Belgium
· Exploitation, utilisation et potentiel économique locaux des bois d'Afrique intertropicale: aspects juridiques, sociaux, économiques et techniques, by P. Verhaegen; 3 vols.; published by the Centre de documentation économique et sociale africaine (CEDESA), 42 rue du Commerce, Bruxelles 4, Belgium; 1964; price 1,000 f.b.
The Centre de documentation économique et sociale africaine in Brussels serves as a clearinghouse for documentation on a wide range of subjects bearing on the economic and social development of Africa. Some 15 subjects have been covered in publications issued or currently in preparation, each publication containing references to a wide range of literature and reports, with brief indications of the content of each source. The one noted here contains more than 2,800 references together with a detailed index by subjects, authors, geographical subdivisions and species. Besides this helpful collection of sources, those concerned with the forestry and timber sector in Africa may find useful two previously published collections, one dealing with the problem of rural housing in tropical Africa (understood to be temporarily out of print), and the other with roadbuilding in tropical regions with special reference to Africa.
Canada
· One of the topics dealt with at the Symposium on the Economic Aspects of, and Productivity in, the Sawmilling Industry, organized by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and FAO at Geneva in November 1964, was the evolution of methods and equipment. Arguing that there had been no basic changes in sawmilling for many years other than changes in mill concept, a Canadian paper claimed that combination of the functions of chipping, edging and sawing in one machine under one operator can result in a significant increase in man/day productivity, less costly building requirements, and a greatly simplified system of waste, chips and lumber conveying. With good yield selection the recovery on a log 12 feet (365 centimeters) long with a top diameter of 8 inches (20 centimeters) and a butt diameter of 10 inches (25 centimeters) could be approximately, for lumber, 69 percent; sawdust, 7 percent, and chips, 24 percent.
The manufacturer of this machine reported that the chips have been accepted as of good quality. Full-scale digester runs were made in one instance and several companies have carried out laboratory tests which indicate that the chips are equivalent to disk cut chips. Rotary chipping appears to require only two thirds of the power required for disk chipping.
China (Taiwan)
· Forests extend over 55 percent of China (Taiwan) and can be divided into several types which result from the important variations in climate at the different altitudes, the hardwood and bamboo forest of the tropical zone being progressively replaced by conifers in the colder areas. The results of an extensive forest inventory carried out with bilateral assistance have shown that hardwoods cover 75 percent of the forest area; conifers, 19 percent; and bamboos, 6 percent. The conifer forests have the highest commercial value (in particular where there is cypress), but they are not easily accessible.
Many problems remain to be solved before forestry and forest industries can contribute fully to the economic development of Taiwan. Forest industries, including pulp for paper, plywood and board manufacture, have expanded rapidly in the last ten years but their future development will be increasingly dependent upon developing export markets and consequently it becomes a matter of importance to improve the quality of the products to make them competitive.
The United Nations Special Fund has approved assistance to China (Taiwan) in carrying out a project which will be operated by FAO, in close co-operation with bilateral programs involving:
(a) a review of the present forest policy, laws and regulations and the preparation of an improved policy to make possible the rapid development of forestry and forest industries;(b) feasibility studies on industry establishment or development where it is reasonably anticipated that investment could be made in the near future;
(c) improvement in the management of forest resources with special attention to watershed management and erosion control, to include the preparation of management plans, reforestation studies and silvicultural investigations;
(d) promotion of the internal demand for forest products and development of domestic and export markets;
(e) assistance in improving the efficiency of existing forest industries and in planning new industries, including recommendations as to the most suitable type of equipment;
(f) improvement of logging methods with special emphasis on the development of a suitable and economic road system;
(g) direction and co-ordination of research in forestry and forest products, the results of previous investigations either in Taiwan or abroad to be taken into consideration whenever possible;
(h) advice on inventory procedures required for national forest inventories and re-inventories.
Colombia
· Fifty-five percent of Colombia, or an area of approximately 526,000 square kilometers, is covered by forests, in great part state-owned.
These national forests are administered by a small forestry service. The United Nations Special Fund has approved a project which will be operated for the Government by FAO, to provide more personnel to manage the national forests and produce more timber.
There are at present three forestry schools at the university level in the country, the National Forestry Institute at Medellin, and the schools of forest engineering of Bogotá and Ibague. These schools do not possess sufficient staff and equipment to be able to provide adequate training at all three, and it has been decided to give priority to improving the quality of training at the National Forestry Institute and to create a forest rangers' school.
The National Forestry institute is located at Medellin, Colombia's second largest city, in the highlands to the northwest of the country. The institute is a part of the National University, and is to provide university-level training of five-year duration, of which three years will be general training with emphasis on subjects pertinent to forestry, and two years of specialization devoted entirely to forestry subjects. It is designed to produce 20 to 30 graduates a year, who will be chiefly employed by the national forest service but also by other government services and by firms engaged in forest utilization.
The forest rangers' school will be set up in Pereira in the watershed of the Rio Otun. The two-year training will include theoretical and practical forestry courses, but much of the time will be dedicated to field work. To be admitted, the students will have to have completed the fifth year of primary school.
Costa Rica
· In some areas of Costa Rica the forests are hardly touched and little is known about them, and in others they are subject to uncontrolled exploitation. Lands have been denuded and left open to erosion, and the encroachment of agriculture into the forest has been indiscriminate.
Another Special Fund project approved for operation by FAO is intended to evaluate the potential available area for forestry development; to consider the effect of encroaching agriculture and uncontrolled exploitation of forests and the possible remedial measures; to investigate and demonstrate methods of restocking forest lands and reforesting those agricultural areas considered better suited to forestry; and to train local forestry personnel.
Over a period of four years, the Special Fund will contribute to the project the services of experts and consultants in the fields of forest inventory, photointerpretation, forest management and reforestation, forest industries, marketing, logging and sawmilling. Six fellowships will be awarded to train counterparts. In addition, the Special Fund will provide transport vehicles and technical equipment and funds for subcontracting wood-testing in foreign laboratories in co-ordination with a bilateral program.
Denmark
· A first international meeting on scantling research for wooden fishing vessels was convened in Copenhagen in September 1964 by the Danish Wood Council in co-operation with the Fisheries Division of FAO.
The need to establish standard strength requirements for scantlings was agreed: considerable work on this has already been done in Japan and in France.
The influence of hull shape on strength of vessels was stressed. The relative merits of girder, frame, and shell construction were dealt with at some length. The problems of bent-frame construction versus sawn-frame and laminated frame were also fully discussed. Bent-frame construction is the rule in Canada, Australia and the United States, but some reservations regarding its use are apparent in other major wood shipbuilding countries. Nevertheless, considerable interest was shown at the meeting in the possibility of lowering hull construction costs by the use of bent-frame construction. In Norway, boats in the 50-foot range are built with laminated framing competitively with the traditional Norwegian sawn-frame construction.
Iceland
· Iceland is certainly one of the windiest countries in the world, and the volcanic loess covering wide areas of the island tends to be carried away by even a modest gale. This erosion was once controlled by birch forests (Betula pubescens) that covered one third of the land area.
The destruction of these forests started with the arrival of man around AD 900. The famous sagas tell about forests and the use of wood, and also of the disappearance of the forests as a result of heavy cutting of timber for building, for fuel and in particular for charcoal for iron production.
A more recent and serious cause of destruction, or prevention of rehabilitation, is the great number of browsing sheep. A few areas fenced and guarded for experimental purposes have demonstrated that birch can rehabilitate itself almost completely in the course of between 20 and 30 years, with a luxuriant ground cover of herbs, grasses and mosses spreading under the trees, and erosion totally checked.
The market value of birch is practically nil, and Icelanders have been interested in growing conifers ever since 1899 when some pilot plantations were first established. The plantation program is now proceeding on a scale which merits admiration. The Afforestation Board (the forest service) employs five graduate foresters and 16 subprofessionals. There are 12 hectares of nurseries, and the annual production of transplants amounts to 1.5 million. The State has purchased some 30,000 hectares of land for planting but the largest planting is done on private lands by means of 29 provincial afforestation co-operatives. State support for afforestation on private lands is still rather modest.
Up to now the most successful species have proved to be Picea excelsa (from northern Norway), Larix sibirica (from several sources), Picea engelmannii, P. sitkaënsis, Pinus montana, and P. contorta.
The first substantial stands were of Larix sibirica planted in 1938. Up to now these have produced an average of 6 cubic meters per hectare per year, the trees having reached a height of between 10 and 12 meters and with a dbh of 20 to 25 centimeters. In addition to the conifers, Populus trichocarpa from Alaska has also proved promising.
On a visit last year, the Director of the FAO Forestry and Forest Products Division learned that, altogether, experiments have been carried out with some 40 to 50 species, and the number of tested provenances from different parts of the world exceeds 200. These experiments are a valuable addition to the range of similar experiments carried out all over the world. Certain variables influencing the survival and success of a species can be studied in Iceland under extreme conditions.
Recently, Norway donated funds for the establishment of a forest experiment station, as a national gift in memory of the help many Norwegians obtained from Iceland during the second world war. The station is under construction outside Reykjavik at a location where hot springs will supply heating for sizable greenhouses.
Mexico
· In October 1961 operations started on a project of assistance from the Special Fund in initiating the implementation of a national forest inventory, a project, due for completion in March 1965, which has already proved successful. The largest of several pilot surveys, that conducted in the State of Duranga, revealed forests - previously closed to cut ting - that could with proper handling yield at least 1 million cubic meters of timber per year. The findings of the survey thus far have triggered off almost $47 million of domestic and foreign investment in the State of Durango alone: a pulp and paper plant is being constructed at a cost of $32 million, of which three-quarters is foreign investment and the balance Mexican; another $8 million is being invested in saw mill and plywood plants and $7 million by the Government in road and forestry improvements. About $25 mil lion of further investments related to forest development in Durango are under consideration.
The project has also resulted in a cadre of trained personnel within the National Institute of Forest Investigations, who will extend the inventory to additional areas and will also be available to serve as counterparts in a new project which the Special Fund has approved, to strengthen the National Forest Research Institute. It is planned to reinforce the institute by the provision of experts and equipment at its headquarters in Mexico City and at four existing and planned regional experimental stations so that it may expand its work in certain fields and initiate studies in others. Its activities will include:
(a) economic studies on trends of domestic consumption of wood and wood products, export prospects, production costs, investment needs for various forest industries, and cost-benefit studies;(b) forest products research, encompassing technology, seasoning and preservation of timber, and wood utilization including sawmilling and the manufacture of plywood, pulp and paper;
(c) research and training in forest engineering, including the use and maintenance of logging tools, construction and maintenance of forest roads, and timber transport;
(d) scientific and technical studies on silviculture and forest management, including investigations on reforestation, erosion control, growth and yields;
(e) establishment - of a forest tree seed center for collecting, testing, treating and certifying seeds, as well as for research on applied genetics.
Nepal
· Due to the almost entire lack of road communications in Nepal, the firewood situation is one of complete imbalance, the heavily-populated areas, both urban and agricultural, being almost devoid of fuelwood while the well-forested areas have no outlets for disposal of branchwood from fellings or material from improvement fellings and thinnings.
A report to FAO says that the situation is in its most acute form in Katmandu and the Katmandu valley, which have a population of some 400,000 people. Here most of the forests which once clothed the hills have long since been cut and destroyed, so that the small remnants cannot provide a sufficient supply. Similarly, the surrounding districts are very heavily populated by an agricultural population and there is not enough forest to provide adequate fuel supplies. As a result, recourse has to be made to the use of straw, small sticks and cowdung in the villages, and to a limited and erratic supply of kerosene in the urban areas. In particular, very large quantities of firewood are required for the brickmaking industry.
In an effort to alleviate the position and to provide a supply of firewood for sale in Katmandu, the Forest Department has, since 1962, organized the supply and transport of firewood and charcoal, mainly sal (Shorea robusta) from forests in the Rapti valley. Firewood and charcoal depots have been established in Katmandu and Patan, where these are sold at a controlled price.
The following quantities of firewood have been transported to these depots: 1962, 37,000 tons; 1963, 46,000 tons; and 1964 (half year only), 27,000 tons.
Netherlands
· The Elsevier Publishing Company has published volume one (Commercial and botanical nomenclature of world timbers: sources of supply) of a new Wood dictionary in seven languages: English/American, French, Spanish, Italian, Swedish, Dutch and German. Compiled and arranged by W. Boerhave Beekman, this volume will be followed by volume two dealing with production, transport and trade, and volume three covering research, manufacture and utilization.
New Guinea, Territory of
· Following upon considerable research, mill scale studies and the collation of all available information, grading rules have now been produced for application to New Guinea sawn timbers. Concentrated research is now proceeding toward the formulation of grading rules for log timber.
