Commonwealth Forestry News     {short description of image} (Kindly provided by the Canadian Chapter of the CFA)

No.16 March 2002 ISSN 1463-3868

Contents

Chairman's Column
Association News
AGM 2002
CFA India
Forestry and WSSD
Correspondence
In Memoriam
Queen's Award 2000
Forestry in Small Islands
Malta
Around the World
CFC
UN Forum on Forests
International Year of Mountains
Asia Pacific Logging Bans
Forest and People in upland Laos
CIDA Forestry Advisers Network
Decentralising policy in UK
Treefest Scotland 2002
GIS for Forest Industries
Research
Dipterocarps
Sink for Missing Carbon
Newfoundland Forest Registration
Special Features
World Forests Society and Environment
FAO Global Forest Resource Assessment
Rio +8
Forest Scenes
News of members and friends
International Forestry Review
CFA Membership

The international newsletter of the Commonwealth Forestry Association

"To promote the well-being of the world's forests and all who benefit from them".

CFA Administrative Office: 6 - 8 South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3UB, UK.
Telephone:[+44]01865 271037 Facsimile: [+44]01865 275074.
E mail: cfa_oxford@hotmail.com

Editor CFNews: Philip Wardle,
3 Charles Hill, Elstead, GU8 6LE, Surrey, U.K.
Telephone, Facsimile:-[+44]01252702204.
E mail: PhilipWardle2@cs.com
Web site http://www.canadian-forests.com/cfa.html

Chairman's Column

International Dialogue On Forests And
Developing Country Development Concerns

by Mafa E. Chipeta, Vice Chairman, CFA

Currently Chief, Policy Co-ordination Service,FAO. This note was prepared when the writer was Deputy Director General of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR); it carries personal opinions and should in no way be seen to reflect the corporate views of the CFA, CIFOR or FAO.

Green-Tinted Vision

I take the opportunity in writing this column, to draw attention to the apparent mismatch between the desire of developing countries to rapidly better the lives of their people and the predominant concern particularly in developed countries for environmental roles of forests. The latter perspective tends to dominate the international dialogue on forestry and increasingly also features in forestry policies. I have chosen to write "from the hip" and to make assertions based on broad generalisations in the hope of provoking debate.

My reading is that under the sheer weight of media pressure and focus of international dialogue, developing countries are drawn into giving overwhelming attention to environmental or "green" forestry even though the natural inclination of many of them might be to use forests more as a resource for development, including converting some of them to farming. So heavily tilted towards "greenness" is the weight of influential world opinion that countries with divergent preferences tend to feel sinful. Perhaps more seriously for the profession of forestry, people are being expected to feel that they must choose either environment or development; the reality that the separation between environment and productivity is false and misleading is often left aside. Too often, people are being asked to declare themselves in favour of the environment as if to do otherwise were to commit sacrilege or worse.

By implying that those seeking the more immediate gains of production forestry are living in error, the international community risks losing support for forestry of large sections of the potential developing country constituency. Some observers have suggested that fundamentalist "green" views, campaign pressures and media exhortation favouring all-green forestry may have had a chilling effect on donor funding for tropical forestry. The perception is that for the little funding that goes into forestry, lending institutions are vilified more than for all other investment, encouraging them to avoid forestry sector investments. The same may well occur in the domestic budget allocations of the developing countries themselves. For the people of developing countries, forestry may fail to capture their hearts and minds as its agenda is divorced from their key preoccupations and therefore may appear alien to them.

Unflagging Interest In Forest Issues

Recent years have witnessed an unprecedented frequency of international meetings on forestry - they started in the lead up to the Earth Summit (1992 Rio de Janeiro United Nations Conference on Environment and Development) and have not stopped since. Indeed, while today the forests and woodlands themselves may be under threat, the dialogue about them continues to prosper. During the past two decades, forestry has rarely been absent from the lips of developed country politicians, environmental activists and campaigners. Strong interest in the rich countries has kept forests at centre-stage in global meetings on environment and development both under the United Nations itself and under various conventions such as those on climate change, biodiversity, and desertification. Since just before the Earth Summit, there has been near-ceaseless bombardment with messages proclaiming that green is good, that forests are essential for mankind's very survival, that their carbon sequestration may help save us from being baked alive in a greenhouse world, and that conservation of ecosystems and of biological diversity in particular are absolutely essential and must be at the top of all priorities.

Noting that in developing countries there is a continuing net loss of forest cover while in developed ones there is a net gain, the international community has ceaselessly exhorted the poorer countries to get their act together: "protect your forests", "green your countries", use less fuelwood, protect biodiversity (hence also "don't be tempted by plantations - use native species"), use forest products less wastefully, stop shifting cultivation. The forestry sector has embraced all these exhortations and has drawn up and launched whole programmes aimed at helping the developing countries protect and enhance their forests.

Full of Words, but Empty Wallets

Despite the above, funding for forestry development remains limited - development assistance is in fact shrinking - and the allocations of developing countries themselves is inadequate and unreliable. Various environmental NGOs offer small-scale aid for local initiatives but mass-scale action needed to conserve forests remains elusive - the scale of funding remains woefully inadequate relative to the ambitions.

But should we be surprised that forestry gets so little funding? Perhaps not; because, except in a few quite poor developing countries, forestry is estimated to contribute less - often much less - to gross national product than 10%. Indeed, some have argued that forestry is really only important where people have few economic livelihood options. We observe that as economies grow, the proportionate share of forestry, like other primary sectors, tends to decline even if in absolute terms the sector still offers significant employment and income opportunities.

What View Might The Poorer Countries Have?

An external observer of the international forestry dialogue might well conclude that there is unanimous agreement on forests being largely an environmental asset, to be used very sparingly or to be set aside for posterity. More often than not, forests are mentioned simultaneously with the need to protect the earth from overheating (the carbon debate), to conserve irreplaceable genetic and ecosystem diversity (the biodiversity debate); as a mantle to protect economically important watersheds from soil erosion; as repositories of game and other wildlife; and as home for indigenous people to be protected from entering the modern age and to meet whose needs conserved forests are essential to maintain their ancient lifestyles.

The international dialogue incessantly appeals for more funds and technology transfer to protect and manage forests, but largely for a narrow range of conservation oriented objectives. Apart from occasional reference to fairer and more remunerative trade (in fora such as the International Tropical Timber Organisation) and to local livelihoods by brave interested countries (such as the pro-ivory trade consortium of Southern African countries) the rest of the appeals and forestry statements; the justifications to save and increase forest cover, relate to conservation. In a few developing countries - stories from Cameroon, Kenya and Zimbabwe come to mind - so pervasive is the pressure to conserve forests and wildlife that local people's livelihoods appear to be totally neglected.

This preoccupation with ecological functions of forests to the near exclusion of productive and social roles may well be the dimension that divides the interests of presumptive stakeholders and power brokers of developed countries from those of the real stakeholders of developing countries. In the latter group of countries, the overriding concern in life is to progress and to achieve prosperity and to do this with all the means that are within reach. Forests and woodlands, being a resource that can often be exploited with the limited capital and technology that relatively poor rural people have, are a prime candidate for utilisation.

My desire has been not to pass judgements but to draw to the attention of governments and societies around the world, this important division of perceptions and interest. Right now, the pressure to conserve, keep green, leave sacrosanct almost always comes from countries that are wealthy - their people have many other sources of livelihoods. Only a few percent - certainly less than five percent - of their people live from the land or agriculture. Many could close down their entire forest industries and farming sectors and their economies would remain relatively healthy. The same cannot be said of many developing countries - there, not only do forests and the land directly support subsistence of the majority, but in some cases they earn significant foreign exchange for reinvestment.

A User Friendly Forestry For All Countries

What then should we be saying or doing that can persuade developing countries to see their best interests also reflected in the direction of forestry management? The following come to mind for others to react to:

from MAFA CHIPETA, Vice Chairman, CFA

Association News

AGM 2002

The Annual General Meeting of the Commonwealth Forestry Association will be held at the Arundell Arms Hotel, Lifton, Devon in the evening of Thursday 16th May. This will be followed by the CFA Dinner also in the Arundell Arms Hotel.

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee meeting will be held on the morning of 16th May.

CFA excursion in Devon and Cornwall

The UK Branch has organized the following programme of visits in conjunction with the AGM :

Thursday 16th

Afternoon - Visit Trebartha Woods

Friday 17th

Morning - Eden Project
Afternoon - Visit Duchy of Cornwall Woodlands
Evening - Pub supper, Manor House Inn, Rilla Mill

Saturday 18th

Morning - Visit Tavistock Woodlands

Costs per person will be as follows:- Dinner on Thursday 16 May £27.50 (excluding wine); Visit to Eden Project £8.00; Administration fee £10.00 or £15.00 per couple. All other costs (eg accommodation) will be met directly by participants. Those intending to participate should register, sending the appropriate fee, with David Henderson-Howat, Chairman, CFA UK Branch, Forestry Commission, 231 Corstorphine Road, Edinburgh, EH12 7AT.

AGM and May 2002 Tour

Accommodation Suggestions - please make your own arrangements.

The Arundell Arms, Lifton, Devon, PL16 OAA. Tel: 01566 784666 for CFA members - prices range from £46.50 per person

The Eagle House Hotel, Castle Street, Launceston, PL15 8BA. Tel: 01566 772036 Price £25 - a special CFA rate

Trevadlock Farm, Trevadlock, Launceston, PL15 7PW. Tel: 01566 7822398 Price £23 en suite.

Tresswell Farm, Congdom Shop, Launceston, PL15 7PN. Tel: 01566 782618

Berrio Bridge House, Berrio Bridge, Launceston. Tel: 01566 782714 Price range £25/£22

2002 ACTIVITIES - REPLY SLIP

Participation in AGM and May 2002 Tour
Name(s):
Address:
E-mail:
Phone:

May 2002 Tour

I/We do/do not intend to come on the May 2002 Tour and enclose a cheque (made payable to the "Commonwealth Forestry Association") for:

no.___ dinners @ £27.50 total _____

no.___ people visiting Eden Project
@ £8 Admin fee £10/person or £15/couple total _____

Total _____

Autumn 2002 Seminar

Please send me further details of the Autumn 2002 Seminar on the World Summit on Sustainable Development and its implications for forestry

Please Tick: Yes____ No____

Please return (with cheque) to David Henderson-Howat, Forestry Commission, 231 Corstorphine Road, Edinburgh, EH12 7AT.

CFA India

The CFA India Branch is going to organize the next Brandis-Chaturvedi Memorial Lecture and invites all members and others interested to suggest the names of possible speakers either from India or abroad.

Dr A.K.Bannerjee, former World Bank expert delivered three lectures on community based forest management systems, 15th January at Delhi, on 18th in Bhopal and on 22nd at Banglore. CFA India is publishing a book on Joint Forest Management with the support of the JFM Stakeholders Forum and Winrock International.

This information is from the new CFA India web site - http://www.cfaindia.org/

Forestry and WSSD

The UK Branch is intending to hold a seminar, jointly with the Institute of Chartered Foresters, on the subject of the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. It will be held after the Summit, with the intention of reporting back to foresters in the UK on what happened and its implications for forestry. This will be in the autumn in Edinburgh.

IFR appeal for copies

March and June 2001 editions of the IFR are out of print. We would be grateful to any member who sends back copies of these issues to the Secretary of CFA in Oxford.

Correspondence

Forests, Trees and Livelihoods

Michael S. Philip, Editor writes: The new Commonwealth Forestry Handbook has not noted that the former International Tree Crops Journal has changed to its new name of Forests, Trees and Livelihoods.

In Memoriam

We regret to announce the death of Mrs Margaret Evans and wish to take this opportunity to express our deepest sympathy to Professor Julian Evans, our Chairman, and to all his family.

Queen's Award 2000

Dr. V.K. Bahuguna, Deputy Inspector General of Forests, Government of India, Ministry of Environment and Forests, received the Queen's Award for Forestry at the CFA meeting during the IUFRO congress in Kuala Lumpur in September 2000. The award is intended to support travel to Commonwealth countries and the following short report describes visits to Australia, South Africa and Great Britain during April-May, 2001.

Dr Bahuguna writes:

I was invited by the organisers of the XVI Commonwealth Forestry Conference to deliver a Keynote Address on 19th April, 2001 in Fremantle on "Protection, Production and Participation in Forest Management : an Indian perspective in achieving balance". This presentation described India's experience in meeting the diverse and conflicting demands for goods and services from the forests in a developing country scenario (in which more than 350 million people are dependent on forest resources for their needs and foresters are hard pressed to perform). The history of forest policy in India and the changing dimensions of major forest-related events reflect the changing needs of society over time. Many initiatives have been taken; by the Government and others, involving forest-dependent communities. The Government's Joint Forest Management programme parallels initiatives taken by the public and industry, in increasing the tree and forest cover outside the traditional forest area and meeting peoples' needs for forest products of all kinds. As a result, for the last 13 to 14 years, the country's forest cover has remained around 19% of the geographic area in spite of an unabated pressure from human and livestock populations. A recent Government innovation has been setting up Forest Development Agencies, which are district level federations of village communities, in which both forestry activities and overall land base development programmes are being integrated.

I arrived in East London, South Africa on 20th May, was met by Mr. Graeme Harrison, Deputy Director Community Forestry, Eastern Cape region and went directly to Umtata. There we had meetings with officers of Department of Water and Land Resources and I spoke on Indian experience with Joint Forest Management (JFM) under the title "Community Forestry - who can be trusted?" This gave an overview of the state of India's forests over time, National Forest Policy and the philosophy and practices of JFM. Discussion covered South African experience of restructuring and the potential benefits to India and South Africa from sharing information on the changes being made in both the countries. During a visit to the Cuzu Woodlot I learned how the woodlots raised on community lands are now being handed over to the villagers for management. We also visited the WWF/South Africa/European Community sponsored participatory forest management project between Bulololo River and Majazana River where we were able to interact with the villagers who will manage the woodlots. Although the visit was short I was able to study the restructuring programme of South Africa and the new Forest Acts, the Fire Act and the Participatory Forest and Licences Acts.

On my visit to the United Kingdom from 25th - 31st May, 2001 I was fortunate to be accompanied throughout by Mr. Peter Wood, Vice President, CFA. In London we had discussions in the Department for International Development with Mr. John Hudson and Ms. Penny Davies, Senior Forestry Advisers in DFID, about DFID programmes in India. We also met Mrs. S. Robinson, Senior Programme Officer dealing with Commonwealth Forestry matters in the Commonwealth Foundation with whom I shared my experiences of participatory forest management and learned about Commonwealth activities in support of voluntary action and leadership.

In a meeting with Mr. Naresh Dayal, the High Commissioner for India in UK, the discussion turned on collaboration between UK and Indian forestry institutions and the High Commissioner promised to take a lead in promoting the involvement of UK Natural Resources Institutes in the Indian communities efforts in this field. A specific proposal was also mooted for establishing professorial chairs in forest conservation and facilitating exchange visits of Indian and British experts.

At the Oxford Forestry Institute I met the Director, Professor J. Burley and Dr. Bodeker, senior research fellow on Biodiversity studies, visited the 'Bagley Wood Memorial' and learned about the various experiments being conducted at Oxford on forest-related science. I was able to deliver my lecture on "Community Forestry - who can be trusted?" to students and faculty members. Later, in Edinburgh, at the invitation of Edinburgh Centre for Tropical Forests (ECTF), I delivered the same lecture to a large gathering of scientists, faculty members, students and general public in the auditorium of Royal Botanical Garden. This was followed by a meeting with scientists and consultants from the Edinburgh Centre for Tropical Forests, Land and Timber Services Ltd. (LTS), the University of Edinburgh, the Royal Botanic Garden and the British Forestry Commission. In this meeting, various forestry schemes in India and the future prospects of cooperation were discussed during which I learned about the expertise in each institution relevant for the management of gene pool resources and other forest-related developments in India.

Finally there was a meeting with Mr. David Bills, Director General of the British Forestry Commission, with whom we discussed the revival of the Indo-British initiative on Sustainable Forest Management and possibilities of bilateral cooperation between the Forestry Commission and Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests. Some of the possible areas for cooperation included exchange of experience of institutional change, formulation of criteria and indicators for Sustainable Forest Management, cross sectoral coordination, private sector investment in forestry and prioritisation in the national forestry action plan, including formulation of strategy documents at the state level. We also explored information and knowledge exchange on the management of plantations as an enterprise, transfer of technology on temperate forests, modernisation of working plans and India's experience of community participation.

The Queen's award travel programme was an immensely satisfying fellowship which will help me in my responsibilities for providing leadership for community based forest management at the national level in the Government of India. My sincere thanks go to my hosts and many contacts in Australia, South Africa and the UK, with particular thanks to Mr. Graeme Harrison in SA and Mr. Peter Wood UK, for devoting their time to my visits.

from VINOD BAHUGUNA.

Forestry in Small States and Islands

Malta

The Maltese archipelago situated in the Mediterranean sea, with a combined area of 316sq kms, has been inhabited since Neolithic times. The original forest cover of the main islands of Malta, Gozo and Comino has long since disappeared. Up to the Middle Ages, Malta is said to have been well treed, with Araar (Tetraclinis articulata), Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis) and olive (Olea europaea). Forest tree cultivation has been practiced since the late 1500s at Buskett, a lordly forest-garden cum estate, situated in Malta´s centre.

Current forest practice is carried out by the Urban and Rural Landscaping Unit of the Department of Agriculture, which has for the past 80 years been responsible for the afforestation effort on the islands. Private contractors, mainly in the horticultural trade, private planters, as well as environmental non-governmental organisations are also responsible for tree planting. Indeed Malta is a microsm of different practices and presents the forester with many challenges over a few square kilometres of terrain.

In January 2001 the Maltese government published the first ever comprehensive Trees and Woodland (Protection) regulations under the then Environment Protection Act. This was done after much lobbying from environmental NGOs. Prior to this, most of Malta´s rare and indeed endangered forest tree species were unprotected. The regulations also listed some 29 forest protected areas spread out all over the Maltese Islands. These areas were chosen as a first step in clearly identifying Malta´s natural forest heritage and now constitute the country's embryonic forest reserves, although much still needs to be done including the official publication of survey plans which clearly denote the extent of the protected areas. This year the government also plans to enter into private-public agreements with commercial garden centres in order to privatise the managment of the urban forestry sector. This is being done in an effort to improve efficiency and increase the Islands´ green cover.

from CHARLES GRECH, Forester & Environmental Manager, Malta

Around the World

Commonwealth Forestry Conference

The final documentation relating to the Commonwealth Forestry Conference, Fremantle, Western Australia, 18-25 April 2001 was distributed in February to all participants.

UN Forum on Forests

The Second session of the UNFF will be held from 4-15 March 2002 in San José, Costa Rica.

The UNFF 2 Bureau met on 27 November in New York and tentatively agreed on the following five critical issues as a focus for both the high-level ministerial segment and the dialogue between the ministers and heads of Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF) member organizations:

The Bureau also agreed to highlight issues such as law enforcement and good governance. The deliberations among Ministers would aim to: endorse the UNFF Plan of Action; transmit a ministerial message to the World Summit on Sustainable Development; and encourage CPF to support the work of UNFF.

High-Level forestry round table

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) has convened a high-level Forestry Roundtable meeting in conjunction with UNFF 2 in Costa Rica. The roundtable was to seek to reaffirm the importance of sustainable forest management, within the context of sustainable development and improved human welfare; and to increase the profile of these issues in the agenda of World Summit on Sustainable Development, UNFF, the GEF Assembly and other relevant fora. The panelists will discuss the different forces acting on forests; with a focus on the following topics, for which background papers have been commissioned:

  1. "Forests for the trees" to "Forests for carbon" - the pendulum swings again!
  2. Forest certification and biodiversity: opposites or complements?
  3. Alien invasives: the potential Aids of the natural system? Epidemic waiting to happen!! and
  4. Ecosystem services - wherefore art thou?

The panel will discuss the challenges these issues pose, the synergies, as well as practical ways to address them through national, regional and global processes.

from UNFF News

Asia-Pacific Logging bans

Over the last fifteen years, a number of Asian and Pacific countries completely or partially banned logging in natural forests. Patrick Durst reported on discussion of this topic at the Asia Pacific Forestry Commission in May 2000 (CFN9 and 11).

The results are now published as 'Forests Out of Bounds: Impacts and Effectiveness of Logging Bans in Natural Forests in Asia-Pacific,' by Chris Brown, Patrick Durst, and Thomas Enters of FAO, available from Patrick.Durst@fao.org. This looks at the experience in China, New Zealand, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. Several of these countries used logging bans successfully to conserve natural forests and obtain a larger portion of their wood supply from tree plantations and agroforestry; but some of the other countries largely failed.

New Zealand and Sri Lanka managed to replace natural forests with other sources of timber - New Zealand's thriving forest plantations and Sri Lanka's home gardens and coconut and rubber plantations. The remaining natural forests in the two countries are no longer threatened. The Philippines and Thailand imposed logging bans after loggers and farmers had already depleted most of the commercial timber resources. Yet forest clearing for agriculture continues in both countries. Only a small portion of the two countries' wood supply comes from plantations. In 1998, China banned logging in 42 million hectares of forest. Officials expect timber harvests from natural forest to decline from 32 to 12 million cubic meters and hope that their 34 million hectares of tree plantations will make up most of the difference.

Sometimes restricting logging in one country simply displaces the problem to other countries. China, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam all greatly increased their forest product imports fuelling illegal logging and destructive timber harvesting in neighbouring countries such as Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, and Russia.

Its easy to 'just say no' to logging. It is much more difficult to actually protect forests and develop sustainable alternative timber sources.

from PATRICK DURST, FAO, Bangkok

Cambodia suspends all logging operations

Faced with mounting domestic and international criticism relating to the destruction of Cambodia's forests, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has announced the suspension of all logging operations, effective from 1st January 2002. (See also CFN9 and 15)

from GLOBAL WITNESS

Forest and people in upland Laos

To the people of upland Laos being poor means using up all their rice and having no cash or cattle they can sell to buy more. When that happens they turn to the forest. They hunt, fish, and harvest wild cardamom, bamboo shoots and vegetables, as well as resins, rattan canes, and other products. They consume some of these directly. Others they sell to buy rice. In many remote upland villages these products provide 40-60% of household incomes. For the poorest families the percentage is often much higher. Forest products have traditionally been available when people need them the most.

For many of these people life is getting harder. Due to population growth, government policies, and outsiders encroaching on their forest many families now have less land where they can practice shifting cultivation.

John Raintree and Viloune Soydara argue in Human Ecology and Rural Livelihoods of Laos, that the Laotian "Land Allocation" programme, which regulates where farmers can practise shifting cultivation, needs to be more flexible and participatory and focus more on land use planning, rather than on allocating specific plots to farmers. The government's community forestry policies should focus more on the secondary and degraded forests poor people depend on. The government should also ensure that policies concerning non-timber forest products do not lead to greater over-harvesting of those resources or increase the competition between poor people and powerful interest groups.

Without ongoing access to forest resources, poor people in upland Laos will go hungry. When they run out of rice they go to the forest. When they run out of forest, where will they go? http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/

from CIFOR

International Year of Mountains

The International Year of Mountains was launched in New York on 11 December 2001. FAO is the UN lead agency for coordinating the Year. Forests are one among 16 themes considered.

Major global events include:

http://www.mountains2002.org/

The CIDA Forestry Advisers Network (CFAN)

The CFAN website is posting new information on climate change and on the recent seminar held last November entitled "Forestry, Climate Change and Development Opportunities" at: http://www.rcfa-cfan.org/english/seminar.htm

And has recently posted a new feature on its website - "Support to the IWOKRAMA Rain Forest Program in Guyana Project ". http://www.rcfa-cfan.org/english/profile.15.html

from CFAN

Decentralising forestry policy and management in the UK

Forestry Minister Elliot Morley MP has announced a review of the options for decentralising handling of forestry policy and management in the UK, the results of which will be reported to English, Scottish and Welsh Forestry Ministers in the Spring.

The review will consider the current administrative arrangements for delivering sustainable forestry policies in England, Scotland and Wales and the UK's international forestry commitments, including options for further devolution of these arrangements. It will be undertaken by officials from the Forestry Commission, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Scottish Executive, the National Assembly for Wales, the Cabinet Office and the Treasury. The Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture and Rural Development will also be involved. Views will be sought from interested parties.

from the FORESTRY COMMISSION, GB

Treefest Scotland 2002

Scotland is gearing up for 'Treefest Scotland 2002', a national, year-long celebration of its rich heritage of trees, woods and forests. An extensive programme of hundreds of events is taking shape, ranging from intimate local woodland walks guided by experts to international extravaganzas such as the World Logging Championships in Lockerbie in September. "Treefest is all about raising the awareness of residents and visitors to Scotland of what a wonderful heritage of trees, woods and forests we have in Scotland, and of all the many benefits they bring to us," said Treefest national chairman Syd House, of Perth.

Treefest website, http://www.treefestscotland2002.org.uk/

GIS For Forest Industries

In a drive to increase competitiveness, the Scottish Forest Industries Cluster* has announced a project aimed at creating a standard GIS data format for the forest industries.

Since so much of the data exchanged with the Forestry Commission is map-based, GIS (geographic informationsystem) is an obvious technology to employ to describe woodlands and their attributes electronically. GIS is now extensively used within the Commission and a GIS data standard offers a mechanism for the exchange of information among interested parties, such as harvesters and wood processors, as well as woodland owners, managers and the Commission. Such a standard could pave the way for a better macro level view of the industry by providing improved production forecasting and long term forest planning.

* The Scottish Forest Industries Cluster encompasses all those companies, organisations and industries involved with the planting, management and harvesting of forests, through sawmilling, pulp, paper and board production to the production of higher value manufactured goods. It incorporates input from the chemicals and machinery sectors, as well as from business support and education institutions. http://www.forestryscotland.com/

from CATRIONA PREBBLE, Scottish Forest Industries Development Council

Research

Dipterocarps: a valuable timber resource in tropical countries

Dipterocarps are trees of ecological and economic importance in the Asia-Pacific region. They are commercially logged for timber, but high demand, indiscriminate logging, forest fires, shifting cultivation and poor management has led to degradation of natural forests. Sustainable forest management and effective silvicultural techniques are necessary if the growing demand for this timber is to be met.

The 6th Round Table Conference on Dipterocarps, at Bangalore, India in 1999 was organised by the IUFRO International Working Group on Dipterocarps, French Institute of Pondicherry and Karnataka Forest Department. The recently-published Proceedings contains 22 papers by scientists from Australia, Bangladesh, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Netherlands, USA and Vietnam. Genera covered in the proceedings include Dipterocarpus, Dryobalanops, Hopea, Parashorea, Shorea, Vateria and Vatica; and the five themes are:

Further information C.Cox@curtin.edu.au

from TUE LUONG, Mulga Research Centre,
Curtin University of Technology, Perth WA

A Sink for Missing Carbon Discovered in Northern Forests NASA developed satellite data combined with forest inventory data indicate that forests in Europe, Russia and America have been storing nearly 700 million metric tons of carbon a year, or about 12% of annual global carbon emissions from industrial activities, during the 1980s and 1990s. European forests soaked up 120 million tons of carbon a year, which is about 11% of Europe's annual emissions. With the exception of Canada's boreal forests, which were found to be losing carbon, most northern forests were storing carbon. Russia, the country with most forests, accounted for almost 40 percent of the biomass carbon sink.

Part of the puzzle of greenhouse gases and climate change is determining where carbon dioxide (CO2) is absorbed, and what causes a region to become a "carbon sink." The land and oceans are known to store half of the 6.5 billion tons of carbon emitted annually from fossil fuel burning and industrial activities. The other half is accumulating as CO2 in the atmosphere, the increasing concentration of which is thought by many to be responsible for global warming.

Analyses of atmospheric CO2 concentration changes indicate a carbon sink of about 1 to 2 billion tons on land in the northerly regions. Elsewhere the land is suggested to be neutral, which implies that emissions of another 1.5 billion tons of carbon a year from cutting and burning of tropical forests are nearly balanced by sinks of similar magnitude there. The geographical detail of the land carbon sink has however remained elusive.

The researchers combined forest greenness observed from sensors on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellites with wood volume data from forest inventories to produce high resolution maps of carbon stocked in about 1.5 billion hectares of northern forests located above the 30th parallel. They identified where forests were storing carbon and where they were losing carbon by comparing the carbon stock maps of the late 1990s and early 1980s. The researchers report that about 61 billion tons of carbon is contained in the wood of these northern forests.

The American and European forests contained more carbon than the Canadian and Russian forests (56 versus 41 tons per hectare). Among the European countries, Austria, France and Germany had notably large stocks. The rate of storage, in tons carbon per hectare per year, varied from country to country during the 1980s and 1990s. It was highest in Europe (0.84) and America (0.66), and least in Canada and China (0.29), with values for Russia in between (0.44). Thus, the sink distribution between North America and Eurasia was roughly in proportion with the forest area. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. 18.Dec.2001 and at http://www.pnas.org/.

from RANGA B. MYNENI, Boston University;
JARI LISKI, EFI; PEKKA KAUPPI, IIASA.

Newfoundland Registration for Public Forests

In Newfoundland and Labrador, the Newfoundland Forest Service (NFS) manages about a third of the productive forest. The rest is managed by two forest-products companies, both of which have their forest operations registered to the ISO 14001 standard. The NFS is investigating ISO 14001 registration for its portion of the forest which would result in the entire province's timber-producing forest operations being managed consistent with the standard.

I conducted a study to find out whether and how the NFS should proceed. I interviewed about thirty NFS and industry representatives and asked them to comment on previously identified potential barriers to ISO 14001 implementation as they may or may not pertain to the NFS. Upper-management commitment was identified as the most significant potential barrier to the NFS, in part due to its ability to affect other potential barriers such as monetary resources, commitment of staff time, and ability to abide by applicable legislation. Political interference is a potential barrier not previously identified in the literature.

Interviewees unanimously agreed on the irrelevance to Newfoundland of several of the potential barriers discussed including: lack of ISO expertise; lack of employee buy-in; inability to provide adequate training; sloppy document control; and political uncertainty. Remaining potential barriers were identified by some as likely to pose a partial barrier to the NFS, however, if the agency has strong commitment from the top, it can readily fill the gaps between the current NFS forest management and ISO requirements. So it is urged to give ISO 14001 its most serious consideration - the benefits of implementation could greatly improve its current practices. The standard may also be appropriate for other government departments that manage natural resources, such as the Newfoundland Wildlife Division.

from KAREN SAUNDERS

Special Feature

World Forests, Society and Environment

Palo, Matti, et al. (eds.) 2001. World Forests, Markets and Policies. Kluwer Academic Publishers/World Forests, Volume III.. 490 p. + Hardbound, ISBN 0-7923-7170-4. Price USD 145 + Paperback, ISBN 0-7923-5321-8. Price USD 50. The book has 32 articles and involves contributors from 30 countries and six continents. The following short extracts illustrate the range and scope. The next edition will be produced under the aegis of IUFRO.

Economic Crises, Small Farmers and Forest Cover in Cameroon and Indonesia by William D. Sunderlin, Ida Aju Pradnja Resosudarmo and Ousseynou Ndoye. Cameroon and Indonesia have received much attention in the literature on tropical deforestation. Both have experienced devastating economic crises and subsequent macroeconomic adjustment policies, which led to changes in farming systems and increases in the rate of forest clearing. In Cameroon, a collapse of the prices of leading agroexports (cocoa and coffee), withdrawal of subsidies and restrictions on food imports made farmers clear land to produce food crops for domestic consumption. In Indonesia depreciation of the national currency made certain agroexports profitable and farmers cleared land to produce these crops. Three main lessons may be drawn from a comparison of these experiences. Decrease or increase of prices can lead to the same forest cover consequences. Increased rates of forest clearing have more to do with destabilization than with the direction of change in prices. Policymakers should be aware that widely differing economic shocks and macroeconomic adjustment policies can lead to unexpected and undesirable social and environmental consequences.

8750 Threatened Tree Species In The World? by José Alvarado, Kaisa Korhonen and Matti Palo In 1998 Worldwide Fund for Nature said that 8750 tree species, 10% of all the tree species in the world, were threatened.

Most people have a clear, intuitive definition of the term "tree". Botanists consider trees as plants with solid mass of a tissue called secondary wood. The Dictionary of Forestry defines a tree as "a woody perennial plant, typically large and with a well-defined stem or stems carrying a more or less definite crown". The FAO Forest Resources Assessment in 2000 definition includes a minimum height limit of 5-7 metres. IUCN uses a broader definition of a tree as "a woody plant growing on a single stem, with height over two metres"

Concepts of tree and forest are in some instances politically loaded. For example, if the FAO tree concept had been applied, rather than the IUCN one, the number of threatened tree species would have been much lower. The area of forest became inflated in the FAO 2000 Assessment in comparison with its 1990 Assessment when the crown cover specified for forest was lowered from 20% to 10%. It may be prestigious for FAO and the foresters of the world that the global forest area has expanded by 500 million ha from 1990 to 2000 (FAO 2001).

Australia's Expanding Plantation Estate by Mellissa Wood and Claire Howell. Australia's rate of plantation expansion has accelerated since 1996; 94 000 ha were established in 1999 and the expected rate in 2000 exceeds 150 000 ha. There are now 1.34 mill. ha - 71% softwood and 29% hardwood. Plantations comprise just over 1% of the total forest estate, yet they supply over 50% of wood processing requirements. The 1997 initiative Plantations for Australia: the 2020 Vision aims at three million hectares by 2020.

Most recently, policies to promote plantations have been in collaboration with industry, to attract private investment and facilitate greater participation by the forest and wood products industry. Currently investors can claim a 100% tax deduction for expenditure on plantation establishment. Major participants include:- pulp and paper and wood industries, corporate investors, environmental plantings for carbon credits, soil erosion, and salinity and rural landholders seeking farm diversification.

Almost all states share the policy to shift from plantation establishment on native forested land to establishment on cleared agricultural land, consistent with ecologically sustainable management.

The Evolution of Forest Regimes in India and China by Shashi Kant. The dynamics of forest regimes in India and China are analysed within the framework of institutional change having the elements of path dependence and adaptive efficiency. In India, forest regimes have completed a full cycle, starting with the community regime in the pre-British period through state regimes during the colonial period, and finally back to community-based forest regimes in the 1990s. In China, too, some forest regimes present in the days of Imperial China - the regime of "one field two landlords" - have re-emerged in recent years. During the colonial era in India, the changes in forest regimes were discontinuous, but path-dependent in the geographical sense. In the collectivization phase in China, changes in forest regimes were discontinuous. However, the emergence of the Household Responsibility System in the liberalization phase in China demonstrates the elements of temporal path dependence.

For efficient and sustainable forest management, forest regimes have to be modified along the existing paths, and sensitive to the existing self-reinforcing mechanisms, specifically the organizational and institutional inertia. Hence, developed countries and international organizations should be cautious in suggesting market manipulations for the solution of global deforestation, and developing countries should be careful in accepting these suggestions.

Forest Policies in Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zimbabwe by Godwin Kowero, Abdallah S. Kaoneka, Isilda Nhantumbo, P. Gondo and C.B.L. Jumbe. Many countries in eastern and southern Africa have lost significant natural forest resources. Initially the pace was gradual, but it has accelerated in the recent past. Efforts made to contain the situation include revising past policies to improve forestry development and conservation. This paper traces the evolution of such policies together with corresponding implementation mechanisms in Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. Although broad policy statements on involving local communities in forestry have existed in some countries for several decades, adequate resources have not been committed to make them operational. Generally, the forestry sector has lagged behind other sectors in revising its policies to reflect political and socio-economic changes. However, current forest policies are more comprehensive in terms of the stakeholders considered and issues addressed.

