SHORT-TERM PROBLEMS
THE CONFERENCE
1. CONSIDERING that the solution of the present shortage can only be found through European solidarity and the application of co-operative measures,
RECOMMENDS that during the felling seasons 1947/48 and 1948/49 all countries should increase their cutting for production of sawn softwoods by 10 percent; this increased production should result either in increased exports or in decreased imports. Having regard to the special situation of certain countries, it will be open to those countries to achieve the same result by any measures, other than extra cuttings, which they may wish to put into effect, including restrictive measures in use or consumption.
RECOGNIZES that certain countries will not be able to make the required effort without outside assistance, whether derived from appropriate international organizations or by other means. due to shortages of manpower, food, coal, machinery. credit, and other physical factors.
2. CONSIDERING the considerable strain which supplementary fellings undertaken by European countries will impose on forests.
RECOMMENDS, therefore, that, to ensure that this effort should not be detrimental to forest resources, European countries should consider in the general framework of their long-term forest policy, the adoption of immediate measures of reforestation and replanting, and should also consider other means of reconstituting their forest resources.
3. CONSIDERING that German aggression is responsible for the reconstruction requirements of countries which have suffered from the war,
RECOMMENDS that the occupying powers consider the great need in those areas for forest products in determining their cutting schedules.
4. RECOMMENDS that
(a) member nations should give their close consideration to the suggestion for economy in the use of timber contained in the report of the Technical Subcommittee of this Conference;(b) participating nations should also consider the possibility of spreading information amongst construction and wood-consuming industries. workers, foremen, contractors, etc., in order to save timber at all stages from the tree to the finished product;
(c) member nations should, if they have not already done so, consider the adoption of controls over housing, in order to economize in the available supplies of timber;
(d) FAO should undertake the collation, codification, and early diffusion of technical information upon all aspects of the economical utilization of timber, in co-operation with all national and international bodies concerned in the various aspects of this subject.
LONG-TERM PROBLEMS
THE CONFERENCE
5. RECOMMENDS the establishment by all countries of rational domestic forest policies based on the wise use of existing forests, reafforestation of cleared land and the afforestation of waste land.
6. RECOMMENDS that the European governments take steps to control fellings not only in forests under State control but also in private forests. with the object of obtaining a sustained and, if possible, increased output. (Adopted by vote of nine to five.)
7. EMPHASIZES the importance of periodical surveys of forest resources and annual felling statistics.
8. URGES the expansion of forest research work, especially as regards tropical timbers.
9. CALLS the attention of governments to the desirability of giving a high priority in their national financial and economic plans to the claims of afforestation, reafforestation, and the improvement of exploitation facilities.
10. RECOMMENDS that FAO, on the request of any individual member government applying for a loan, should call the attention of the appropriate international organizations to the need of international credits for the following purposes:
(a) the fulfillment of national forest policies (especially reafforestation and afforestation plans);(b) the improvement of exploitation facilities;
(c) the development of new forest resources; and
(d) technical improvement of forest industries, especially in countries suffering from wartime devastation (including particularly the development of industries manufacturing substitute materials from wood and wood-waste) .
11. CALLS attention of the participating governments and of the appropriate international organizations to the importance of:
(a) assuring security of employment to forest workers;(b) establishing wage rates which are comparable to those applying to other occupations allowing for the appropriate differences in general economic circumstances of the various occupations;
(c) improving the general living conditions of forest workers within the framework of domestic policies of social legislation, equally as regards housing and hygiene;
(d) providing the necessary technical training facilities for forest workers;
(e) improving safety measures regarding the risk of accidents; and
(f) providing educational facilities for the children of forest workers which are in line with the general educational standard.
12. RECOMMENDS that FAO, in consultation with member governments, should investigate the possibilities of international control of forest nests
13. RECOMMENDS that FAO, in consultation with member governments, should investigate the possibilities of including the standard requirements of certificates for forest seeds and plants into a comprehensive international convention on agricultural seeds and plants.
14. RECOMMENDS that FAO, in consultation with member governments, should proceed further with the collection and distribution of information regarding technical progress in forest industries.
O. Scrittore and G. Giordano (Italy)
FURTHER PROCEDURE
THE CONFERENCE
15. RECOGNIZES that the world-wide shortage of timber cannot be solved within the limited framework of timber resources, cuttings, distribution, and consumption, but depends to a very great extent upon the solutions of other economic problems among which are questions of finance, credit, and means of payment, availability of transportation and labor, and interrelation with other commodities such as coal and machinery. Conversely, developments within the field of forest policies and practices, and of the timber trade, influence the solution of other economic problems.
C. Vargas, head delegate of Chile
CALLS the attention of international organizations such as the Economic and Social Council, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Monetary Fund, the Interim Co-ordinating Committee for International Commodity Arrangements, the Economic Commission for Europe, the International Labour Office, etc., to the urgency of the world timber shortage, and
RECOMMENDS that whenever appropriate these organizations utilize the technical advice and assistance of FAO in their consideration of economic problems which affect the critical world timber situation;
FURTHER RECOMMENDS that the Economic Commission for Europe, with the technical assistance of FAO, should pay special attention to
(a) increasing available timber supplies and decreasing waste of wood in order to help in meeting the needs of European reconstruction;(b) aiding in reducing economic difficulties mentioned in the resolution on increased production, by certain countries, by assisting them in obtaining necessary economic help; and
(c) the satisfactory distribution of available timber supplies.
Note: For the purposes of this resolution timber includes hardwoods pitprops, railway sleepers, ties, telegraph poles, pulpwood, and plywood.
16. CONSIDERING that problems of forests and timber of all European countries and of the non-European countries adjacent to the Mediterranean form a technical whole,
INVITES ECE to permit all such interested countries to participate in work in connection with forests and timber.
17. CONSIDERING (a) the findings of this Conference with regard to the prospective trend of timber requirements and timber supplies available for consumption in Europe including the Mediterranean area; and (b) the need to fill the prospective gap as soon as and as fully as possible, in order to restore normal economic and social conditions and to achieve a gradual improvement of housing and living standards in this region;
NOTES with satisfaction FAO's intention of holding forestry and forest products conferences in other parts of the world with a view to examining the possibilities of developing new forest resources and expresses the hope that all governments having timber resources available for exploitation will take into account the need for expansion of supply
18. HAVING REGARD to the long period required for the development of forest resources and for the fulfillment of domestic rational forest policies;
CONSIDERS it desirable that the European countries concerned should meet together from time to time to exchange information and views about their problems in the field of medium- and long-term forestry. FAO under its existing mandate is able to call together consultative committees, and it would seem appropriate therefore that FAO should consider providing such a committee on forestry within its framework. It could meet from time to time as might seem necessary in the opinion of FAO and of the governments concerned acting in close consultation.
