TROPICAL FORESTS AND THE WAR 521 



SUMMARY 



1. The following table gives a rough estimate of the forested areas 

 and amount of timber in the tropical regions discussed in this article. 

 The estimates of the United States are included for the sake of com- 

 parison : 



Table i. — Area and Stand of Forested Regions 



Forested area Stand of timber in 

 Forest region in million acres billion board feet 



Southern Brazil 260 650 



Amazon basin 1,024 3,400 



Northern South America 200 500 



Malay region 320 1,600 



Total 1,804 6,150 



United States 550 2,800 



2. Contrary to the common belief, tropical forests contain all classes 

 of construction timbers which could be used to replace the woods that 

 are now principally obtained from temperate regions. 



3. No less than 2 billion feet of mainly coniferous woods are shipped 

 annually from temperate North America and Europe to tropical coun- 

 tries and those like Argentina, China, Australia, and New Zealand, 

 which are, with one exception, geographically -located much nearer to 

 tropical forested regions that carry heavy stands of timber than they 

 are to Europe and North America. 



4. Because of the lack of transportation, these markets are practically 

 cut ofif from the supplies of coniferous woods that they formerly ob- 

 tained. This condition will undoubtedly continue for the duration of 

 the war, and, because of increased needs at home, probably for some 

 time after the war. 



5. Such a condition is now stimulating the lumber production in 

 some tropical regions, and if the war and post-war conditions described 

 above continue long enough they will become practically independent 

 of foreign supplies and will be furnishing their next-door neighbors, 

 who are less fortunate than themselves in having large forested regions. 



6. The forest region of southern Brazil is advantageously situated 

 to supply the demands of all of southern South America. 



7. The dipterocarp region of Malaysia and Burma is in a geograph- 

 ical position to supply China, India proper, and the whole South Pacific 

 region. 



8. The northern South American region could be made to supply the 

 demands of the West Indies, Panama, and other near-by regions. 



9. The Amazon region, the greatest forested area in the world and 

 the least developed commercially, is likely to lag behind the others 

 because of no near market. 



