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Editorial

Dear friends,

Good morning, my dear Eucalyptus friends. Here we are again, with the 16th issue of our Eucalyptus Newsletter. In this edition, as it is being usual, we are again bringing a lot of information and knowledge about these wonderful trees and their utilization. Remember that most of this information is brought to you for your better understanding about the Eucalyptus. The purpose is to offer knowledge in a way that you may learn more, and to enjoy doing such. For this, we are forcing you, in some extent, to navigate the web to grab as much on good information as possible. We also offer good articles, and recommendations of books and interesting events. I hope you may, like me, also admire these trees and the products they offer to Society.

In this edition of the Eucalyptus Newsletter we are introducing to you one more chapter in Portuguese of our Eucalyptus Online Book. As I'm doing in the most recent chapters, the focus is eco-efficacy, eco-effectiveness, eco-efficiency and cleaner production, now oriented to the plantation forests segment of our business. This is a kind of subject relatively uncommon when forestry is the concern. For this reason, I hope you may like the views I'm bringing to you. In case you like them, I expect your prompt utilization at your operations, since they are valuable to the environment and to the business success. For the time being, be patient, the English version is in the process of being built.

The section "The World of the Eucalyptus" is back again. I love to write it, although you may imagine how difficult it is. In this specific section, we are introducing to you all the competence, the knowledge and the quality developed by the South-Africans to the Eucalyptus. For this very reason, the Eucalyptus are the foundations to the successes in the farming, agriculture, industry and related business in "South Africa". Due to the fact that this Eucalyptus Newsletter issue is almost completely devoted to honor South Africa and the Eucalyptus growing there, all our references on courses, events, magazines, journals, euca-links and technical literature will be related to them. No doubts about, there are many things to learn with our friends from South Africa, have a look to confirm what they have to offer to us and to the knowledge about the Eucalyptus.

As promised in the past edition, we are coming again to the controversial issue "Myths and Realities about the Eucalyptus". This time, we are bringing the arguments of the favorable to the Eucalyptus interested parties. They are, in their majority, based on studies and researches developed at universities; or in the viewpoints of sound experts. As far as I have written several mini-articles trying to clarify some of these controversies and creeds, I have taken advantage of your permission to suggest them for your reading. To continue informing about these environmental issues related to plantation forests, I'm bringing another mini-article this time. The title is "The Eucalyptus Planted Forests and the Sustainability". I have seen many people talking or writing about sustainability in recent times. It is being fashion to self-declare sustainable: since there are no requests for proofs and verifications, everyone is stating this now-a-days. For this reason, my care to introduce this issue to you in a very honest and impartial way. The purpose is to continue to bring information about the environmental effects of the Eucalyptus forests in the ecosystems where they live and develop to generate valuable products to Mankind.

In the Ester Foelkel's section "Curiosities and Oddities about the Eucalyptus" she is telling us about the utilization of the Eucalyptus for the production of insect repellents, something very common and useful in the United States of America.

There is something new to inform to you and to share my happiness for the achievement we had together. RISI, a leading company on information & knowledge about the pulp and paper business, through its PPI - Pulp and Paper International magazine, has selected and nominated the 50 most influential people in the global P&P industry. Fortunately and being a big surprise, my name was included in such list. If you may wonder to know all nominated people, visit the section "RISI Top 50 Power List".

In case you are not registered yet to receive free-of-charge the Eucalyptus Newsletter and the chapters of the Eucalyptus Online Book, I suggest you to do it through the following link: Click here for registration.

We have several non-financial supporting partners to the Eucalyptus Online Book & Newsletter: TAPPI, IPEF, SIF, CeluloseOnline, CETCEP/SENAI, RIADICYP, TECNICELPA, ATCP Chile, Appita, CENPAPEL, TAPPSA, SBS, ANAVE, AGEFLOR, EMBRAPA FLORESTAS and GIT - Eucalyptologics. They are helping to disseminate our efforts in favor of the Eucalyptus in countries such as: Brazil, USA, Chile, Portugal, Spain, Colombia, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. However, thanks to the world wide web, in reality they are helping to promote our project to the entire world. Thanks very much to our partners for believing in what we are doing.

Know more about all of our today’s partners at the URL address:
http://www.eucalyptus.com.br/partners.html

Thanks again for the support to our work. We have just now reached the 7,000 registered people receiving these online publications about the Eucalyptus. Even so, I beg your help to inform about and to promote our project to your friends, in case you feel these publications may be helpful to them. Please, accept my personal thanks, and also the gratitude from Celsius Degree, ABTCP, Botnia, Aracruz, International Paper do Brasil, Conestoga-Rovers & Associates, Suzano, VCP and from the supporting partners.

Our best wishes to all of you, and please enjoy your reading. We all hope you may like what we have prepared to you this time.

Celso Foelkel
http://www.celso-foelkel.com.br
http://www.eucalyptus.com.br

http://www.abtcp.org.br

In this edition

RISI Top 50 Power List

Eucalyptus Online Book Chapter 11 (in Portuguese)

The World of the Eucalyptus - South Africa

Online Technical References


References on Events and Courses

Euca-Links

Online Technical Journals & Magazines

Eucalyptus: Doubts, Creeds, Myths, Facts e Realities - Part 02: The opinion of the "favorable interested parties"

Curiosities and Oddities about the Eucalyptus - The Eucalyptus used for the Production of Insect Repellents (by Ester Foelkel)

Technical Mini-Article by Celso Foelkel
The Eucalyptus Planted Forests and the Sustainability

RISI Top 50 Power List

In the July 2008 issue of the PPI magazine - Pulp and Paper International - RISI, one of the leading companies in terms of information and knowledge about the world pulp and paper sector, has published its RISI Power List, what they defined, as the list of the top 50 most influential people in the global P&P industry. The criteria and procedures were developed by them, and I'm still trying to live together with the idea that I have been one of the selected persons to be part of this list. It is being to me a great honor having my name nominated by RISI, among so many distinguishing worldwide people. I'm quite sure that a great part of my name selection is due to these two projects I develop to you: the Eucalyptus Online Book & Newsletter and the PinusLetter. For this very reason, I want to share this achievement with you my friends, thousands of readers and supporters to these publications on technological information I'm used to build every month. My special thanks to RISI, to you readers, to ABTCP, to my two daughters Ester and Alessandra, who are always cooperating and helping to improve the quality of these projects, to my wife and partner Lorena and to all those who are providing support to our dedicated work in favor the Eucalyptus, the Pinus, and the forest-based segment.

Since I don't know for how long RISI is to keep the article and the forum available in the web, I suggest to those interested to know the other names in the list, to visit the recommended webpages as soon as possible:

http://www.risiinfo.com/pages/abo/corp/ (About RISI and Papeloop)
http://www.risiinfo.com/magazines/pulp-paper/magazine/international/july/
2008/PPIMagJuly-The-RISI-top-50-power-list.html
(The article presenting the full list of nominated people by RISI)
http://www.risiinfo.com/magazines/July/2008/PPI/pulp-paper/magazine/international/july/
2008/PPIMagJuly-The-RISI-top-50-power-list-Those-that-went-before.html
(Past nominated people in previous Power List)
http://www.risiinfo.com/magazines/July/2008/PPI/pulp-paper/magazine/international/july/2008/
PPIMagJuly-The-RISI-top-50-power-list-41-50.html#foelkel
(Where to find my name and biography in the Top 50 Power List)
http://www.risiinfo.com/forums/message.jspa?messageID=264#264 ( RISI Forum with the objective to receive feed-backs about the 2008 RISI Power List - a Forum coordinated by Mrs. Rhiannon James-Van Beuningen, Senior Vice President, Media Products, RISI)

Eucalyptus Online Book Chapter 11 (in Portuguese)

For downloading the chapter (in Adobe pdf - 24.1 MB) just click the name of the chapter. In case you do not have the Adobe Reader installed in your computer, please visit http://www.celso-foelkel.com.br/artigos_eng.html and find the instructions how to get it.
Since it is a heavy file, please, be patient to allow the full downloading.

