THE Conference at Marianske Lazne afforded European nations an opportunity to work toward co-operation in the development of their forest policies and the exchange of their forest products.
This may be representative of a general trend. It is evident that relatively small countries cannot produce raw materials in sufficient quantity to attain living standards commensurate with our present level of civilization. International trade, therefore, is an absolute necessity for these countries. It is clear also that harmonious competition in world markets can only be achieved by agreements between nations, based on frequent discussions and permanent contact.
As far as timber is concerned, this trend toward cooperation is of recent origin. However, it may be said that the Marianske Lazne Conference is the culmination of several attempts to facilitate commercial exchanges of timber.
This Conference, for the first time, tried to combine the short- and long-term aspects of timber problems, linking them to the conditions which give rise to these problems. We shall consider here only the attempts previous to those at Marianske Lazne and the circumstances which led to the calling of this Conference.
FIRST ATTEMPTS - THE CIB
The first attempt at international co-operation in the field of forest products may be dated April 1932. At that time world economy, including timber trade and industry, was passing through one of its gravest crises. The relative scarcity of products which, after World War I, had maintained national and international timber prices at a high level in Europe was followed by a glut in the markets and a dizzy drop in prices. This was due to the fact that after World War I the newly created countries had immediately developed their timber industries and were already occupying an important position in the export markets, when Russia, emerging from her period of internal reorganization, sought to regain her former place in these markets. Increased production, coinciding with a decreased demand quickly resulted in a state of chaos for which the League of Nations tried to find a remedy.
At Geneva, in the beginning of 1932, the League sponsored a conference of experts from all countries whose aim was to find a solution to the timber crisis. The mere bringing together of these experts had a very promising effect but the objective of the conference could not be attained, chiefly because statistical information, which is indispensable as the basis for a solution, was totally lacking
In order to remedy this lack, Count Krystyn Ostrowski, President of the Supreme Timber Council of Poland, proposed some months later the creation of a permanent institution, the International Timber Committee (Comité International du Bois - CIB) which came into being in September 1932.
The CIB brought together the governments themselves as well as national trade associations; in many cases, both. All European countries, importers and exporters, speedily became affiliated, with the exception of Germany. Canada and the United States joined later and steady co-operation was maintained with the Latin American and African countries.
The CIB aimed at collecting and distributing world trade and industrial statistics of forest products, coordinating research in the field of timber utilization, organizing periodic conferences, drawing up agreements and altogether encouraging in every possible way co-operation between producer and consumer countries.
In November 1935, after long and delicate negotiations, the European Timber Exporters Convention (ETEC) was formed under the aegis of CIB; this existed until the outbreak of World War II and comprised all the principal exporting countries of Europe: Sweden, U.S.S.R., Finland, Latvia, Poland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and Rumania.
Criticisms arose against this grouping of exporting countries for, at first glance, it could appear contrary to the legitimate interests of the importing countries.
It should be recognized, however, that the creation of this group was, in reality, a form of defensive reaction against the maneuvers, already begun at that time, of a country which, in the light of its future aggression, sought not only to attain precedence in and to rule the import market but also to center the entire power of European timber industries within itself. This country was the Germany of Nazidom.
Germany, in fact, before the outbreak of World War II and solely for her own benefit, had begun to "organize" timber production and distribution by semi-commercial and semi-political means based chiefly on a process of intimidation. When military victories enabled her to impose her will on the whole European continent, this organization was completed. The German Timber Trust, Deutsche Forst- un Holzwirtschafts-gesellschaft, formed the nucleus of this organization and was set up in Berlin during the summer of 1941. This trust held the majority of shares in similar organizations in all the exporting countries of Europe: Rumania, Croatia, Slovakia, Hungary, Bohemia-Moravia, Poland, Bulgaria and, later, the occupied part of Russia. The Scandinavian countries were exempted from this form of control but not from a certain "Permanent Forestry Commission for the Northern Zone" which, according to Berlin policy, would constitute the first move toward actual incorporation into the general organization. Further, in the importing countries, Belgium, Holland, and France, importers' "pools" under strict German control had been carefully organized.
No doubt the main objective of the German organization was to ensure to the Reich the immense quantities of timber necessary to the pursuit of war but Germany had not neglected the possibilities offered by the organization in time of peace. Problems of production and distribution, then apparent, had not been shelved and she was prepared to solve them - by force and to her own exclusive benefit.
Finland - a country of vast forest resources - Photo by courtesy American Forestry Association
THE TIMBER SUB COMMITTEE OF EECE
These problems effectually arose as soon as the liberation of Europe was completed. They were not, moreover, the only ones of their kind, and it was to seek a remedy for these problems - this time for the benefit and with the free consent of the liberated peoples - that the Allies organized the Emergency Economic Commission for Europe (EECE). This Commission included a Timber Sub-Committee which, so far, has played a very important role in determining the quantities of timber available for export and in ensuring distribution amongst the European countries under the best possible conditions.
However, the aim of this subcommittee was limited. Formed in order to carry out emergency measures, it was able neither to frame a long-term policy for the distribution of forest products nor to suggest adequate means of finding suitable measures to increase production or temporarily reduce consumption. It was still less able to carry out either a short-term or a long-term European forest policy.