The Giant Edible Snail of Humid Tropical Forests in Equador by Raúl Córdova. Humid tropical forests contain several natural resources, such as oil, minerals and wood. The giant snail Strophocheilus popelarianus is one species in this megadiversity that has the potential to become an important non-wood product if exploited rationally. The indigenous peoples of the Amazon Region, such as the Quichua, Huaorani and Shuar, have utilised the giant snail for nutrition for centuries. Its most distinctive characteristics are its weight (544 grams), the size of its shell, which may reach 15 cm in length and the foot , which can be 25 cm. With protein content being as high as 17%, this animal could present an alternative solution in the battle against malnutrition. Presently, the giant snails are sold at a local market in the town of Tena - 30 snails per week totalling about 1440 per year. Collection and sale is usually by Quichua women. With each snail fetching a price of USD 0.43 (1999), the annual income is about USD 619.

Logging, which usually causes conflicts with the local people's traditional way of living, is not the only profitable use of forests. From the environmental point of view, the non-wood resources are more important to the people, because they provide long-term exploitability. For efficient exploitation of these natural resources, more investment in research is needed, but always with an appreciation of the traditional expertise of the indigenous peoples.

FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment 2000

FAO has recently published the main report of the Assessment as FAO Forestry Paper 140. FRA 2000 covers more countries and parameters than previous assessments and is the first to be based on a single global definition of forest. The report covers the themes forest area and area change, wood volume and woody biomas, forest plantations, which are dealt with quantitatively. Appendix 2 lists terms and definitions. The data are presented in appendix 3, by country, in regional aggregates and world total, in 15 tables covering 60 pages. Trees outside the forest, biological diversity, forest fires and non-wood forest products are considered qualitatively with partial quantitative information.

A major issue relating to periodic national and international assessments of forest resources is the comparability of the data reported particularly on total area and area change. Conscious of the importance and sensitivity of this issue FAO has devoted FRA Working Paper 59 to the matter - FRA 2000 Comparison of Forest Area and Forest Area Change Estimates Derived From FRA 1990 and FRA 2000. The following extracts attempt to summarise this discussion.

FRA 2000 consists of three main components: I) Assessment of forest resources based on existing national information. II) A series of special studies to complement the quantitative survey of forest area and area change on topics like Trees Outside the Forest and III the FRA 2000 Remote Sensing Survey (RSS). The remote sensing survey is based on 117 objectively selected satellite imageries (sample units) covering about 10 percent of the forest area in the pan tropical zone. The survey interprets land use in the sample units from three points in time (around 1980, 1990 and 2000). This allows the study of forest cover change processes during the two decades 1980-2000. For the three tropical regions, the survey provides regional estimates of forest area and land use changes that are independent of the national assessments based on country submissions.

The working paper compares the 1990 net forest areas and the figures for net annual forest area change derived from FRA 1990 and FRA 2000. The total 1990 forest area - 3,963 million ha - registered by FRA 2000 was found to be 521 million ha or 15.1% larger than the1990 forest area registered by FRA 1990. This difference owes primarily to change of definitions of forest between the assessments (in particular the lowering of the threshold value for crown density in the industrialized countries from 20 to 10%. This had the largest impact on the reported forest areas for Australia and the Former USSR.

The net annual forest area change during the 1990's reported for FRA 2000 was -9.4 million ha, representing a positive development from the FRA 1990 estimate of -13.1 million ha during the 1980's. The rate of net forest area loss as reported by FRA has thereby decreased by 3.7 million ha from the 1980's to the 1990s.

A number of changes in methodology and in the quality of the underlying data material between FRA 1990 and FRA 2000 contributed to the differences in the size of estimated forest area change from the two assessments. Concerning changes in methodology, the discontinuation of the use of the deforestation model for generating forest area change figures for the developing countries was of particular importance. The use of the model was abandoned for FRA2000 after acknowledging that the correlation between forest area change and demographic parameters used as inputs was weak at national level. For FRA 2000 the estimates for forest area change were generated where possible by time series information and elsewhere by expert opinion and secondary source information. The model may for some countries have generated high estimates of net annual forest area loss during the 1980's.

Compared with the findings of the FRA 2000 RSS, the FRA 2000 country data overestimated the rate of deforestation for Africa, necessitating a positive adjustment of the regional forest area change figure for Africa. FRA 2000 RSS has however not found statistically significant differences between the forest cover change rates of the tropical regions for the two decades. FRA 2000 estimates a net tropical natural forest area loss of 14.2 million ha per year, meaning that almost 1 percent of the tropical forest was lost every year during 1990's. In spite of an apparent improvement from the 1980's to the 1990 owing mainly to a natural expansion of forest in the industrialized countries, natural forests in the tropics are still being lost at an alarmingly high rate.

Rio+8: Policy, Practice and Progress Towards
Sustainable Forest Management

Third in the Commonwealth Forestry Association series
The World's Forests

A vital book for policy makers, researchers and students of forestry and environmental management. The only book to cover all major international and intergovernmental initiatives on forestry. (309 pages)

Contents include:

Issues covered include:

Edited by: Mia Söderlund and Alan Pottinger
Published and distributed by: the Commonwealth Forestry Association, ISBN 0-9515059-3-9, Date: 2001

Ordering information: £12.00/US$20.00 per copy (£8.00/US$12.00 for CFA members) For delivery by airmail please add £5.00/US$8.00

Payment by cheque or credit card. If paying by credit card please give credit card type, number and expiry date and for security reasons please send by post or fax. An order form follows for your use.