Work programing and consequent activity in the construction and expansion of buildings and production of furniture for government purposes has the greatest influence on demand for local produce. The rural building program, which depends upon the return from agricultural products, and the relative price of timber compared with other local and imported building materials also have considerable influence.
Most lumber and logs exported are purchased under agreement between buyer and seller, but the. Department of Forests of Papua and New Guinea will inspect to ensure that standards and species meet the agreement, and comply with quarantine regulations.
The major importers of New Guinea's forest produce have been Australia, Japan and the United States of America, while smaller quantities have been sent to New Zealand and the Pacific islands. Minor forest produce finds markets in Belgium, France the Federal Republic of Germany: Hong Kong, Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. It is anticipated that future markets may be found in India, New Zealand and Pakistan.
Generally speaking no trading agreements exist. Markets for forest produce are determined by demand, offered price and freight charges. Agreement has been reached with Australia to allow a quota of manufactured plywood into Australia duty free.
Philippines
· In recent years the export of wood has occupied third place in the country's export trade. More than 7 million cubic meters of wood are cut annually, and well over half of the forest production is exported. Future production is threatened not only by this high rate of forest output but also by illegal cutting of an undetermined quantity of timber and by shifting cultivation known locally as kaingin, which destroys unknown amounts of useful timber. Forest fires are also widespread, resulting in the destruction of watersheds, erosion, soil loss, landslides, flashfloods and sedimentation of hydroelectric dams.
Wishing to give practical effect to the advice which has been given to the country through FAO and through the United States Agency for International Development (US/AID) during the past few years, the Government has obtained from the United Nations Special Fund approval of a project to establish one or more pilot areas covering about 10,000 hectares in the Baguio Province, for demonstration and training in forest management, including forest range and pastures on selected watersheds. The project, to be operated by FAO will be of four years' duration and divided into three phases:
(a) A reconnaissance survey will be made to investigate the physical, economic and social conditions affecting the selected areas: maps will be prepared from air survey.(b) Detailed surveys will be undertaken, arid demonstration and training programs introduced in watershed and forest range management, logging and transport, reforestation, and farm management: the kaingineros who practice shifting cultivation will be relocated and assisted in modifying their farming practices.
(c) The results achieved on the pilot areas will be evaluated, and a development plan for similar forest areas prepared, covering also forest protection, forest industries, animal husbandry, wildlife conservation, and recreation.
Adjustments in forest policy will be formulated from this experience and the forestry administration reorganized to carry out the new policy. The Government undertakes to enact and enforce the necessary legislation.
Romania
· As part of the investment outlay in recent years for the development and modernization of the timber industry in Romania, now sawmills have been integrated into industrial complexes consisting as a rule of four to nine factories for the sawing and treatment of timber. This was reported at the Symposium on the Economic Aspects of, and Productivity in, the Sawmilling Industry, organized jointly by FAO and ECE at Geneva in November 1964.
In carrying out this reorganization special emphasis has been placed on the better exploitation and intensive utilization of beech, and the complexes have been designed accordingly. With a view to the concentration of the timber industry, special methods for the disposal of products have been introduced which form part of long-term state plans for the national economy. At the same time, these undertakings have been sited together with those of other sectors, and co-operation has been organized between the various units as regards utilities and common services.
Studies have been undertaken to ascertain the productive capacity of the country's forests, the industrial categories of wood that can be produced, and the investment required to make forests accessible and to develop roads. These studies have served as a basis for determining the structure and size of industrial complexes.
Two tours are being arranged in the course of 1965 to enable representatives of member countries of the FAO European Forestry Commission and of the ECE Timber Committee to see the latest developments in Romania.
Sudan
· As a contribution toward the Freedom from Hunger Campaign, Australian inter-Church Aid last year provided funds for a technician from the Centre technique forestier tropical, near Paris, France, to give training in Sudan in improving charcoal production techniques and the use of collapsible metal kilns.
Demonstrations were given to forestry and local personnel in operating batteries of metal kilns available to the Forest Department. The purchase of such equipment is, however, beyond the means of local operators unless the latter can be organized into co-operatives, licensed and subsidized by the State.