"A Producao de Florestas Plantadas de Eucalipto sob a Otica da Ecoeficacia, Ecoeficiencia e da Producao mais Limpa"

The World of the Eucalyptus

South Africa

Everybody has already heard much about South Africa - its history, culture, political leaderships, extremely beautiful natural parks and their wild animals, privileged geographical location, gold and diamond mining and extremely good wines - a country which is now also famous for the football/soccer. However, South Africa also distinguishes itself by the excellence in planted forests and is worldwide acknowledged for the advanced technological levels developed for the forests and industrialized products obtained from Pinus, Eucalyptus, and Acacia mearnsii. For the country’s total territorial area of about 119 million hectares, there is an area of approximately 1.5 million hectares of forest plantations, which corresponds to 1.2% of the country’s total area. Due to the low pluviometric index in many of its provinces, it can be practically said that the forest plantation area has reached its maximum and should not grow further. The reason is that the planted forests require at least 800 mm of rain per year. These areas, not so abundant in the country, are also viewed by agriculture for the production of food, in order to meet the requirements of the 49 million inhabitants the country has, as well as for other important economic export-oriented agricultural crops, such as sugar cane, corn, and wheat. There is in the country so great a concern about the water resources, that there is a Ministry of Waters and Forests, with its Department of Water Affairs, Forestry and Environmental Conservation (http://www.dwaf.gov.za). This public organization establishes orientations, guidelines and promotes studies about the forest plantations, focussing much on their hydrology.

The country has a very interesting and privileged geography, as it occupies the southernmost point of the African continent. For this reason it has a vast coastal region bathed by the Atlantic, as well as by the Indian Ocean. In general, the lands are not rich in fertility, the soils are sandy and the areas have low rain precipitation in the more central region, where the mineral extractions and the biodiversity conservation parks are dominant. The richest and more populated areas are located on the coasts of the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape. The topography of these regions is flat, favoring agriculture and plantation forests. The poorest and most degraded soils are destined for Pinus and Eucalyptus plantations. The highlands of the region of the ancient Transvaal, with altitudes between 900 and 1,600 meters (at present the provinces of Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Gautang) are also very appreciated for forest tree plantations.

The forest-based business represents about 1.5% of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product), approximately 9% of the agribusiness and 4% of the exports. 55% of the woods produced by the planted forestry areas are destined for pulp and paper production, 38% for sawmills, 3.5% for underground mine props and supports, and the rest for firewood and other minor uses. The pulp production amounts to 2.4 million tons/year and that of paper and board to 2.6 million tons (45% of packaging papers; 33% of printing and writing papers; 6.5% of tissue papers). Among the specialties produced by the pulp industry are the approximately 600 thousand tons per year of dissolving market pulp manufactured by SAPPI, the most important manufacturer of this kind of pulp from Eucalyptus wood (Sappi – Saiccor pulp). The main - highly internationalized - pulp and paper manufacturing companies are two: Mondi and SAPPI. They have strong presence in important markets, such as the European and the Asian ones. The export of pulp, paper and solid wood products is very important for the country’s economy. Besides pulp and paper, other forest products distinguish themselves, such as: sawn wood, veneers, wood panels, particle boards, export-oriented chips, plywood, resins, tannin, etc.

Eucalyptus was introduced into South Africa as an exotic tree in the second half of the nineteenth century. The first experiments took place in arboreta, where Pinus and Acacia species were also tested. The commercial Eucalyptus plantations were intensified from 1930 onwards, to meet the demand for wood destined for underground mining. Very much developed for this purpose was the species Eucalyptus grandis, known by the local population as "saligna gum", because it was originally introduced as E.saligna, due to the similarity in the morphology of the trees of these two species. At present, E.saligna is much less popular than E.grandis due to its lower growth rate, similarly to the situation occurring in Brazil. E.grandis and its hybrids continue to be the most important genetic materials for the South-African silviculture and are oriented to the regions where the altitude is lower than 1,400 meters. Above that, species more tolerant of cold or frost (E.nitens, E.viminalis, E.macarthurii, E.dunnii) are planted.

In 1950, there was a forest base of 170,000 hectares of planted Eucalyptus forests, amounting at present to approximately 580 thousand hectares. From 1970 to 1990, the role of South-African research and development for the genetic forest and classic Eucalyptus breeding was fundamental, even influencing this type of research in Brazil with its technological achievements. At present, the emphasis of researching on forest improvements has been the forest biotechnology, by means of centers of investigations like FABI, CSIR, etc. (See Euca-Links).

Practically the whole forest plantation base is distributed over the coastal region in the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape, as well as in the mountains of Mpumalanga and Limpopo. The majority of the planted forests is certified (approximately 1.1 million hectares), the FSC being the dominant certification scheme.

The main planted genera in terms of area extension are: Pinus (52% or roughly 760 thousand hectares ), Eucalyptus (39% or about 580 thousand hectares) and Acacia mearnsii (8%). There are still remnants of native forests in those regions. According to the statistics (relatively uncertain), about 9% of the country is still covered by forests; what is difficult is to clearly define how and what are those forests. This is a common problem in statistics; even those from FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization – present this difficulty.

The main species in commercial Pinus plantations are: Pinus taeda, P.patula, P.elliottii, P.caribaea, P.greggii. The main Eucalyptus species are: Eucalyptus grandis, E.dunnii, E.saligna, E.macarthurii, E.nitens, E.fastigata, E.viminalis, E.smithii, E.microcorys. Furthermore, there are hybrids produced among these species and E.urophylla, E.tereticornis, and E.camaldulensis. For pole production, the preferred species are: E.paniculata, E.cloeziana, Corymbia maculata. In very arid regions, the preferred species are E.camaldulensis and E.cladocalyx, but this only occurs in small areas, to supply local demands. As the Eucalyptus introduction into the country did not occur for so large a number of species as in Brazil, the natural hybridization did not occur in so serious a way. The black wattle (Acacia mearnsii), oriented to tannin extraction from its bark, occupies about 130,000 hectares and completes the list of the main forest species planted in South Africa.

The average annual growth rate of the Eucalyptus plantations ranges from 25 to 45 m³/ha.year, but in the cold and semiarid regions the growth rates are lower, ranging from 15 to 25 m³/ha.year. Very common is the sprout coppicing for new and successive forest rotations, between 2 and 8, the number of which is higher among the rural farmers. There is a very good stump sprouting and almost total absence of more severe pests, as ants, which favors this type of management.

E.grandis, E.saligna, E.tereticornis, and E.dunnii species are very much used by the pulp and paper industry. Practically all mills consume a wood mix, in spite of the advanced forest technology largely present in the country. The first Eucalyptus pulping tests were performed in a lab in 1943 and the industrial production has already begun at the SAPPI mill of Enstra at that same time period. Since then, the Eucalyptus pulp production (paper and dissolving grades) has had a substantial growth for both export as market pulp and printing and sanitary paper manufacturing.

Considering the unavailability of areas to expand the planted commercial forest area, the emphasis in research has been placed on increasing the forest productivity. The purpose is to produce more wood from the same forest base. For this reason, silviculture and forest tree breeding are rather advanced in terms of technologies and search for new alternatives. Several universities and research centers (see Euca-Links) are dedicated to try to find new silvicultural and genetic routes, in order to guarantee the sustainability of the forest-based business in the country. The main technological forest research lines in South Africa are as follows:

• genetic forest improvement and breeding;
• forest biotechnology and genetic mapping;
• irrigated silviculture and forest hydrology;
• soil and natural resource conservation;
Eucalyptus stump sprouting and coppicing;
• plantation reestablishment of less productive forest stands;
• hybridization and cloning;
• precision silviculture, mechanization and operations automation;
Eucalyptus species more tolerant to cold, frost, fire, and hydric deficit;
• mechanical strength, basic density, lumber stability, and quality of the Eucalyptus wood logs;
• woods of higher aggregated value: saw-timber, furniture, mining wood, housing construction wood, etc.

Some of the South-African researchers and technical people who helped or are cooperating to build the Eucalyptus silviculture and wood-based industry histories in the country have been or were: A.P.G. Schonau, F.S. Malan, M.P.A. Coetzee, G. Malan, K. von Gadow, P.W. Varkotsch, G. van Wyk, J.G. Myburgh, J. Fox, M.J. Wingfield, B.D. Wingfield, Z. Myburg, C. Clarke, R. Baxendale, M.J.P. Shaw, P. Clegg, W.K. Darrow, R.C. Bigalke, N.O. Wessels, C. Young, D. Ramsay, E.J. Smith, G. Gerischer, L. Christov, M.J.P. Shaw, M. Plessis, J. Wright, T. Coutinho, M. Rouget, P. Crous and N. Denison. Certainly many other names would deserve to be nominated by what they are doing for the technological forest and industrial development in the country. Unfortunately, my knowledge and my network are not so great in South Africa, although I am a TAPPSA’s member and a very active partner.

