To the editor
Unasylva welcomes letters from readers on any topic related to forestry and the environment. Letters should be reasonably short and legible. English, French or Spanish is preferred, but other languages will also be considered. Please address letters to: Editor, Unasylva, FAO Forestry Department, Via delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy.
Dangerous statements?
I was quite surprised, indeed shocked, by the excessive optimism expressed by Mr Laurence Roche on the subject of the condition of tropical forests (Unasylva, 36 [144]:591. It seems that he fails to consider both the intensity of deforestation in the tropics and the extreme fragility of tropical soils when the forest cover is removed The undeniably vigorous ability of the humid tropical forest to reconstitute itself assumes that the soil has not been excessively leached or laterized, something that happens more often today with industrial forest clearings and with the shrinking of the fallow cycle of shifting cultivation
These two factors cause a rupture in the process of recylcing minerals, whose reserves are generally limited but which are constantly absorbed by the roots of woody vegetation to be reincorporated in the biomass, and which are irremediably lost by the extensive leaching when these roots are destroyed.
There are few points of comparison between this process and what is happening in temperate regions, where the forest easily grows back in abandoned areas after a period of agricultural cultivation that is generally less destructive, on the whole, than that practised in the tropics.
The statements made by Laurence Roche seem to me to be dangerous in the sense that they risk giving approval to decision-makers in tropical countries, who are already inclined to close their eyes to the alarming degradation of natural environments in all regions.
Guy Ferlin
83110 Sanary
France
Laurence Roche chose not to comment on this letter.
Send more copies!
Unasylva's special issue on Women in Forestry (36 [146]. 1984 (4) is full of ideas which have already stimulated positive response from those working on women's programmes in Nepal. It has great relevance for our forestry and conservation projects, and also for more general efforts for women in agriculture and rural life.
Its high quality, timeliness and relevance have created problems for me. Women from all branches of His Majesty's Government of Nepal, and some from NGOs, are pressing me for copies. If I could receive additional copies, FAO could both satisfy the demand and put copies in the hands of some of the key government staff who have not yet seen it.
George H. Axinn
FAO Representative.
Nepal
FAO FORESTRY PAPERS
42 (1983) Fuelwood supplies in the developing countries
FAO's pioneering study of the world fuelwood crisis
(available in English, French and Spanish)
43 (1983) Forest revenue systems in developing countries
a practical guide to forest fees and charges in developing countries and in tropical forests in general
(available only in English)
44/1 (1983) Food and fruit-bearing forest species
1: Examples from Eastern Africa
40 SPECIES MONOGRAPHS
information on: ecology, distribution, main uses, cultivation, collection periods, nutritional value, propagation, marketing
(available in English, French and Spanish)
FAO FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS
