D.E. Iyamabo
D.E. Iyamabo is Director of the Federal Department of Forest Research of Nigeria.
Forestry research in developing countries is at an early stage. The author discusses the kind of research organizations needed, differences in the management of research organizations in developing compared to developed countries and the kind of problems and conditions which can be expected in research organizations in developing countries. This article is adapted from a paper originally presented to IUFRO.
Common to all developing countries are economic problems, lack of industrialization, shortage of skilled manpower, problems of national stability, and with some few exceptions, comparatively recent independence from colonial rule - all of which tend to overshadow the need for natural resources research.
Research is expensive in both financial and specialized human resources, and relatively more so in developing countries, some of which cannot yet afford good research establishments. Others have inherited sizable research organizations from their former colonial administrations and have maintained them, somehow, even when they could scarcely finance them.
The history of scientific forestry is short in many developing countries, usually much shorter than in developed countries. The history of forestry research is even shorter. Forest research management in developing countries has therefore not had the benefit of evolution with age, nor developed recognizable traditions. In some cases, it lacks character, identity and even continuity. Furthermore, forests in developing countries, for the most part mixed tropical forests, represent some of the least known ecosystems of the world.
For these and other reasons, forest research in developing countries has its own peculiar difficulties and problems. But it also possesses its own unique opportunities and challenges.
The institutional framework for forest research in developing countries is determined to a great extent by economic and political situations as well as past colonial history. Generally research is undertaken by:
- Research divisions within government forestry departments.
- Full-fledged government research departments.
- Semi-autonomous government research institutes.
- University departments of forestry, botany or applied science.
- Industries connected with forestry and forest products.
- Regional research organizations.
Research divisions within forestry departments are most usual. There are many full-fledged research departments but semi-autonomous research institutes are rare.
When it exists, research in industries is usually on a small scale and, as elsewhere, is product-oriented. University research is limited because universities are few and university forest departments fewer.
In government-financed research institutes, a governing council exercises over-all control, approving expenditures, programmes of research, senior appointments, promotion, staff discipline and so on. The director of an institute has wide executive powers and enjoys considerable freedom of action. He is not rigidly controlled and can therefore be effective in the execution of research programmes and the management of supporting facilities and services such as buildings and purchase of equipment. A government research department, however, is subject to government administrative procedures and bureaucratic formalities. The department's director is under ministry control, as well as additional controls by the Public Service Commission and the Ministries of Establishments and Finance for various matters which concern the running of the department. These controls increase his administrative difficulties, and render him less effective in the execution of his research and other programmer, research division within a forest service is in an even worse situation: in addition to the other external pressures, its director is subject to the authority of the head of the forest service.
The need to coordinate research efforts within a country and avoid duplication has led several developing countries to establish agricultural research councils, councils for science and technology, or similar bodies with responsibilities to formulate national research policies and coordinate national research activities. The idea is relatively recent and in some countries such councils are only in the process of being formed. Experience with existing councils is varied, but has already indicated their strengths and their weaknesses. Care must be taken to ensure that a council does not exchange the difficulties of operating a research department within a government system for worse problems.
Unlike the situation in agricultural research, there are only a few regional institutes in developing countries for forestry research. The two best known are the East African Agricultural and Forestry Research Organization (EAAFRO), Nairobi, and the Centro Tropical de Enseñanza e Investigación, Turrialba, Costa Rica. The French Government's Centre technique forestier tropical (CTFT) in Paris also has branches located in the countries of French-speaking Africa. The EAAFRO and the CTFT were established during the colonial periods and have survived, but it is not clear whether the future will see the continuation and expansion of such institutions or the establishment of new ones. The trend in agriculture will probably dictate the pace in forestry.
Regional cooperation is highly desirable between countries in the same ecological zones, since their problems tend to be similar. With resources for research usually limited, there is a good case for close cooperation, and even integration of research programmes. There are many urgent problems to be solved and they should not be put aside until each country develops its own research facilities and personnel. However, integration, and even close cooperation are usually determined by political considerations' national priorities, and other non-technical factors.