Considering all this, it can be definitively stated that South Africa is one of the world’s leading countries in terms of production, management, and technologies for the Eucalyptus forest plantations, as well as for the most different uses of the woods produced by them.

Our acknowledgement and special admiration for its companies, research centers, universities, public and private entities and for all South-African technicians and researchers, for believing in the Eucalyptus as a basis for a strong, healthy, and sustainable economy.

Become further acquainted with the country South Africa and its forests and trees by navigating in the following suggested links:

Know more about South Africa:

http://www.southafrica.info/about/people/population.htm (South Africa statistics)
http://www.statssa.gov.za (Statistics for South Africa)
http://www.fao.org/countryprofiles/index.asp?lang=en&iso3=ZAF&subj=3 (FAO Country Profile - Economic overview)
http://www.fao.org/countryprofiles/index.asp?lang=en&iso3=ZAF&subj=4 (FAO Country Profile - Agribusiness overview)
http://www.mbendi.co.za/land/af/sa/p0005.htm#5 (MBendi website - South Africa profile)
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/
COUNTRIES/AFRICAEXT/SOUTHAFRICAEXTN/
0,,menuPK:368082~pagePK:141159~piPK:141110~theSitePK:368057,00.html
(World Bank website for South Africa)

Know more about South-African forestry:

South Africa forestry and natural resources:
http://www.fao.org/countryprofiles/index.asp?lang=en&iso3=ZAF&subj=2 (FAO South Africa country profile - Forestry)
http://www.sanparks.org/parks/table_mountain/library/2006/tokai_cecilia/annexC.pdf (A summary of the forestry history in South Africa)
http://www.unep.org/bpsp/Forestry/Forestry%20Case%20Studies/South%20Africa.pdf (UNEP forestry case study about South Africa)
http://www.environment.gov.za/HotIssues/2006/staeoftheenvironment2006/Executive%20summary.pdf (South Africa environmental executive report)
http://www.oecd.org/infobycountry/0,3380,en_2649_37465_1_1_1_1_37465,00.html (A report about the environment in South Africa)
http://www.ngo.grida.no/soesa (Reports and information about the environment in South Africa)

Commercial forest plantations in South Africa:
http://dwafapp4.dwaf.gov.za/webapp/?page=forests&subPage=commercial_plantations (Commercial plantations - Department of Water Affairs and Forestry)
http://www.forestry.unp.ac.za/Bior130_2.pdf (Plantation forestry in South Africa - A lecture)
http://www.tappsa.co.za/html/the_wattle_tree.html (About black wattle or Acacia mearnsii in South Africa)
http://www.sabie.co.za/about/forestry/#species (South Africa forest data)
http://www.dwaf.gov.za/WaterConservation/WordDownloads/ForestStrat.doc (Water conservation in South Africa - Forest hydrology and the Federal Government viewpoint)
http://www.info.gov.za/aboutsa/water.htm (Water and forests in South Africa)
http://www.kzntransport.gov.za/public_trans/freight_databank/kzn/industries/forestry/index_xml.html (Plantation forests in KwaZulu-Natal)

South Africa as viewed by FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization:
http://www.fao.org/forestry/18316/en/zaf/page.jsp (FAO Country Profiles - South Africa)
http://www.fao.org/forestry/18308/en/zaf (Forestry map of South Africa)

Why to invest in plantation forests in South Africa?
http://dwafapp4.dwaf.gov.za/dwaf/download.asp?f=Anele%5CTrends%26
OpportunitiesInSAForestry(Aug2004).pdf&docId=60
(Forestry trends and opportunities in South Africa)

Monumental trees of South Africa:
http://git-forestry-blog.blogspot.com/2008/07/tallest-tree-in-africa-is-you-guessed.html (The tallest trees in South Africa by Mr. Gustavo Iglesias Trabado)
http://www.joburg-archive.co.za/2005/pdfs/nominated_trees.pdf (Nominated trees in South Africa due to age and dimensions)

Please, also visit the sections Online Technical References, Euca-Links, References on Events and Courses and Online Technical Journals & Magazines.

In all of them you are to find valuable information about the Eucalyptus in South Africa. I hope you like, taking the chance to learn a lot with all the fantastic achievements of the South-Africans with the Eucalyptus forestry and industrial utilization.

Online Technical References

In this section, we are offering some very good euca-links with relevant publications available in the virtual world wide web library. You have only to click the URLs addresses to open the documents and/or to save them. Since they are references, we are not responsible for the opinion of the corresponding authors. However, believe me, they are valuable references that should be watched carefully, since they are very much connected with the Eucalyptus. In this section, we are trying to balance recent and historical publications, those that are helping to build the foundations and the history of the Eucalyptus forestry, environment, industrial utilization, and many other areas related to these magic trees.

As already mentioned, this time all selected technical references are related to the Eucalyptus in South Africa.

Kraft pulping of eucalypts in South Africa. H.H. Myburgh. Appita Journal 21(2): 49 - 53 (1967). (English)
http://www.celso-foelkel.com.br/artigos/outros/Kraft%20pulping%20
of%20eucalyptus%20in%20South%20Africa.pdf

Growing the forest in South Africa. D. Meadows. TAPPI Journal. July. 8 pp. (1999). (English)
http://www.donmeadows.com/PDF/SAf-trees99JUL60.pdf

State of the forest and tree genetic resources in South Africa. N. Ngcobo. FAO WP FGR/28E. (2002). (English)
http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/AC486E/ac486e00.HTM

The economic, social and environmental role of commercial plantations in South Africa. W. Smit; M. Pitcher. UNFF Meeting on the Role of Planted Forests in Sustainable Forest Management. (2003). (English)
http://www.maf.govt.nz/mafnet/unff-planted-forestry-meeting/
conference-papers/commercial-plantations-in-south-africa.htm

Development of wood-based industry in sub-saharan Africa. K. Asumadu. 52 pp. (2004). (English)
http://www.afornet.org/images/pdfs/Wood-based%20industries%20in%20SSA.pdf

South-African forest industry market analysis. D. Chamberlain; H. Essop; C. Hougaard; S. Malherbe; R. Walker. G:ENESIS. 133 pp. (2005). (English)
http://www.forestry.co.za/fsa/ViewFile?file_id=92

South Africa: pulp and paper sector summit resource book. CSRSC/NALEDI. 82 pp.(2005). (English)
http://www.naledi.org.za/docs/pulppaperSJS.pdf

South-African forestry and forest-based industry facts and statistics. 2 pp. (2005). (English)
http://www2.dwaf.gov.za/webapp/Documents/Forests/forestryfacts200405.pdf

Study of supply and demand of industrial roundwood in South Africa. D.G. Crickmay; J. Le Brasseur; J.A. Stubbings; A.E. Daugherty. 87 pp. (2005). (English)
http://dwafapp4.dwaf.gov.za/webapp/common/editor_extended/_resource_download.php?id=4177&validate=
7d2_65a&file=NDE3N19fX1N0dWR5ICBvZiBzdXBwbHkgYW5kIGRlbWFuZC
BJbmR1c3RyaWFsIFJvdW5kd29vZCBpbiBTLkEuLnBkZg

The South-African forest sector in an international perspective - "An outsider view". S. Nilsson. IIASA Days. PowerPoint presentation: 49 slides. (2007). (English)
http://www.iiasa.ac.at/Research/FOR/presentations/2007/sn-safrica-apr07.pdf

References on Events and Courses

This section has as aim to introduce to you several very good links with recently already happened events. The advantage provided to the readers is that the event organizers made the presentations or proceedings available for free downloading. This is a very good way to practice social and scientific responsibility. Our most sincere thanks to all these organizers for this friendly procedure, sharing the event material with the interested parties.

As already mentioned, this time all selected and suggested events and courses have recently happened in South Africa. They are offering to us valuable knowledge generated and disseminated in that country.

