest Service, is to be found through - complete go-operation with other nations, primarily by means of a world forestry movement.
Emphasizing the need for sound forest policy for each nation, the report summarizes the "Principles of Forest Policy" adopted by the FAO Conference in 1951, and points out that "few countries have adopted such a comprehensive policy. Even the United States, in which the conservation movement has made notable progress during the past half-century, falls short in some respects."
Describing the quite considerable measures of American participation in the world forestry movement, the Chief drives home the point that overseas assignments for American foresters in technical assistance programs and the training given to visiting foresters in the United States develop better understanding and are of distinct benefit to forestry in America. Furthermore, the Forest Service places itself on record as wishing to continue its strong support for this work of bringing to the world's forests "the touch of forest management."
This then is the objective: to put the work of the Forest Service on a basis sound and strong enough at home to meet domestic requirements and to make as effective as possible U. S. support to the world forestry movement.
Can there be any doubt that a country, to make its maximum contribution to world forestry, needs to have a clear forest policy, an administrative service with well-defined responsibilities and authority, strongly developed co-operative relations between government and private forest and range resource owners and operators, sound technical guidance by a scientific research organization, and constant recruitment from schools of high standards of well-trained technicians for both public and private service at home and abroad? Can any nation be complacent about the stage of development of its forestry services?
The American answer is, of course, an emphatic "NO!"
TIMBER TRENDS AND PROSPECTS
THE variety of FAO's work in technical assistance is illustrated by photographs elsewhere in this issue. By and large all this work has the same ultimate goal-that forests should make a maximum contribution to the welfare of the world's peoples, an objective which will in part be achieved if the largest possible amounts of forest products are efficiently used.
But a word of caution is necessary. Increased forest production must be based on assurances that markets will be available for additional produce. Questions must be posed and answered before governments can decide, as an important part of their economic policies, what priority should be given, for example, to the development of hitherto unexploited forests against competing claims for the limited investment resources available. Investors must be satisfied as to the fair prospects of, for instance, new industries for making pulp and paper.
Why strive purposely for greater production? Why not rely on the free play of economic forces to equate consumption and supplies? To acquiesce in such a solution would be to abandon tamely one of the main aims of the United Nations -freedom from want.
This is not to say that the promotion of increased production should not be based on careful analysis of future prospects. An example of the kind of analysis meant is the study on European Timber Trends and Prospects recently published jointly by the United Nations and FAO. This study carries analyses of the European picture to the limit permitted by the available material, and provides essential knowledge about trends in production, consumption and trade, and orders of magnitude, of relevance to policy decisions.
Similar studies, though not necessarily of the same detailed pattern, could advantageously be made to cover other areas of the world and to serve as a basis for international action. In that way, at least we should know that targets for increased production were not straying into the realm of fantasy or founded on unrealities.
It is the duty of FAO to work for progress, but there is not much hope of satisfactory achievement unless the targets aimed at can be proved both necessary and possible.
Cover photograph: Carved motifs of fauna and flora forming part of the English oak paneling given by the United Kingdom to the permanent Headquarters building of the United Nations at New York. The last FAO Conference invited Member Governments to donate furnishings or suitable samples of their native crafts to FAO Headquarters, to make the building a living testimony to the varied traditions of fine art and crafts - manships of its member nations.
This electronic document has been scanned using optical character recognition (OCR) software and careful manual recorrection. Even if the quality of digitalisation is high, the FAO declines all responsibility for any discrepancies that may exist between the present document and its original printed version.
Louis Huguet, FAO Technical Assistance Mission, Mexico
Unidades
industriales de explotación forestal
Mark L. Anderson, Professor of Forestry, University of Edinburgh,
Scotland
Spaced - Group planting
Norman Hall, Division of Forest Resources and Timber Production, and R.
D. Johnston, Division of Research, both of the Forestry and Timber Bureau, Canberra,
Australia
The
Field identification of eucalypts
ECE/FAO Staff
Timber
prospects in the U.S.S.R.
Technical assistance activities
Logging techniques and training of forest workers
Far eastern mechanical logging training center, Philippines
General
Fundamental science
Silviculture
Logging and engineering
Forest injuries and protection
Forest management
Industry and trade
Forest products and their utilization
Forest policy