Distinctions should be made between regional research organizations with centralized research programmes covering many countries and regional cooperation or coordination of national research programmes. The latter approach is readily acceptable and has excellent chances of expansion, and a number of such programmes already exist in developing countries. Some are supported from resources within the region, e.g. the Organization of American States and the Organization of African Unity. The United Nations agencies and countries, such as the United Kingdom and France, support others. Directors of research institutions can foster regional research cooperation in spite of their national bureaucratic problems. Nevertheless, it is hoped that with time these difficulties will gradually disappear and leave room for greater cooperation.
The least-known ecosystems are in developing lands
Examples of problems suitable for regional cooperation are improvement of tropical forests, afforestation of semiarid areas, studies of shelterbelts and their effects on the environment, provenance trials and pest control - for example, Hypsipyla on mahoganies. A good deal can also be achieved through regional meetings, regional training programmes, interchange of information, translation schemes and associations of forest scientists.
A developing country usually has only one forest research organization with responsibilities for research into all aspects of forestry and forest products, and in many cases with the addition of wildlife and training as well. Advancement in one or many of these sectors could be significant. Furthermore adequate rainfall, high temperatures, generally satisfactory soils and abundant solar energy in some parts of the tropics together make conditions for rapid tree growth better than in most other parts of the world. Consequently, results can be obtained within a relatively short time for silvicultural and tree breeding research, which might take a long time elsewhere.
However, these opportunities are fraught with challenges usually absent in developed countries. The tropical forest ecosystem is one of the most complex, least studied, and least understood in the world. The main ecosystems that occur in developing countries are moist tropical forests and arid and semi-arid ecosystems. The latter two are characterized by natural conditions which are severely limiting to plant growth. Research in this entire range is not far ahead of forestry practice, and is constantly under pressure to advise on problems in which experimentation is incomplete or even non-existent. Sometimes this advice may be the basis for major developmental decisions.
In the efforts to build up a good research institution rapidly, the director has to fight for advancement on many fronts at the same time. A building programme for the expansion of laboratory and other physical facilities, establishment of new field stations, provision of transport, procurement of research equipment and other facilities, staff recruitment and training, all constitute a challenge of a kind and magnitude scarcely experienced in developed countries. Links must also be developed with other national and international research institutions, and with organizations such as the FAO, Unesco, IUFRO and IUCN. But such links can be meaningful only if the quality of research undertaken is of a high and acceptable standard. This is not easily achieved in view of restricted staff and budgets and other limiting factors which international agencies face.
All of these circumstances offer a research director in a developing country both opportunities and challenges which are uncommon in developed countries. These directors are usually relatively young men, with drive, energy and capacity for hard work - qualities which are certainly essential to meet the kind of challenges they normally encounter.
Technical assistance has played a major role in the development of forest research in developing countries. Assistance has been both bilateral and multilateral, and has consisted of provision of experts for specific technical problems, of equipment, of postgraduate and specialized training, and of establishment of research councils. Technical assistance is likely to continue to play an important role in forest research in developing countries because the pressure for rapid development necessitates initiating research programmes many fronts simultaneously, and also because of international research programmes such as Unesco's "Man and the Biosphere" programme.
Originally, technical assistance experts undertook their assignments alone and submitted reports to the recipient governments. This gave way to the system of attaching qualified, but perhaps inexperienced, counterparts to the foreign experts, thus ensuring that the aid projects could continue after the departure of the latter. Some donor countries now even prefer that, as far as possible, all the work is undertaken by nationals of the recipient countries, and foreign experts are recruited only on short-term consultancy assignments.
Since it should be appreciated that developing countries have special problems in regard to forestry research it might be useful to examine some of the most common of these problems.