IUFRO Congress - "Improvement and culture of Eucalyptus" - (English)
An event that has taken place in Durban, in the year 2007. It was organized by IUFRO - International Union of Forestry Research Organizations. The core theme of the event was "Eucalypts and diversity: balancing productivity and sustainability". Some of the speeches are available for downloading. Please, have a look:

http://www.iufrodurban.org.za (Event program)
http://www.iufrodurban.org.za/presentations.htm (Speech presentations for downloading)

IUFRO Symposia about Precision Forestry in Plantations. (English)
A group of events organized by IUFRO and co-sponsored by the Stellenbosch University. The most recent of these events happened in 2006, but we also have the presentations of the 2003 and 2004 events. They have as goal to discuss the application of precision forestry, advantages and utilization in the forest plantations. I'm pleased to suggest you to read the 2004 presentation of a great friend on mine, Prof. Gerrit van Wyk, a professor at the Stellenbosch University. To all those who have interest in precision forestry, these events are a special gift to satisfy your wishes to learn more about.
http://academic.sun.ac.za/forestry/precision/iufro2006.html (2006 event)
http://academic.sun.ac.za/forestry/precision/presentations2004.htm (2004 event presentations)
http://academic.sun.ac.za/forestry/precision/abstractpaper2004.html (2004 book of abstracts)
http://academic.sun.ac.za/forestry/precision/pdf/paper_vanWyk.pdf (Article by Prof. van Wyk in the 2004 event)
http://academic.sun.ac.za/forestry/precision/pdf/vanWyk.pdf (2004 Prof. van Wyk PowerPoint presentation)
http://academic.sun.ac.za/forestry/precision/proceedings2003.html (2003 event proceedings)

Symposium "Impact of Certification on Plantation Forestry". (English)
This event has happened in 2007, also organized by the Stellenbosch University. Since a great percentage of the commercial forests are already certified in South Africa, it is good and wise to hear what they are showing in this event. There are also presentations of the neighbor countries, proving that the examples on forest certification are crossing the borders of the country.

http://academic.sun.ac.za/forestry/Symposium2007/Symp2007presen.html

TAPPSA APPW - African Pulp and Paper Week. (English)
A group of great events on pulp and paper technology organized and sponsored by TAPPSA - The Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry of Southern Africa. TAPPSA is our partner to disseminate the Eucalyptus Online Book & Newsletter through its excellent website. The papers presented in the events are made available to the interested public, a great offer from TAPPSA to the world technical community. Many other advanced and recent technical articles are also placed in the website, definitively an example to many knowledge based organizations
http://tappsa.co.za/archive/APPW2002/Title/title.html (2002 APPW event, in Durban)
http://tappsa.co.za/archive2/APPW_2004/Title2004/title2004.html (2004 APPW event, in Durban)

Workshop "Site Management and Productivity in Tropical Plantation Forests". (English)
The proceedings of this remarkable 1998 event are available at the CIFOR website - Center for International Forestry Research.
http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/publications/pdf_files/Books/StMgnt.pdf

Euca-Links

Here, we are bringing to you a series of links with several very good websites that have strong connection with the Eucalyptus. I hope you may visit them, taking advantage of the good technical material they offer at a no cost basis.

As already mentioned, this time all selected and suggested Euca-Links are from South Africa. We have prepared a great selection to you, ranging from universities, R&D centers, industry, associations, etc. Everything you may need to improve your skills not only about South Africa, but about the wonderful world of the Eucalyptus. Please, enjoy them.

Forestry and wood/fiber based associations in South Africa:

Forestry South Africa. (English)
This association represents the interests of many foresters and forest companies in South Africa. The association website is very rich on reports, articles, speeches, and many publications about the forest and forest industry in the country. In case you may wish to learn more about these issues, please, visit this website, it definitively worth.

http://www.forestry.co.za/fsa/home.do
http://www.forestry.co.za/fsa/contents.do;jsessionid=
7317E9A3A6F78FF9534C04FF4382016D?section_id=2
(Excellent downloading section)

PAMSA - Paper Manufacturer’s Association of South Africa. (English)
PAMSA was founded in 1992 to assist and to coordinate the pulp and paper manufacturers interests in the country. Today, the members of the association correspond to about 90% of the production of these items in South Africa. PAMSA is today managed by my dear friend Mrs. Jane Molony, I wish a lot of success to her

http://www.pamsa.co.za
http://www.pamsa.co.za/images/pamsa/Pamsa_Industry_Data_2007.pdf (Excellent 2007 statistical report about the pulp and paper industry in South Africa)

PRASA - Paper Recycling Association of South Africa. (English)
This association is oriented to paper recycling, trying to link paper production to environmental preservation in a sustainable way

http://www.prasa.co.za/index.html

TAPPSA - Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry of Southern Africa. (English)
TAPPSA is the technical association of the pulp and paper industry. It is a great source of technical information to the engineers and technical people working in such industry. The way it promotes knowledge diffusion is majestic, have a look. TAPPSA is also our partner and cooperates to the dissemination of the Eucalyptus Online Book & Newsletter. I'm proud for being a TAPPSA member.

http://www.tappsa.co.za

Universities in South Africa having careers and R&D linked to the forestry industry:

Stellenbosch University. (English)
The Department of Forestry and Wood Science offers careers in Wood Products Science and also in Forestry and Natural Resources Management .

http://academic.sun.ac.za/forestry
http://academic.sun.ac.za/forestry/BScWood.html (Wood Products career)
http://academic.sun.ac.za/forestry/BScFor.html (Forest Science career)

University of Pretoria. (English)
This university is renowned because the expertise in fundamental sciences as genetics, biology and biotechnology. University of Pretoria has partnerships with the forest based industry, and maintains an excellent institute of R&D, the FABI - Forestry & Agricultural Biotechnology Institute.

http://web.up.ac.za/default.asp?ipkCategoryID=56&subid=56&ipklookid=11
http://web.up.ac.za/default.asp?ipkCategoryID=1258&subid=1258&ipklookid=11
http://www.up.ac.za/academic/fabi/eucgenomics/euc_mapping (Eucalyptus genome mapping website)
http://microarray.up.ac.za/files/projects.htm#euc (ACGT Microarray Eucalyptus genotyping)
http://www.fabinet.up.ac.za (FABI Research Institute)

University of Witwatersrand. Johannesburg. (English)
This university has focused careers in fundamental and applied sciences and in business management. Scientific areas as botany, plant micro-propagation, biotechnology and genetics are very developed and renowned by the industry.

http://web.wits.ac.za/WitsHome.htm
http://web.wits.ac.za/Academic/Science/Schools.htm

University of KwaZulu-Natal. (English)
This university is famous for providing good quality assistance to the South-African wood and forestry segments through the College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science. Among the various R&D centers and institutes the university has, we may point out the Forestry and Forest Products Research Center (http://ffp.csir.co.za)

http://caes.ukzn.ac.za/HomePage318.aspx (College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science)
http://www.sciag.ukzn.ac.za (Faculty of Science and Agriculture)

Fort Cox College of Agriculture and Forestry. (English)
This college is renowned because the "Social Forestry" career, with classes in King William's Town.

http://www2.dwaf.gov.za/webapp/Documents/CareersBrochure06.pdf

IInternational Forestry School. (English)
This college has the forestry classes given in the English language, since the orientation is also to international students, from African neighbor countries. The college has partnerships with the Forestry Department of the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the Southern African Institute of Forestry

http://www.forestry.unp.ac.za/international%20forestry%20school/intro.htm
http://www.forestry.unp.ac.za/Bior130_1.pdf

Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. (English)
The NMMU houses one of the most renowned historical centers for forestry education in the country, the Saasveld Forestry College.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saasveld_Forestry_College

http://www.nmmu.ac.za
http://www.nmmu.ac.za/default.asp?id=566&sid=&bhcp=1
http://www.nmmu.ac.za/default.asp?id=6012&sid=&bhcp=1 (College of Forestry at the George Campus)

University of Venda. (English)
Venda has a course of "Bachelor on Forestry" thanks to its School of Agriculture, Rural Development and Forestry.

http://www.univen.ac.za/agiculture/agriculture.php

R&D - Research & Development centers in South Africa oriented to the forest-based sector:

CSIR - Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. (English)

CSIR is an outstanding research organization developing technologies to several South-African industrial segments, inclusively to the forest sector and to the pulp and paper industry. CSIR has a strong position on forest and wood breeding, selection of top quality tailor-made clones developed according to the end-use, etc. The center has also the mission to sell and to transfer technologies, doing this through reports, researches, consulting services, and courses. CSIR has a solid partnership with the University of KwaZulu-Natal to maintain a specific research center for wood products and pulp and paper developments: the Forestry and Forest Products Research Center.
http://ffp.csir.co.za
(Forestry and Forest Products Research Center)
http://www.csir.co.za/nre/forestry_resources/overview.html(Forest research lines)
http://www.csir.co.za/nre/forestry_resources/index.html (Recent CSIR forestry research projects)
http://www.csir.co.za/nre/tree_improvement(Forest and tree improvement scientific program)
http://www.csir.co.za/nre/forestry_resources/pdfs/cloning_lowres.pdf (An example of a selected Eucalyptus clone developed by CSIR)
http://researchspace.csir.co.za/dspace/simple-search?query=eucalyptus&submit=Go (A bibliographical search in the CSIR Research Space using the word Eucalyptus )
http://www.csir.co.za/nre/forestry_resources/brochures.html (Brochures and informative flyers about the CSIR services to the forestry segment )

