23. Mr Sunderland presented the paper Status of rattan resources and uses in West and Central Africa, describing that essential biological and socio-economic information on African rattan resources was becoming available and that suitable strategies to ensure sustainability were emerging. He further informed the meeting that rattan had a significant potential for supporting rural development in western and central Africa.
24. In her paper Status of rattan resources and uses in South Asia, Mrs Renuka gave a status report on available resources and uses of rattan in India, China, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Myanmar. With a few exceptions, rattan resources were depleted throughout the region. She further noted that present in-situ protection systems were not sufficient and that resource development was urgently needed in all countries in order to meet raw material demands.
25.In his paper The status of the rattan sectors in Lao People's Democratic Republic, Viet Nam and Cambodia, with an emphasis on cane supply, Mr Evans described how the rattan sectors in these three countries were developing along similar paths, but had reached different stages. For Cambodia, the limited available information suggested overharvesting of wild stocks, whereas in Viet Nam wild stocks were already exhausted and plantation development was under way. In Lao People's Democratic Republic, wild stocks were substantially declining and plantations for shoot production were expanding rapidly. Low cane prices were the key constraint for resource renewal.
26. The paper Degraded tropical forest and its potential role for rattan development: An Indonesian perspective, presented by Mr Silitonga, highlighted that Indonesia had the world's largest reserves of rattan and was also the largest supplier of cane with an estimated annual production of 570 000 t. In addition, there was a potential of some 30 million ha of logged-over forests for rattan enrichment planting. Furniture processing based on rattan and its export value had increased fivefold since 1986 to reach US$ 1 billion in 1999. Rattan collection was supporting the livelihood of millions of poor and forest-dependent Indonesians. Policy makers should take strategic action to further the important socio-economic contribution of rattan to the country.
27. The paper Country report on the status of rattan resources and uses in Malaysia was presented by Mr Razak. He described the overall decline in quantity and quality of rattan canes available for the industry, hence the need to accept lower qualities. He gave an overview of the experiences gained in Malaysia since the last two decades with industrial-scale rattan plantation development and informed that the major threat for these plantations was the competition of more rewarding crops such as oil palm. In addition to raw material shortage, the processing industry was facing a number of serious constraints, such as lack of skilled labour and incentives.
28. The paper Rattan resources of the Philippines - Their extent, production, utilization and issues on resource development was presented by Mr Tesoro. The latest national forest inventory data of 1988 revealed an available growing stock of approximately 4 500 million linear metres of rattan (all species) in the country. He informed that 11 000 ha of rattan plantations had been established so far in the country. Major constraints for sustainable rattan management were the ten-year limit to the tenure of rattan-cutting licences, which led to gathering as much cane as possible without regard to the succeeding ten-year cutting licence. He also informed the meeting that the Rattan Deposit, which had been created by the Philippine Government as a means of funding rattan plantation development from the collection of a tax on harvested cane, had not been very successful since only very limited areas of rattan plantations had been established so far with this deposit. In addition, he noted that the importance and contribution of the rattan sector to the country's economy had been stagnating since 1995. He emphasized the need to revise and elaborate or strengthen, where relevant, specific policies and institutional support for the management, development and utilization of rattan resources.
29. In his paper Thai rattan in the early 2000, Mr Vongkaluang underlined that rattan processing was an important sector in his country. Since local production was minimal, raw material needs were currently met by imports or by using substitutes like straw, water hyacinth or even plastic. However, export bans on raw cane in the region had resulted in decreasing quantities and values of rattan manufacturing in the country. Consequently, the future of rattan processing in Thailand and furniture exports from the country were seriously hampered by the limited and fluctuating cane availability from neighbouring countries.
30. All country papers generated interesting discussions on rattan management in Asia and Africa and on the process of formulating appropriate rattan development strategies in the regions and concerned countries. In addition, voluntary papers on the rattan sector in other countries were submitted to FAO by experts who could not attend the meeting. These papers could not be presented during the meeting in view of the limited time available but would be included in the proceedings.
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