· Planning: Many developing countries lack comprehensive and integrated national development plans. Existing plans are mainly sectoral, dealing with the needs of particular sectors without adequate regard for the needs of related sectors. Furthermore, in virtually all countries there is a lack of adequate data on which to base development plans. In such circumstances, it is difficult to formulate research programmes to meet national needs. Care must be taken to avoid getting involved in numerous small and uncoordinated research projects. Priorities must be worked out and adhered to, while retaining some flexibility to meet unexpected needs.
However, there are often factors well beyond the control of the research director which may necessitate major changes in programmes. For example, a government's decision to establish a pulp and paper industry will necessitate an urgent expansion of a tree improvement programme for the relevant tree species, as well as developing a programme of research into the pulping properties of other species. Similarly, the recent drought over considerable parts of developing countries has compelled research directors to initiate or accommodate research programmes to deal with the attendant problems.
Urgent national needs often dictate the research priorities of developing countries
· Staff: One of the greatest problems in managing research in developing countries relates to staff. Indigenous, adequately trained research staff are few. Research is generally unattractive as it carries no executive authority, and requires long periods of training, highly articulate minds, and high educational qualifications. Suitable scientists have many job options in universities, industries, and sometimes in developed countries. They are, therefore, difficult to obtain and retain. Even where candidates are available the process of recruitment to government institutions may be so long that the candidate eventually goes elsewhere. Because of the shortage of suitable scientific staff, research institutions in developing countries usually recruit young graduates at the lowest levels. They are then trained for long periods before they become fully effective.
Unfortunately, government research departments are often unfavourably placed in regard to salary and other service conditions compared with universities, corporations, and some industries which are themselves financed from public funds. Another attraction of the universities is that scientists there may be free to do research on any subject of interest to them, whereas in a government research department, research has to be related to the national problems assigned to the institution. There is therefore a steady one-way movement of staff from government research institutions to these other organizations. Worse still, this movement tends to take place when the scientists have reached their most useful stage. These resignations send transfers leave gaps which cannot be filled immediately and so the institutions' programmes suffer.
Another staff limitation is the inadequacy of executive and secretarial staff, a situation that constitutes no problem in developed countries. Although their role in administration is vital, governments of developing countries unfortunately tend to give little attention to the training of such staff. They are therefore in short supply, and the research director is compelled to do more personally than his colleagues in developed countries.
· Over-centralization: Research institutions in most developing countries are either divisions of the forest service or full-fledged government research departments. One of the greatest problems in managing such institutions is the operation of the government administrative system. This system is characterized by the centralization of many functions, the involvement of many ministries in the course of single and sometimes simple actions, and the excessively long procedures to get things done. These inhibitions are entrenched in the system and are difficult to change. The need for checks and balances is undisputable, but the system can be overhauled to remove frustrating bottlenecks without prejudice to the precautionary measures.
Examples of such constraints in the system are:
- The long process of staff appointments, promotion, and discipline. These are usually the functions of a centralized agency far removed from the research institution, and which has its own set of priorities.- Numerous staff matters, some of which are simple and almost routine, may be the responsibilities of an agency outside the research institution.
- The accounting system and the financial procedures for purchases and payments are often so complicated that considerable efforts are expended on what ought to be simple transactions. Such procedures could be simplified without loss of security precautions.
- The execution of building programmes constitutes one of the most frustrating arrangements in a government department system. The research institution may obtain funds from the appropriate government authority, without exercising control over its expenditure or the actual construction of the buildings. These functions are often concentrated in one central agency resulting in agonizing delays for a director anxious to pursue his research programme.
- The necessity for a comprehensive training programme for the research staff. Funds provided for this purpose may be controlled by a central government body, and many others may be involved in the execution of the programme. In such circumstances, considerable efforts are needed to push things through to completion.
· Ancillary services: management of research is also adversely affected by the relatively poor services such as postal, telephone, transport, electrical and water supplies. These are, of course, part of the problem - even the definition - of the condition of underdevelopment so these must be taken into account in any project in a developing country.