FABI - Forest and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute. (English)
FABI is a research center associated to the University of Pretoria. It has the objective to bring advanced know-how to the forestry sector from the excellence and competence this university has in the biotechnological sciences .

http://www.fabinet.up.ac.za (General webpage)
http://www.fabinet.up.ac.za/cfepp/index (Forest protection program directed to the Eucalyptus)
http://www.fabinet.up.ac.za/tpcp/index (Cooperative program in forest protection)
http://www.fabinet.up.ac.za/featuredpublication (Publications)
http://www.fabinet2.up.ac.za/eucagen (EUCAGEN - International Eucalyptus genome network website
http://www.ieugc.up.ac.za (EUCAGEN captive website - International Eucalyptus genome network)

FFP - Forestry and Forest Products Research Center. (English)
As it has already been mentioned, FFP is the result of a partnership between CSIR and the University of KwaZulu-Natal for the following main lines of investigations: wood products, remote sensing, precision forestry, forestry-oriented softwares and IT developments, and evaluations of wood and forest resources.

http://ffp.csir.co.za

ICFR - Institute for Commercial Forestry Research. (English)
ICFR is a private owned institute to research forestry issues to the South-African forest-business companies. The institute is located and has the facilities in the Pietermaritzburg campus of the KwaZulu-Natal University. The main research lines are focused in studying genetic breeding of Eucalyptus and black wattle, in the management of Eucalyptus plantations by coppicing, in the reestablishment of new plantations replacing less productive genetic materials, and also places strong emphasis in the sustained productivity of the plantation forests in the long-term.

http://www.icfr.ukzn.ac.za/default.aspx (General website )
http://www.icfr.ukzn.ac.za/icfrresearch/default.aspx (Research lines)
http://www.icfr.ukzn.ac.za/icfrresearch/eucalypt.aspx (Eucalyptus forests genetics breeding)

SAIF - South-African Institute of Forestry. (English)
SAIF is an institute devoted to provide good quality services to the South-African forest sector. Recently, the institute has reached 40 years of age, a synonymous of great success along the organization life. Among these services, it is possible to number: courses, technical evaluations, auditing, analyses, rewards for performances, edition of the Forestry Handbook, publication of the Southern Hemisphere Forestry Journal, etc .

http://www.saif.org.za
http://www.saif.org.za/index.php?page=forestry-handbook

South-African forest-based industrial and manufacturing companies:

In this sub-section, we are to mention and to provide links to some of the most outstanding companies in South Africa, but not all of them. It is a selection we have made, and we are sorry for missing some others, mostly due to the lack of full knowledge we have about a so huge forestry country as South Africa is . By navigating on the websites, you may have a good idea on the technological level of the industry in South Africa. All websites are in English language.

Abuti Eucalyptus. (Wood and wood products)
http://www.abuti.co.za

Eucalyptus Industries. (Furniture)
http://www.eucalyptus.co.za

Hans Merensky. (Saw-timber and lumber)
http://www.merensky.co.za/HM_Timber/about/about_HM_timber.htm

Kimberly Clark - South Africa. (Tissue papers)
http://www.kimberly-clark.com/southafrica

Komatiland Forests. (Pinus plantations and lumber)

http://www.komatilandforests.co.za/content/index.html

Mint Road Saw Mills. (Eucalyptus wood products)
http://www.treatedpoles.com/prod01.htm

Mondi. (Pulp and paper)
Mondi is one of the major pulp and paper companies in the world, with mills not only in South Africa, but also in some European countries. Please, visit the links to know more about Mondi, the mills and the products they manufacture.

http://www.mondigroup.com/desktopdefault.aspx
http://www.mondigroup.com/PortalData/1/Resources/sustainability/reports/Mondi_SDAR.pdf (2007 Mondi sustainability report)
http://www.forestry.sgs.com/6274-za_-_mondi_business_
paper_sa2006-24_-_ad37_gm_-_psummary.pdf
(Forestry management plan - Sustainable forestry and forest certification)

PG Bison. (Resins, lumber, poles, veneers, etc)
http://www.pgbison.co.za/our_company/company_main.aspx?page=our-operations.html

Pole Africa.
(Poles)
http://www.satimber.co.za

PSP Timber. (Poles)
http://www.psptimber.co.za/page_3.html

SAPPI. (Pulp and paper)
SAPPI is one of the leading world companies in the pulp business. It is the major manufacturer of Eucalyptus dissolving grade market pulp, among a series of diversified products. The company has placed emphasis on R&D, both for forestry and mill technologies. I have a good friend of mine working there, my dear Charlie Clarke, one of the greatest experts on the fibers of the Eucalyptus.

http://www.sappi.com/sappiweb (General SAPPI website)
http://www.sappi.com/SappiWeb/About+Sappi/Sappi+Saiccor/Our+products.htm (Sappi Saiccor dissolving pulp)
http://www.ajol.info/viewarticle.php?jid=23&id=1046&layout=abstract (An article by Charlie Clarke about the potential of some Eucalyptus clones to the manufacture of dissolving pulp. Charlie Clarke is SAPPI Fiber Processing Manager)
http://www.sappi.com/SappiWeb/Sustainability/Publications%20and%20reports (2007 SAPPI sustainability report)
http://www.sappi.com/SappiWeb/About+Sappi/Sappi+Forests/Tree+farming+guidelines.htm (Majestic guidelines about plantation forests oriented to farmers, a precious work made available by SAPPI to the rural community)
http://www.sappi.com/NR/rdonlyres/3303C805-8998-4461-
B0C8-DAEAFA59EC42/0/CapeKraft8Feb2008.pdf
(A summary of a visit to Cape Kraft mill, showing nice photos and operational data of the mill)

South-African Paper mills. (Papers)
The company manufactures packaging papers and board, with high recycling rates.

http://www.sapaper.co.za

York Timber. (Veneers, plywood, lumber)
The company has plantations both of Pinus and Eucalyptus.

http://www.yorkcor.co.za

NGO showing a contrary position in South Africa concerning plantation forestry:

TimberWatch Coalition. (English)

http://www.timberwatch.org.za/index.htm

Online Technical Journals & Magazines

Here, we are bringing to you a selection of excellent online journals and magazines with connection to the Eucalyptus. In these journals, you may freely download articles or read the news, without the need of memberships, passwords or payments. The maximum you may need to do is to register yourself. They are journals or article collections at our hands (or eyes), available to all those wondering to read and to learn more about forestry, environment, pulp, paper, woods, and Eucalyptus, surely. Please, go to the search tool in each journal, and type "Eucalyptus". Then, have a look in the result. In this way, many times you may find valuable technical material. To the editors of these journals, our most sincere appreciation and thanks. We hope many other journals may join forces to this scientific and technical knowledge chain.

In this present Eucalyptus Newsletter issue, the referenced online journals and magazines are from South Africa. Learn more about the Eucalyptus reading them.

TAPPSA Journal. (English)
TAPPSA Journal is an online and paper printed magazine published by TAPPSA - Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry of Southern Africa. The journal official language is the English, and it has 6 editions per year. The technical articles remain in the TAPPSA website archives to be accessed by the interested public. A great offer to the technical society, thanks for this TAPPSA .

http://www.tappsa.co.za/html/tappsa_journal.html
http://www.tappsa.co.za/html/current_issue.html (Current issue, total content made available to readers)
http://tappsa.co.za/archive3/Journal_papers/journal_papers.html (Recent technical articles published in the TAPPSA Journal)

South Africa Forestry Magazine - SA Forestry. (English)
It is a traditional forestry journal in South Africa, with editions since 1986.

http://www.saforestrymagazine.co.za/site/default.asp

Southern Hemisphere Forestry Journal. (English)
The magazine of the Southern African Institute of Forestry has the mission to promote the excellence in the forest plantations and in the wood products industry operations. Environmental preservation is also a constant issue associated to these economic technologies. Until recently, the magazine was named Southern African Forestry Journal.

http://www.ajol.info/journal_index.php?jid=23&tran=0&ab=0

Eucalyptus: Doubts, Creeds, Myths, Facts e Realities

Part 02: The opinion of the "favorable interested parties"

As I have already said in the past edition of the Eucalyptus Newsletter, the Eucalyptus trees are able to bring emotions that travel from the most pure love and admiration to the most warm positions against their planting. These contradictory viewpoints exist in different regions of our planet. Some of these negative positioning are strongly attached to political or religious ideologies; other are result of mistakes made by the plantation forest sector some decades ago, mostly based on the silvicultural technologies available on those times. Another thing we cannot forget is that the Eucalyptus trees grow so well and so fast that to everyone, incidentally or not, is giving the chance to pay attention to them. For these reasons and for many others, there are millions of literature citations about the Eucalyptus in articles, interviews, scientific papers, columns in newspapers, reports and studies. It is quite right that the Eucalyptus are, among the trees, one of the few to deserve this honor to be so much referenced by the literature. Surely, as in any democracy it should be, the opinions are divided. This is very healthy, since different points of views may be drivers for changes and improvements. I'm quite sure that some of the environmentally friendly technologies being adopted in the Eucalyptus plantation forestry are result, in some extent, to the criticism placed by some NGOs or by the media, or because some researches that have pointed negative impacts. The negative opinions are important to bring a chance for reflections and eventually to show new routes to be followed in our process and operations.

