variety of Public Law 480 research projects in 

 developing countries, and a number of U.S. agricultural 

 and forestry schools maintain international contacts. 



FAO has also been active in this area. several 

 regional forest projects have been attempted at the 

 research institutions in developing countries, usually 

 under FAO auspices. Furthermore, the World Bank, U.N. 

 Development Programme (UNDP) , and the Organization of 

 American States (OAS) have supported numerous forest 

 surveys, although many of these surveys have not been 

 used. 



The current worldwide concern with energy resources 

 offers many incentives to expand collaborative efforts. 

 A forestry industry provides numerous employment 

 opportunities and # a potential for developing rural 

 areas without depleting the soil as crop farming 

 unfortunately does in many geographical areas, 

 especially in the tropics. Finally, the physical 

 evidence of forest abuse has become very obvious in 

 many countries. 



Proposed Initiatives 



International Forest Research Institutes . Euilding 

 on CGIAR's experience in establishing an international 

 network of agricultural research institutes, we propose 

 that the U.S. government, supplemented by the U.S. 

 private sector, support a comparable effort in forestry 

 research. Efforts recently undertaken, such as those 

 of the International Council for Research on 

 Agroforestry, to identify research priorities in 

 tropical forestry could, with U.S. support, be the 

 mechanism for accomplishing this goal. 



Central to this expanded effort would be the 

 establishment or designation of two or three first- 

 class regional institutes in the developing countries, 

 patterned after the international agricultural research 

 institutes and oriented toward different ecological 

 zones. These institutes would support research in 

 forest ecology, development and testing of improved 

 varieties, reforestation, determination of sustainable 

 yields, resistance to insects and disease, and 

 innovative use of forest products. selected 

 transnational corporations that are already involved in 

 research and conservation efforts as part of concession 

 arrangements should be invited to participate in the 

 activities of these institutes. 



Research Stations in Developing Countries . In 

 addition, we suggest that a strengthened array of 

 research and experiment stations in the developing 

 countries be integrally related to the regional 

 institutes through collaboration on research and 



160 