· Equipment: Plans and equipment for research in developing countries are all manufactured in developed countries and are generally suited to the latter's conditions. As a result, they may not necessarily be the most suitable, and where maintenance facilities are generally poor, expensive equipment can remain idle for long periods because of simple faults or unavailability of spare parts. Moreover, delivery time for equipment is usually very long, longer, it would seem, than when the same equipment is ordered by one developed country from another. These are serious constraints with adverse consequences on research programmes.
· Extension services: Most developing countries lack effective extension services in agriculture. In forestry they are virtually non-existent. Although forest services are the major appliers of research results in forestry, there is a need for individual landowners, communities, commercial companies, etc., to be involved in forestry, and therefore to be aware of research results designed to improve forestry practice and utilization of forest products. Scientific papers embodying research results generally tend to be directed to scientists. Conferences and symposia, visits to research demonstration areas, etc., are useful in the process of dissemination and application of research findings. The absence of an effective extension system puts an extra burden on a research director in seeing that his results are usefully utilized.
· Labour problems: Labour problems and industrial disputes are virtually nonexistent in research institutions in developed countries. This is not the case in the developing countries where the high labour component makes this a vulnerable area. The activities of research institutions have been crippled for long periods by such disputes.
· Centralization of disciplines: In some developed countries, more than one research institution deals with different aspects of forestry. In developing countries, however, one institution usually deals with everything - silviculture, tree breeding, pathology, soils, ecology, wildlife, forest products utilization, and forest education. This constitutes an enormous responsibility and requires breadth of knowledge. However, it is not necessarily advocated that numerous forest research institutions should be established in developing countries. With an adequate complement of well-trained staff, a comprehensive research programme can be successfully executed in one institution. In fact, mutual awareness and interactions of the various disciplines with the institution are of considerable value.
· Foreign assistance: Technical assistance from abroad has on the whole been very beneficial to research in developing countries. Sometimes, however, it has generated administrative problems of unusual magnitude. It is necessary, for instance, that experts from developed countries are prepared for the inadequate conditions they will certainly encounter in developing countries. They need also to know that because of differing government systems, procedures are usually slower than in their home countries. In short, unnecessary fuss sours relationships.
The following 10 suggestions aim at the improvement of forestry research in developing countries.
1. It is strongly recommended that greater administrative autonomy be given to research institutions to enable them to be more effective in their functions, while still maintaining adequate checks and balances. This is particularly necessary to speed up processes of appointments, promotions, improving the accounting systems and the execution of building programmes.
2. Funds for staff, equipment, laboratory space, vehicles, etc. are never adequate. Because of the fundamental role of research in development, it is essential that research institutions receive much greater support.
3. Considerable in-service training is urgently needed in many fields and for all grades of staff. Special training courses on research methods and techniques, handling of equipment and report writing are required for young scientists who have to deal with national problems. Research project leaders require training in project formulation and analysis. Research administrators need special training courses in staff organization and management, budgeting, forward planning, general supervision and other administrative matters.
4. A programme of short-term exchange of scientists between developed and developing countries will be valuable to research scientists in developing countries. University faculty members on sabbatical leave and experienced scientists on a few months' assignments could work with colleagues in developing countries and vice versa. Such an arrangement would prove rewarding to all concerned.
5. Research programmes should be more integrated with development projects in order to ensure that they are oriented toward national needs. A method of achieving this is to involve research directors in development projects right from the planning stages. Councils or committees which approve research programmes should include development planners, policy makers and senior field officers who execute these development projects.
6. Perhaps more than anywhere else, forest; scientists in developing countries need regional cooperation. This is still very limited. Cooperation can be fostered through joint study groups for specific problems. Regional government organizations such as OAU, OAS; international organizations such as IUFRO, FAO and aid-giving countries can help in fostering this cooperation. With the limited financial and manpower resources in all developing countries, this sort of cooperation is imperative to minimize repetition and wastage of effort. This is particularly true in areas such as west Africa where countries are small and occupy the same ecological zones.