I have always believed that the best way to understand the opinions placed against us is to clearly hear them. If we don't do this, and try to warmly defend our points, without understanding the someone else views, the conflict is absolutely inevitable. It is much better to use the dialogue to try to find common points or roads of understanding. For this reason, I have decided to create this section in our Eucalyptus Newsletter: my purpose is not to present magnificent arguments in favor of the Eucalyptus or to clarify the doubts by myself. What I intend to do is to offer to all of you the chance to navigate in selected references available in the web. Some are in favor, some against. To those who admire the Eucalyptus, as myself, the reading of contrary points may disclose some new points for reflections. I hope that the contrary parties may also have a chance to think about the thousands of positive contributions of the Eucalyptus to Mankind. They may also get acquainted to the more sustainable technologies and attitudes being now-a-days adopted in the plantation forest segment. I'm not considering to indicate to you the literature based or sustained just on ideologies, although they are frequent. My selection is more related to technical issues, either to those writing in favor or against the Eucalyptus.

I have written several articles in the Eucalyptus Newsletter about these contradictory points. I have written about the planted forests of Eucalyptus and the water consumption, about the biodiversity impacts, about the soil conservation, etc. Recently, I presented a review of the major positive and negative impacts of the Eucalyptus plantations, with associated measures to mitigate the negative and to leverage the positive ones. In this edition, I'm bringing to you another mini-article, this time commenting on the sustainability concept applied to the plantation forests and to the productive chains depending on these forest products. Doing this through my mini-articles, I understand I'm bringing my contribution to better inform the Society about the importance of the Eucalyptus for people's welfare and how to grow them with minimum impact to the environment.

In this edition, I'm bringing a selection of articles and speeches in favor to the Eucalyptus. Some of them are very good papers clarifying many of the doubts someone may have about the Eucalyptus. I'm sure that some of the myths are to be destroyed by the facts being presented. Thus, this today edition is to show the favorable interested parties viewpoints and arguments. It may be found very good information in the literature. However, we are not to keep an eye on the extensive papers and academic theses presenting environmental and social impacts, either positive or negative. My purpose is to introduce to readers some literature more related to positively explain aspects on the Eucalyptus myths and creeds, with the aim to clarify these points in a didactic and accessible approach.

The great majority of these explanations are being made available by associations (both technical or business-related); others are speeches or articles written by renowned experts on the subject or university professors. Most of the information is published in Brazil, but we have also suggestions for reading articles and reports made available in other countries, as Portugal, Spain, Australia, etc. Unfortunately, to those not used to the Portuguese language, several of the references are in this idiom. Even so, have a look to the PowerPoint presentations, they are plenty of nice pictures to sustain the arguments.

Celso Foelkel's mini-articles released in past Eucalyptus Newsletters having the aim to inform environmental issues related to the Eucalyptus plantation forests

Eucalyptus planted forests and water consumption
http://www.eucalyptus.com.br/newseng_set07.html#quatorze

Eucalyptus planted forests and the biodiversity
http://www.eucalyptus.com.br/newseng_nov07.html#quatorze

The Eucalyptus and the soil conservation
http://www.eucalyptus.com.br/newseng_14.html#quatorze

The Eucalyptus plantation forests and the environment
http://www.eucalyptus.com.br/newseng_june08.html#quatorze

Associations, companies and organizations websites providing information and arguments in favor of the Eucalyptus plantations

ABRAF - Brazilian Association of the Planted Forest Producers. (Brazil)
ABRAF has a special section in its website titled "Por dentro do eucalipto - About the Eucalyptus". This section has the aim to elucidate and to clear the doubts coming from the society about the myths and creeds concerning the Eucalyptus. You are to find many illustrative figures and data, photos and images, all to give strong support to the arguments being presented. There is also a selected literature referenced, in which the answers were based to reply the questions.

http://www.abraflor.org.br/duvidas/cartilha.asp (Doubts about the Eucalyptus)
http://www.abraflor.org.br/duvidas/mitos.asp (Myths about the Eucalyptus)

BRACELPA - Brazilian Association of Pulp and Paper. (Brazil)
BRACELPA has placed a section in its excellent website to share the opinion of forest experts and its own positioning with regard to the Eucalyptus myths. The section "Saiba mais sobre o eucalipto - Know more about the Eucalyptus" has many data, figures, images and demonstrative illustrations to help the explanations about these unique trees. BRACELPA has also a two page flyer to those willing to have simpler and more objective explanations. In it, BRACELPA express its own view sustaining and comprising the knowledge received from its members.

http://www.bracelpa.org.br/bra/saibamais/eucalipto/index.html (Section "Know more about the Eucalyptus)
http://www.bracelpa.org.br/bra/revista/pdf/Pag50-51_MitoRealidade.pdf (Flyer: Myths)

SBS - Brazilian Society of Silviculture. (Brazil)
SBS has a good number of articles and speeches providing elucidation to clear up the doubts from the interested parties. SBS uses the cooperation received from members, university professors, experts, and other people from the forestry segment

http://www.sbs.org.br/destaques_plantacoesnobrasil.htm (Article by prof. S.R. Valverde - UFV)
http://www.sbs.org.br/audienciapublicasp.pdf (Eucalyptus: problem or solution? PowerPoint presentation: 22 slides. 2004)
http://www.sbs.org.br/secure/download/sustentabilidade.htm (Ecological and economic sustainability of the Eucalyptus plantations. P. T. Alvim; J. G. Mageste)

IPEF - Institute for Forestry Research and Studies. (Brazil)
In a sub-page about forestry hydrology, the professors from ESALQ/USP and IPEF are giving good and sound explanations about the effects of the plantation forests on the water resources and their hydrology.

http://www.ipef.br/hidrologia

Eucalyptologics. (Spain)
Eucalyptologics, the amazing blog from our dear friend Mr. Gustavo Iglesias Trabado, brings many and valuable information about the Eucalyptus plantations, aiming to light up the question-marks some parts of the communities still may have.

http://git-forestry-blog.blogspot.com

REFLORE MS. Sul-Mato-Grossense Association of the Plantation Forests Producers and Consumers. (Brazil)
REFLORE MS has a rich website presenting many articles trying to demonstrate the positive points of the Eucalyptus plantations. This economic activity is deserving special attention in this particular Brazilian state due to the enormous growth potential it has to some of the state regions.

http://www.reflore.com.br/exibe.php?id=279&cod_editorial=2&url_back=&pag=0&busca (Questions and Answers about the Eucalyptus)

AMS - Minas Gerais Silviculture Association. (Brazil)
AMS is a young association, founded in 2003 to help and to give support to the main forest companies in that specific Brazilian state. AMS has an interesting guidebook that has been written to clarify the questions coming from the interested parties. Please, access "Por dentro do eucalipto - About the Eucalyptus .

http://www.silviminas.com.br (AMS website)
http://www.showsite.com.br/silviminas/html/AnexoCampo/cartilha.pdf (Guidebook "Por dentro de eucalipto - About the Eucalyptus")

RIPASA - Frequent questions. (Brazil)
RIPASA, as well as many other companies involved with sound plantation forestry, are used to supply information to the interested parties of the society. In general, many people come with questions, and RIPASA in this section of its website is giving answers to the most frequent. In case you like, you may also search for the same service in other forest-companies. They are very used to have such kind of services, associated to the sustainability section of their websites.