To order Rio+8 or for information on subscribing to the International Forestry Review or on membership of the Commonwealth Forestry Association please contact:

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Email: cfa_oxford@hotmail.com
Tel: +44(0) 1865271037

Forest Scenes

Trading wind in the forest

The Emissions Trading Market is open for business. While the EU continues to fine-tune its proposals, corporates have already ventured into this new territory and laid claim to carbon profits. The conference Emissions Trading Europe 2002 was held in February in Amsterdam, organised by Eyeforenergy, brought together the industrial giants, exchanges, traders and brokers at the forefront of this new market to examine successful emissions trading strategies for energy markets and emitting industries: Chemicals, cement, automotives, paper, steel consumers, manufacturers - and many more.

EcoSecurities, one of the organizations involved in the conference, recently announced its involvement in the development of the Dutch national afforestation programme, which is now in full operation and run by the Dutch National Greenfund (Stichting Nationaal Groenfonds). The programme was developed during the last year by the Greenfund, EcoSecurities, and the Dutch Institute for Forestry and Forest Products (Stichting Bos en Hout). Dutch land owners, who wish to carry out afforestation on their lands, can register and receive certificates for the amount of carbon sequestered by their future forests. The Greenfund will buy these certificates from the project owners to sell them later on the market. mailto:le@ecosecurities.com

from ECOSECURITIES GROUP, The Netherlands

Cloning cypresses

Geneticists are trying to preserve Tuscany's landscape by replacing diseased cypresses with clones bred to resist the fungus that threatens to wipe out the trees. Six clones with the special DNA were planted along the Bolgheri road, celebrated in Carducci's poem 'Davanti a San Guido' and one of the regions most famous walks.

As many as half of Tuscany's cypresses are estimated to be infected with the fungus Seiridium cardinale. The fungus is thought to have arrived in wooden boxes containing military equipment brought over by US soldiers during the second world war.

Scientists from Italy's national research council experimented with extracting DNA strands resistant to the fungus and inserting them back into the trees. These were first identified in 1991. The ten year old plants were infected at the age of three, some died, those that survived were selected for the trial. The new plants are not immune, but can fight off the disease. Tullio Turchetti, pathologist of the national research council says they will extend their efforts to the whole region.

from THE GUARDIAN, UK, 15.2.2002

Mt Kilimanjaro Melting

An astonishing development is changing one of Africa's most remarkable landmarks beyond recognition. The ice cap on Mt Kilimanjaro, one of the few places in the world where ice and snow can be seen on the Equator, is expected to disappear in the next 12 years.

http://www.newafrica.com/environment/newsletter/

News of members and friends

Susan Braatz has joined the UNFF Secretariat as a senior secondment from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN.

Dr. Jagmohan Maini, Coordinator and Head of the UNFF Secretariat, will continue in his post and service UNFF 2. Jag, our past chairman, is of course a Vice President of CFA.

Mafa Chipeta, Vice Chairman of CFA, has completed his assignment as Deputy Director General of CIFOR and has returned to FAO as Chief, Policy Co-ordination Service in the Technical Assistance Department.

China Honours Australian CFA Member, Stephen Midgley

The award as Honorable Citizen of Zhanjiang was bestowed on CSIRO eucalypt specialist Stephen Midgley by the Zhanjiang Municipal People's Government on 24 November 2001.

Stephen has worked with Chinese research institutes for almost 20 years. He lived in Zhanjiang and assisted with the establishment and development of the China Eucalypt Research Centre in 1992. His work has fostered a number of collaborative research links offering training to research partners, has introduced new species of eucalypts and assisted in breeding programmes resulting in increased productivity from eucalypt plantations. China has been growing eucalypts for more than 120 years, and has in excess of 800 000 ha of eucalypt plantations and an even larger area under the '4-around' plantings - around the houses, villages, roads and canals.

Stephen Midgley was earlier honoured by an award from the Government of Vietnam for his contribution to forest development in the 90s and was a recipient of the 1994 CSIRO Medal. He received an Asia-Pacific Regional Award of Excellence from CFA in April 2001. (CFN13)

CFA Initiatives

International Forestry Review 4 (1) March 2002

CONTENTS - PAPERS

A perceptional investigation into the agroforestry adoption by smallholding peasants A. K. MAHAPATRA

Using acoustics to sort radiata pine pulp logs according to fibre characteristics and paper properties D.J. ALBERT, T.A. CLARK, R.L. DICKSON and J.C.F. WALKER

Provenance research in Gmelina arborea : A summary of results from three decades of research and a discussion of how to use them E. B. LAURIDSEN and E.D. KJAER

Evolution of forest product trade flows of Commonwealth countries over four decades P. WARDLE and B. MICHIE

Science and its role in Australian regional forest agreements S.M. DAVEY, J.R.L. HOARE and K.E. RUMBA

Quarantine is important in restricting the spread of exotic seed-borne tree pathogens in the southern hemisphere T. BURGESS and M. J. WINGFIELD

Growth and yields of Tectona grandis in the Guinea and derived savanna of northern Nigeria J.O. ADEGBEHIN

The International Forestry Review

The International Forestry Review (IFR) is a leading international forestry journal covering policy, practice and research on the sustainable management of trees and forests around the world.

The IFR is a peer-reviewed journal, which is published and distributed by the Commonwealth Forestry Association in support of its mission 'to promote good management, use and conservation of forests and forest lands throughout the world'. The scope of its contents and its authorship are thus global.

The IFR's focus on current policy developments and on documenting practice in many different countries of the world makes it an ideal resource for:

The IFR is published quarterly (in March, June, September and December) and focuses principally on reporting results of current research. In addition it carries shorter research reports, book reviews, obituaries of major figures in the world of forestry and a 'Comment' section in which leaders in forestry, forest policy development, forestry practice, and forest research discuss topical issues. A 'Special Issue' is produced each year that focuses on major issues and events in forestry such as Reduced Impact Logging, Plantations and the Commonwealth Forestry Conference 2001.

Summaries of the main articles are provided in French and Spanish

Edited by A.J. Pottinger. ISSN 1465 5489

The subscription is £150 per year, payable by sterling cheque, Mastercard/Visa credit card or international money order.

To subscribe to the International Forestry Review or for information on the Commonwealth Forestry Association please contact:

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