742 



THE WORLD FOREST SITUATION 



STUART BEVIER SHOW 



Many countries lack the wood they 

 need in manifold forms for construc- 

 tion and reconstruction, for industry, 

 for pulp and paper products, even for 

 the specialized needs of industrial 

 agriculture. In some other countries, if 

 the wood is available, it is at such high 

 prices as to be effectively beyond the 

 reach of those who need it. In western 

 Europe, the lack of wood is one of the 

 deterrents to reconstruction and in- 

 dustrial recovery. Only few countries 

 have more than enough for their own 

 immediate needs. To understand the 

 whole situation is the first step in sug- 

 gesting the effective measures through 

 which an attainable abundance of 

 forest products can become actually 

 available to potential users. 



In 1948 the Food and Agriculture 

 Organization of the United Nations, 

 through its Forestry and Forest Prod- 

 ucts Division and with the cooperation 

 of many member and nonmember gov- 

 ernments, assembled and analyzed in- 

 formation on such essential points as 

 the total productive and accessible 

 areas of forests ; their potential growth ; 

 and the output, production, consump- 

 tion, and distribution of forest prod- 

 ucts. Through questionnaires dealing 

 with forests and forest products, it was 

 possible to draw a clearer picture than 

 ever before. 



That is not to say, however, that 

 everything is known that should be 

 known. Even in the United States, 

 which for nearly 20 years has had 

 under way a well-organized forest sur- 

 vey, there are still sizable regions in 

 which forest area, volume, growth and 

 loss, production, and use of forest 

 products are known only through sub- 

 standard estimates. Thus is it under- 

 standable that in many countries the 

 state of forest knowledge is inaccurate. 

 In Latin America, most of Asia and the 

 Far East, and elsewhere, a good deal of 

 inventory and survey work remains to 



be done, and the best available figures 

 are no more than an approximation of 

 the truth. In most of Europe, by con- 

 trast, information on forests is rela- 

 tively accurate and complete. Because 

 the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics 

 provided no official figures on her vast 

 forests, it is necessary in this article to 

 use estimates that lack authority of 

 that government. 



THE TOTAL FOREST AREAS that IS, 



including forests suited only for the 

 production of fuel wood are distrib- 

 uted unevenly in different regions and 

 in individual countries. Whether for- 

 est area is expressed as a percentage 

 of total land area or as area per per- 

 son, it is evident that some regions and 

 countries are relatively wealthy in for- 

 ests, others impoverished. Such ex- 

 tremes as between the South Ameri- 

 can (43 percent) and Pacific Area (9 

 percent) regions, and between Canada 

 (37 percent) and Syria (2 percent) 

 show the differences in potential avail- 

 ability of wood supplies, expressed as 

 percentage of total land area. The 

 contrast between South America 

 (18.03 acres) and Asia (0.99) and 

 between Canada (67.2) and Egypt 

 (0) illustrates the great spread in for- 

 est area per person among different 

 countries. By measures like those, the 

 United States stands in relation to the 

 grand average for the world as 33 to 

 30 percent for area, and as 4.61 to 4.20 

 acres per person. 



A striking feature is the great con- 

 trast between countries in the same 

 region for example, Sweden, with 

 57 percent forest area and 8.65 acres 

 per person compared to Great Britain, 

 with 6 percent and 0.32 acre, in Eu- 

 rope; or Brazil, with 46 percent and 

 22.35 acres, compared to Uruguay, 

 with 2 percent and 0.49 acre, in South 

 America. The other continents show 

 sharp contrasts as well. 