http://www.ripasa.com.br/faq.asp

Articles, books, speeches, and reports providing arguments in favor of the Eucalyptus

Guia do eucalipto - Oportunidades para um desenvolvimento sustentavel. CIB - Conselho de Informacoes sobre Biotecnologia. 20 pp. (2008). (Portuguese)
http://www.cib.org.br/pdf/Guia_do_Eucalipto_junho_2008.pdf

O eucalipto: um seculo no Brasil (The Eucalypt: a century in Brazil). L.R.S. Queiroz; L.E.G. Barrichelo. Edicao Duratex S/A. 131 pp. (2007). (Portuguese/English)
http://www.celso-foelkel.com.br/artigos/outros/O%20Eucalipto_Duratex.pdf

Eucalipto felizmente existe.
R.F. Novaes. Universidade Federal de Vicosa. Powerpoint presentation: 92 slides. (2007). (Portuguese)

http://www.sif.org.br/files/eucalipto_felizmente_existe.ppt or
http://www.reflore.com.br/palestras/MitosEVerdadesSobreEucaliptocultura.pdf

Eucalipto felizmente existe. R.F. Novaes. Jornal da SIF nº 82. Edicao especial em texto. Sociedade de Investigacoes Florestais. 4 pp. (2007). (Portuguese)
http://www.sif.org.br/files/especial.zip

Eucalipto: desfazendo mitos e preconceitos. J.C. Silva. Universidade Federal de Vicosa. (2007). (Portuguese)
http://farminginbrazil.blogspot.com/2007/06/myths-about-eucalyptus-forestry.html

Eucalipto: mitos e verdades. R. Garlipp. Seminario Florestas Plantadas do Mato Grosso do Sul. PowerPoint presentation: 52 slides. (2007). (Portuguese)
http://www.sbs.org.br/secure/PalestraCampoGrande-EucaliptoMitoseVerdades.pdf

Impacto ambiental de florestas de eucalipto. M.H.F. Vital. Revista do BNDES 14(28): 235 - 276. (2007). (Portuguese)
http://www.bndes.gov.br/conhecimento/revista/rev2808.pdf

Consideracoes ecologicas sobre plantios de eucaliptos. F.R. Alcides; L.P.C. Pereira. Congresso de Ecologia do Brasil. 2 pp. (2007). (Portuguese)
http://www.seb-ecologia.org.br/viiiceb/pdf/1554.pdf

Metodologia para avaliacao de impactos ambientais da eucaliptocultura para fabricacao de celulose.
E.P. Floriano. ANORGS. 181 pp. (2004). (Portuguese)
http://ambienteinteiro.org.br/livros/metodologiadeaia.pdf

Fast growing forestry. Myths and realities. C. Cossalter; C. Pye-Smith. CIFOR Center for International Forestry Research. 60 pp. (2003) (English)
http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/publications/pdf_files/Books/ForestPerspective.pdf ou
http://assets.panda.org/downloads/fastwood.pdf or
http://www.wwf.de/fileadmin/fm-wwf/pdf-alt/waelder/umwandlung/
Fast_Wood_Forestry_Myths_and_Realities.pdf

Impacto ambiental das florestas plantadas. W.P. Lima. Congresso Internacional de Agroenergia e Biocombustiveis. 8 pp. (2007). (Portuguese)
http://www.cpamn.embrapa.br/agrobioenergia/palestras/
IMPACTO%20AMBIENTAL%20DAS%20FLORESTAS%20PLANTADAS%20.PDF


Eucalipto - Um cidadao exemplar. Mitos e verdades. Parte I. R. Ferron. REMADE Ano 18, nº107. (2007) . (Portuguese)
http://www.remade.com.br/pt/revista_materia.php?edicao=107&id=1140

Eucalipto - Um cidadao exemplar. Mitos e verdades. Parte II. R. Ferron. CREA Conselho em Revista nº 38. 1 pp. (2007). (Portuguese)
http://saturno.crea-rs.org.br/crea/pags/revista/38/CR38_area-tecnica-artigo7.pdf

Eucalipto excomungado. A. Teixeira. REFLORE MS. Associacao Sul-Mato-Grossense de Produtores e Consumidores de Florestas Plantadas. (2007). (Portuguese)
http://www.reflore.com.br/exibe.php?id=245&cod_editorial=2&url_back=&pag=0&busca

Analise de impactos ambientais de florestas plantadas no contexto de bacias hidrograficas: principios norteadores.
C.A.B. Mendes; W.P. Lima. Anais Evento UNITAU "O Eucalipto e o Ciclo Hidrologico". 8 pp. (2007). (Portuguese)
http://www.agro.unitau.br/serhidro/doc/pdfs/263-270.pdf

Pesquisas fortalecem beneficios dos eucaliptos. REFLORE MS. Associacao Sul-Mato-Grossense de Produtores e Consumidores de Florestas Plantadas. (2007). (Portuguese)
http://www.reflore.com.br/exibe.php?id=287&cod_editorial=2&url_back=&pag=0&busca

Crendices e falacias. X. Graziano. REFLORE MS. Associacao Sul-Mato-Grossense de Produtores e Consumidores de Florestas Plantadas. (2007). (Portuguese)
http://www.reflore.com.br./exibe.php?id=217&cod_editorial=2&url_back=&pag=0&busca= or
http://www.ageflor.com.br/index2.php?p=productMore&iProduct=381 (AGEFLOR RS)

Eucalipto nao seca e nao empobrece o solo. L.F. Branco. REFLORE MS. Associacao Sul-Mato-Grossense de Produtores e Consumidores de Florestas Plantadas. (2007). (Portuguese)
http://www.reflore.com.br/exibe.php?id=250&cod_editorial=2&url=noticias.php&pag=0&busca=

Contraponto: uma abordagem hidrologica.
C.A. Mendes; S.A. Grehs; P.R.A. Madruga. Jornal SEDUFSM. February. 1 pp. (2007). (Portuguese)

Eucalipto: nem vilao, nem heroi.
H. Firmino. Website Manejo Florestal. (2004). (Portuguese)
http://www.manejoflorestal.org/noticia_print.cfm?id=132267

Florestas plantadas para energia: aspectos tecnicos, socio-economicos e ambientais.
L. Couto; M.C. Muller; A. Tsukamoto. Energia 2020 UNICAMP. 13 pp. (2002). (Portuguese)
http://www.cgu.unicamp.br/energia2020/papers/paper_Couto.pdf

Farm forestry - Frequent questions and common myths. M. England. Farm Forestry Notes 2/98. 10 pp. (1998) (English)
http://www.pir.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/37718/Farm_Forestry_-_FAQs.pdf

Local communities and Eucalyptus. An experience in India. V. Patil. FAO Proceedings on Regional Expert Consultation on Eucalyptus. Volume I. (1993) (English)
http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/ac777e/ac777e09.htm

The ecological effects of Eucalyptus.
M.E.D. Poore; C.Fries. FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization. (1985) (English)
http://www.archive.org/download/ecologicaleffect034584mbp/ecologicaleffect034584mbp.pdf

The facts versus the myth. Aracruz Celulose website. Acess in July 2008. (English)
http://www.aracruz.com.br/show_press.do?act=stcNews&menu=true&lastRoot=253&id=943&lang=1

Aspectos economicos, sociais e ambientais da cultura do eucalipto. E. S. Baena. IF/FANOPI. PowerPoint presentation: 42 slides. (undated). (Portuguese)
http://forestbrazil.com/artigos/fanorpi1.pdf

Eucalipto: verdades e mentiras. A. Bertola. 29 pp. (undated). (Portuguese)
http://www.celuloseonline.com.br/imagembank/Docs/DocBank/dc/dc009.pdf

Eucalipto - 100 anos de Brasil.
A. Bertola. 91 pp. (undated). (Portuguese)
http://www.celuloseonline.com.br/imagembank/Docs/DocBank/dc/dc022.pdf

Eucaliptocultura e preservacao ambiental. Suzano Papel Celulose. 40 pp. (undated). (Portuguese)
http://www.suzano.com.br/suzano/Eucalipto.pdf

Curiosities and Oddities about the Eucalyptus by
Ester Foelkel
(http://www.celso-foelkel.com.br/ester.html)

In this edition: The Eucalyptus used for the Production of Insect Repellents

In general, insect repellents are liquid substances which are applied to the skin or clothes. They can also be air sprayed and are used to avoid insect contact or to discourage their permanence on the place where the substance was applied. Some sound frequencies and electromagnetic waves are also able to frighten some insect species and are considered repellents as well.