Sweden
· A third FAO technical meeting on general problems of fishing boats will be held, at the invitation of the Government of Sweden, in Göteborg in October 1965. This meeting will be a sequel to earlier FAO congresses of fishing boat designers, builders, owners and fisheries administrators held in 1953 at Paris and Miami, and in 1959 at Rome, which dealt mainly with large fishing vessels, the types used by developed fisheries nations. The next meeting will highlight smaller craft under 100 gross tons, especially types used in developing countries.
The importance of these smaller craft is that they so greatly outnumber the larger boats in the world's fisheries. Small boats pose many interesting and difficult technical problems. They are products of local tradition developed to meet local conditions and making use of local materials and timbers. They show great variation, often on the same fishing ground.
During the past 12 years, FAO has undertaken a number of missions to developing countries in order to improve the design of fishing vessels. More than 2,000 boats have been built from FAO designs, and valuable experience has been gained.
United Kingdom
· A grant of about $60,000 has been awarded to the Timber Research and Development Association by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, to investigate the feasibility of importing timber into the country in packages of standard size. The grant will extend over 30 months, and covers approximately half the total estimated cost of the project which, if successful, should mean a substantial speed-up of timber handling at docks. The United Kingdom is one of the world's largest timber importers.
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
· GIPROLESTRANS is one of the leading institutes operating under the State Committee for Forestry, Pulp and Paper, and Wood working Industries, and employs 1,100 professionals in Leningrad alone. It has affiliated institutions in all the main forestry areas: Khabarovsk (Far East); Irkutsk (Eastern Siberia), Krasnoyarsk (Central Siberia); Archangelsk (Northern Russia), and Tiflis (Caucasus). Its main task is to establish plans for forest and forest industry development in the various economic regions. It works closely with GOSPLAN and with the State Committee in establishing the 20-year perspective plan and details of the 5-year plans. The institute concerns itself with forestry measures, plans for extraction, and the location and capacity of enterprises (including pulp and paper). It is not concerned with the designing of plants or with installation. Besides planning integrated combines, it projects large logging enterprises, works out methodology, and establishes norms. Its aim is to establish standard projects which can be, reproduced, with minor adaptations, elsewhere: 85 percent of the increase planned in forestry industry output to 1970 is intended to be in the form of standard projects. The institute also designs equipment for those operational phases for which it takes responsibility.
Much of its effort in recent years has been concentrated on planning the Bratsk combine in Siberia. The production program of this complex will require 3.96 million cubic meters of wood annually. (This compares with 5 million cubic meters that would have been required had the constituent elements not been integrated.) Eventually, the capacity of Bratsk will be raised to absorb annually 6 million cubic meters. At the present time, 15,000 workers are engaged on the site, and Bratsk is expected to come into production in 1966.
GIPROLESTRANS now devotes considerable effort to the detailed planning of infrastructure, for instance, power systems for both logging enterprises and for forest industries, model towns and villages (with all the necessary amenities), for location both near the forest operations and near the industrial centers. The Deputy Director of the FAO Forestry and Forest Products Division, on an official visit to the U.S.S.R., reported that most new mills and combines are located in sparsely populated areas, at considerable distances from industrial centers, and where communications are lacking. This means that considerable organization and planning are required even to get construction workers onto the site.
United States of America
The National Parks Service is preparing plans for a redwood national park in northern coastal California, in the area where the three reputedly tallest trees in the world stand. They are redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) in a privately owned grove in Humboldt County, and measure 367.8, 367.4, and 364.3 feet (112.10, 111.98 and 111.03 meters) respectively. As The New York Times has said, "to cut these trees for lumber would be like dismantling the Statue of Liberty for its salvage value in scrap metal."
The Council of the Society of American Foresters has accepted for further study a proposal from its Committee on International Relations looking toward the formation of an International Union of Forestry Societies.
The committee's case is that there is at present no international agency representing the professional forestry societies of the world, nor is there any existing machinery by which their viewpoints, activities and recommendations may be directly channeled to desirable ends.
The committee asked that, during the Sixth World Forestry Congress, representatives of the Society of American Foresters should be empowered to negotiate with representatives of other countries with a view to bringing into being a union able to represent the interests of societies of professional foresters; to advance the standards of the profession of forestry; to promote the diffusion of knowledge about the science and practice of forestry; and to provide a medium for co-operation and for the development of solidarity among professional foresters throughout the world.