7. The tendency in many research institutions is to spread limited efforts over a large number of tree species, with detriment to depth in research. It is essential to concentrate on carefully selected species. The advances the world has seen in agricultural research would probably have been impossible without such concentration on a few food crops.
8. Developing countries have tended to neglect many fields of research and have concentrated on biological problems of tree production and on wood utilization. Examples of often neglected areas are forest economics, logging and harvesting labour effectiveness and efficiency, and management techniques. It should be recognized that these are also important subjects in development.
9. Most forest research programmes in developing countries tend to be of an applied nature. However, this may require back-up assistance with basic research. Forestry should draw on experience in agriculture which relies heavily on the pure sciences. Specialists in these fields are needed to work in collaboration with silviculturists, tree breeders and wood utilization experts if adequate answers are to be obtained to forestry problems.
10. For the effective use of research results, greater responsibilities must be assumed by forestry scientists. Field research must be extended to large demonstration areas where results - from small experimental plots can be demonstrated on a pilot scale. Scientist should be involved in the problems encountered in applying their results to large development projects.
The results of research should not be confined to research reports and papers for the sole benefit of scientific colleagues, but should also be made available in a form acceptable to field officers. There should also be frequent joint meetings between scientists and field foresters, and such meetings should be followed by visits to research demonstration areas. It is easier to convince the field forester by what he sees.
These suggestions are by no means exhaustive nor are they necessarily new. In some cases, actions are in progress along the lines indicated. But, they all emphasize the need for solutions to lessen the problems of managing research in developing countries.
In spite of the difficulties, problems and inadequacies, anyone who has the opportunity to head a research institution in a developing country has the chance of a life-time. He is in a position to make a worthwhile contribution to the development of the resources of a country, to play an important and sometimes decisive role in the development of this institution and to shape the lives and determine the future of many of his staff.
Only a few are fortunate enough to be presented with these challenges and opportunities and they should appreciate and make the best use of them.
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Forestry research in the developing world These organizations from developing countries are members of the International Union of Forestry Research Organizations: Argentina Instituto Forestal Nacional Brazil Ministerio de Educacão e Cultura Cambodia Inspector General of Forestry Chile Faculty of Forest Engineering of Southern University of Chile Colombia Instituto de Investigaciones y Proyectos Forestales y Madereros Congo Centre technique forestier tropical Costa Rica Forestry Discipline Cuba Centro de Investigaciones y Capacitación Forestal es, Proyecto Cuba 3 Cyprus Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources Gabon Centre technique forestier tropical Ghana Forest Products Research Institute India Forest Research Institute and Colleges Government of Andhra Research Department of Forestry Mysore State Forest Department Department of Forestry Indonesia Lembaga Penelitian Hutan (Forest Research Institute) Lembaga Penelitian Hasil Hutan (Forest Products Research Institute) Iran Faculté des ressources naturelles Iraq College of Agriculture and Forestry Israel Agricultural Research Organization Ivory Coast Centre technique forestier tropical Institut Français du Café et du Cacao Kenya East African Agriculture and Forestry Research Organization Forest Department Republic of Korea Institute of Forest Genetics Madagascar Centre national de recherches forestières Malawi Department of Forestry Malaysia Forest Research Institute Mexico Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales Morocco Station de recherches et d'expérimentation forestières Pakistan Pakistan Forest Institute Papua New Guinea Department of Forests Paraguay Instituto Nacional de Tecnología y Normalización Philippines Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources Senegal Centre technique forestier tropical Sri Lanka Forest Department Sudan Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources Thailand Royal Forest Department Trinidad and Tobago The Forest Department Tunisia Institut national de recherches forestières Turkey Faculty of Forestry Forest Research Institute Uganda Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Makerere University, Kampala Venezuela Faculty of Forestry Sciences Latin American Forestry Research and Training Institute Antores Zaire Département de sylviculture Zambia, Republic of National Council for Scientific Research |
