In situ and Ex situ Conservation of Commercial Tropical Trees - ITTO

388It is also apparent that among the third world countries, Asia and thePacific region, while not in possession of the largest forest area, is yet enjoyinga bigger production and export level. The Asia-Pacific region exports about33,000 m 3 of industrial round wood, against about 17,000 m 3 from Africa andSouth America. Likewise, the export value of forest products from the Asia-Pacific region in 1988 was over US$10 billion while that from the other tworegions was a dismal US$4 billion (FAO 1989).What are the specific factors behind the strength of the Asia-Pacificregion for this high productivity? A glance at the forest production and exportvalues from Asian countries would provide the explanation (Table 2). Asidefrom the developed Asia-Pacific nations, the Southeast Asian countries areunusually productive, particularly Indonesia and Malaysia. The Asia-Pacificcountries export over US$10 billion worth of forest products annually, of whichhalf of it comes from those two Southeast Asian countries.Table 1. Total Forest Cover and Exports, 1995 (FAO 1999).RegionTotal ForestArea(x 1000 ha)IndustrialRoundwoodExport(mil. cu. m)SawnwoodExport(m. cu. m)Africa53027374391351Asia503000143366666Ocenia90695183471067S.America870594100663493Central & N.America5365292370158185Europe9333264607441865Forest Resource Base of Southeast AsiaThe Southeast Asian countries can be subdivided into the continental and insularAsian countries (Table 3). With the exception of Thailand and Vietnam, all thecountries have between 30 – 66% of the land covered with closed forests. Ingeneral, the insular region is still well covered with forests, whereas continentalSoutheast Asia appears to have lost some considerable areas. In terms ofeconomic importance, forestry is critical for many of these countries. With theexception of Thailand, Brunei and the Philippines, all the rest appear to derivearound 10% of their GDP from forest products. Of them, the biggest moneyearners are Indonesia and Malaysia.