The World Forest Situation 



753 



tries will add to the demand for forest 

 products and thereby give an outlet to 

 those countries with an exportable 

 surplus, especially of softwoods. The 

 danger of unwieldy surpluses is re- 

 mote, in a world-wide sense, if na- 

 tional and regional economics recover 

 or advance. 



IT IS CLEARLY IMPRACTICABLE tO SCt 



down in detail the steps through which 

 nations may realize the full value of 

 their estates of forest land, lands which 

 in most instances are unsuited to other 

 uses. Situations vary so greatly from 

 the thoroughly devastated forests of 

 many Near and Middle East countries, 

 to the largely unknown, untouched, 

 and inaccessible forests of the Amazon 

 basin, to the perennially productive 

 forests of western Europe, to the 

 mixed situation of the United States 

 with some elements of the ruling con- 

 ditions of all continents. 



The general nature of the essential 

 steps that must be taken to establish 

 forestry are well established by world 

 experience : 



1 . To halt and control the major de- 

 structive forces and processes shift- 

 ing cultivation, overgrazing and burn- 

 ing, exploitative and excessive rate of 

 utilization of productive forests. 



2. To create a body of public forest 

 policy and law and to apply it through 

 a competent professional organization. 



3. To obtain the understanding and 

 support of affected people for the pro- 

 gram. To estimate prospective needs 

 for forests and their products and to 

 determine what the forest lands of the 

 country can produce under forestry. 



4. To apply the forestry practices 

 which may be effective and economi- 

 cally feasible with a forward-looking 

 view of economics in making the for- 

 est lands productive. 



5. To learn a great deal more about 

 forests and forest products than is now 

 known. 



THE INFORMATION AVAILABLE indi- 



cates that forests will be called on to 

 play a greater rather than a lesser part 



802062 C 



in the economies of nations and re- 

 gions, and that constructive manage- 

 ment that is, realization of the growth 

 of potential forest soils will be more 

 rather than less necessary. 



Thus, it is important that each na- 

 tion move aggressively to improve its 

 own forest situation. It is equally im- 

 portant that nations act with full 

 knowledge of the total and regional 

 forest situations, that they have access 

 to data on improved methods and 

 techniques, and that they consult reg- 

 ularly with each other on questions of 

 regional concern. 



THE GREAT FACT about the world's 

 forest situation is that there is enough 

 productive forest land to turn out con- 

 tinuously much more wood than at 

 present, and thereby to raise standards 

 of living and support increased indus- 

 trialization. But this goal can be 

 reached only if nations replace destruc- 

 tive exploitation by forestry. Such 

 exploitation is no longer the problem of 

 individual nations, to be noted with 

 regret. It is a matter of deadly serious- 

 ness to all nations. 



The unsatisfied needs for forest 

 products are less potent than is lack of 

 food as a cause of unrest. But all the 

 basic requirements of food, clothing, 

 and shelter need to be met to create a 

 decent standard of life. 



Greater attention to forests every- 

 where is one of the steps that must be 

 taken to build a more solid foundation 

 for peace. 



STUART BEVIER SHOW is chief of the 

 forestry branch, Division of Forestry 

 and Forest Products, of the Food and 

 Agriculture Organization of the United 

 Nations. He is a graduate of Stanford 

 University and Yale and a life-long 

 resident of California. Mr. Show was 

 regional forester in charge of the Cali- 

 fornia region of the Forest Service 

 from 1926 to 1946. He is the author 

 of numerous publications on forest 

 management, forest planting, forest- 

 fire control, and forest-land ownership 

 and use. 