Moreover, the same criticism that was made of ETEC was applied, in reverse sense, to the Timber Sub-Committee of EECE: that it comprised only the importing countries of Europe. In fact, the subcommittee maintained firm relations with the exporting countries but, despite prudent action, it is possible that this mistrust could have, one day, found apparent justification.
FIRST STEPS OF FAO
In May 1943, the United Nations held their first assembly at Hot Springs, U.S.A., and decided to create a Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) entrusted with the task of securing for the postwar world a regular supply of foodstuffs. An Interim Commission was set up to formulate a specific plan for this organization and to define its duties.
The question of forestry and forest products was not dealt with officially at Hot Springs. But, in December 1943, the Interim Commission adopted a recommendation that FAO should operate in the field of forestry along the same lines as it would in its other fields of interest.
In March 1944, the Interim Commission entrusted to a Technical Committee of Forestry and Forest Products, presided over by H. S. Graves, Dean of the Forestry School of Yale University, and former Chief of the U. S. Forest Service, the task of finding the best way to include the problems of forestry and forest products in the work of FAO.
The report of this committee1 was presented to the First Session of the annual Conference of FAO at Quebec in the autumn of 1945. The report, which resulted in forestry and forest products being included in the activities of FAO, showed the necessity for international action in this field.
1
United Nations Interim Commission on Food and Agriculture, Forestry and Primary Forest Products, Washington, 20 August 1945.
Previous to the creation of a Division of Forestry and Forest Products within FAO, a small group of technicians was asked to prepare a provisional balance sheet of the world situation. A report was presented to the Director-General on 1 February 1946, the conclusions of which were particularly alarming.
EUROPEAN LUMBER SITUATION
Inquiries undertaken throughout Europe during the year 1946 confirmed these conclusions and showed, inter alia, that in Europe alone the number of people without shelter could be estimated at 100 million. These inquiries also showed that, on the Continent, there existed a grave discrepancy between requirements and the production of timber, a discrepancy which would increase with the years.
These findings were included in the forestry report,2 presented to the Second Session of FAO's annual Conference held at Copenhagen in September 1946. It is this session of the Conference which made the following recommendation:
2
FAO, Forestry and Forest Products, World Situation 1937-1946, Stockholm, 15 August 1946.
" In view of the gravity of the reconstruction problem in devastated countries of Europe, it is recommended that the appropriate international authority call an urgent conference of European governments to consider immediate action to provide devastated countries with the help they need in order to overcome the present difficulties with regard to lumber supplies, especially as far as these supplies are essential for reconstruction work."
PREPARATIONS FOR THE CONFERENCE
Thus the idea of an International Timber Conference for Europe officially came into being, although it had been envisaged some time before and several countries had urged FAO to undertake this step sooner.
FAO's Preparatory Commission on World Food Proposals, which met in Washington from October 1946 to January 1947, went still further. Although created especially to recommend methods for carrying out a long-range world program for food and agriculture, the Commission stated explicitly that the lumber situation necessitated immediate action based on international programs and taking cognizance of both the short-term and long-term aspects of the problem and it suggested that an international conference examine the means that could be employed by FAO to meet this situation.
Well before the final reports of the Copenhagen Conference and the Preparatory Commission could be made public, the Division of Forestry and Forest Products of FAO had begun the preparatory work for the Timber Conference. It was not only a question of sending out invitations. The Director of the Division had first to secure the necessary co-operation from all countries, to sound official and unofficial opinion, and to examine the probable reactions.
When this was done and the way prepared, letters of invitation were drafted and the Government of Czechoslovakia which, for sometime past, had expressed a desire for close co-operation with FAO, invited the nations to convene in Czechoslovakia, suggesting as the location of their conference the charming site of Marianske Lazne in the heart of Bohemia's forests. Not only were European countries invited but also countries in the Mediterranean basin whose interests regarding timber are closely linked to those of Europe, a certain number of non-European countries especially interested in the problems that would come under discussion, and also various international organizations. The replies received were very satisfactory.
Meanwhile, important statistical work was being carried out by the Division of Forestry and Forest Products in assembling the necessary documentation for the conference. Questionnaires had been sent to all interested countries and the information received was included in the documents and worksheets for distribution to delegates. The basic information had been taken from material supplied by the Timber Sub-Committee of EECE. The contents of these documents and worksheets were discussed also at the Rome Statistical Conference held a few weeks prior to the Marianske Lazne Conference and were recast up to the last moment so as to show more exact findings.
The Preparatory Committee set up in Prague by the Czechoslovak Government was at the same time busy with the material organization essential to preparations for an international conference. These tasks were far from easy. At Marianske Lazne the hotels had been closed for the winter and had only partly repaired the war damage they had suffered. However, thanks to the eager co-operation of the municipal authorities, the services of Ing. Z. Urban, of the Ministry of Industry and Chairman of the Committee, and of Dr. G. Zverina and Dr. J. Sobota, his secretary and joint-secretary, Marianske Lazne was ready on 28 April 1947 to receive the delegates to the Conference in excellent conditions of comfort.