Today, the liquid repellent lotions used on human skin may be synthetic products as DEET (active ingredient = N,N-diethil-meta-toluamide), considered to be the most frequent repellent; or organic ones, that are chemical products derived from plants or their natural extracts. They are mostly known as plant essential oils.

Generally speaking, most of the natural insect repellent products found on the market have low mammalian toxicity, low environment permanence, and are originated from renewable sources. In addition, they are considered less environmentally aggressive and are supposed to cause no pollution. All these advantages are increasing the search for the natural repellents, specially by the conscious consumers.

There is a good number of natural plant extracts used as insecticides, miticides, acaricides, termiticides and other arthropod repellents. The most common ones are the oils derived from: citronella, Eucalyptus, soybean, lemon grass, neem, mustard and some other plants. Researches are being done in a world basis, having the aim to discover the scientific efficiencies of these products. All the insect repellent studies do not only aim human and mammalian uses, but also agricultural crop fields, food storage bins and post harvest food applications.

Eucalyptus natural extracts are showing positive results on repelling insects. The efficiency of the repellent varies according to the environment conditions as temperature and humidity. It can also depend on the insect species and the host attraction. The Eucalyptus insect repellent power is already known for a long time. Although some Eucalyptus essences have been used since the first original Australian aborigine times, they have just been commercially registered as insect repellents in 1948 in the United States of America. Since then, the Eucalyptus essential oils are being studied with other similar action plant extracts in mixtures or with synthetic compounds as DEET. An Eucalyptus active ingredient is the responsible for the insect repelling action. It’s called p-menthane-3,8-diol (PMD) and can be found on many Eucalyptus species, in the leaves, branches and twigs. The PMD grants the natural smell to the Eucalyptus oil, similar to menthol. This odor is capable to chase away the insects.

This Eucalyptus essential oil derives from an organic compound known as eucalyptol, cineol or cineole. It has already been extracted from several Eucalyptus species such as Eucalyptus cneorifolia, E. dives, E. dumosa, E. globulus, E. horistes, E. goniocalyx, E. kochii, E. leucoxylon, E. oleosa, E. polybractea, E. sideroxylon, E. smithii, E. tereticornis and E. viridis. Corymbia citriodora (Lemon Eucalyptus), described in the past as Eucalyptus citriodora, is responsible for the major Eucalyptus oil production due to its quantitative and qualitative characteristics. Besides PMD, C. citriodora produces the citronelol, a chemical compound that has also proved to show repellent properties against mosquitoes. This essential oil is also known as "Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus". Besides Australia, place where the Eucalyptus come from, the major Eucalyptus oil extractors actually are: China, Brazil, Portugal, Spain, Chile and South Africa.

The recently added micro-encapsulation technology gave longer lasting repellency to the natural extracts with almost no perceptive smell to human beings. Besides this fact, natural Eucalyptus repellents cause less damage to plastics, cotton tissues, and cloths when compared to the synthetic ones, which is another very positive point. Most natural repellent have less allergic reactions and are recommended to sensitive skins. There are even PMD repellent formulations specific for kids.

It was scientifically proved that PMD has a positive and efficient repellent effect to some mosquito species. Its efficiency was similar to the low concentration commercial synthetic DEET repellents (less than 5% AI). The PMD can repel mosquitoes for two hours without any new application. The maximum lasting efficiency registered for a product containing Eucalyptus oil was four hours (26% Eucalyptus oil plus 2% soybean oil). The p-menthane-3,8-diol compound has also been chemically synthetized; although, studies proved the synthetic product being less efficient when compared to the natural one. Researches showed that PMD was the most powerful active natural ingredient to repel the mosquito carrying the West Nile virus, commonly found on Florida and other American states.

The Eucalyptus insect repellents have recently been registered in Brazil. Till now, there are no evidences that this oil may repel the malaria mosquito. On the other hand, studies have been made testing the Eucalyptus extract as a potential repellent to Aedes aegypti (the dengue virus vector). Thus, all these advantages that the Eucalyptus oil has are making it each time more popular in every place where it has already been registered for commercial utilization.

Some people believe that the Eucalyptus oil doesn’t need precautions on the use or application because it is a natural product. Although being natural, this fact does not mean it’s totally safe. The Eucalyptus oil shall never be ingested and it is recommended to wash the hands after ever application. It’s suggested to read the product label and the instructions for use as any medicine, paying attention to the precautions, side effects and indications for safe utilization. It’s usually not recommended to reapply the Eucalyptus oil repellent more than twice on a day, specially for kids. In some cases, a continuous and long-term use promotes skin reactions. Special care should be taken with Eucalyptus insect repellents on children, using only specific formulations oriented for them. The American Environment Protection Agency (EPA) doesn’t recommend Eucalyptus oils for children younger than 3 years of age.

The Eucalyptus oil is a natural product efficient and tested for repelling mites, acari, insects, flies and other arthropods. Its action as insect repellent is being improved via researches, and its use is growing, partially replacing the DEET formulations. Researches should be encouraged searching for new technologies to make the natural Eucalyptus repellents more durable, less toxic and with lower prices.

We suggest to everyone interested on knowing more about the Eucalyptus oil insect repellency to take a look at the links presented just bellow. Most of them have interesting information about application care, the active ingredient action, formulations, the positive points and the negative ones and products for sale on the Brazilian market and on other parts of the world.

You can also find Eucalyptus oil research articles proving its efficiency as an insect repellent. Observe them and find out more about this fantastic property the Eucalyptus also have: the insect repellence of the essential oil some Eucalyptus species have to help human beings.

Technical data and specifications:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-menthane-3%2C8-diol (English)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon_eucalyptus (English)
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corymbia_citriodora (Spanish)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyptus_oil (English)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyptol (English)
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aceite_de_eucalipto (Spanish)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insect_repellent (English)
http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repelente_de_insetos (Portuguese)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citronellal (English)
http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citronelal (Portuguese)
http://www.revista.inf.br/florestal01/pages/artigos/artigo06.htm (Portuguese) - (Aspectos gerais do uso de oleos essenciais de eucalipto - I.L. Lima; C.F.L. Oliveira. 2003)

Commercial insect repellent products based on Eucalyptus oil (just for your knowledge - please, do not understand as recommendation for purchasing):
http://www.farmacia.es/cuidado-higiene-belleza/corporal/repelentes-
insectos-picaduras/mosi-guard-spray
(Spanish)
http://www.naturamedic.com/eucalipto.htm (Spanish)
http://www.repel.com/ProductCategories/Insectrepellents/LemonEucalyptus (English)
http://www.rei.com/product/703338 (English)
http://www.drugstore.com/qxp75477_333181_sespider/repel/
plant_based_lemon_eucalyptus_insect_repellent.htm
(English)
http://www.campmor.com/outdoor/gear/Product___83625 (English)
http://www.shopwiki.com/search/Repel+Lemon+Eucalyptus+Pump+Insect+Repellent (English)
http://www.consumersearch.com/www/family/insect-repellent (English)
http://easygoing.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=5814 (English)
http://www.dirtworks.net/BuzzAway-Natural-Insect-Repellent.html (English)
http://www.lifesystems.co.uk/psec/insect_repellents/natural_kids_insect_repellent.htm (English)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tisserand-Tea-Tree-Eucalyptus-Headlice-Repellent/dp/B000Q31ZVY (English)
http://www.soapsbyjudy.com/bugspray (English)
http://www.mosquitorepellent.eu (English)
http://www.florame.co.uk/citriodoraeucalyptusorganicessentialoil10ml-p-200.html (English)
http://www.rosewoodessentialoils.com.au/eucalyptus_oil_page.htm (English)
http://www.magiadosaromas.com.br/Produtos/Produto.aspx?produtoid=24 (Portuguese)
http://www.tmaparisny.com/skeeter.html (English)

General information about the utilization and properties of insect repellents manufactured with Eucalyptus oil:

Insect repellent use and safety. (English)
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/wnv/wnvfaq4.shtml

Updated information regarding insect repellents. (English)
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/RepellentUpdates.htm

How to repel mosquitoes with new DEET alternatives. (English)
http://www.govisithawaii.com/2008/03/27/how-to-repel-
mosquitoes-with-new-deet-alternatives


Essential oils to repel insects. (English)
http://naturalmedicine.suite101.com/blog.cfm/essential_oils_to_repel_insects

Mosquito repellents. C. R. Rutledge; J. F. Day. (English)
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/IN419

Protection against mosquitoes, ticks, fleas and other insects and arthropods. (English)
http://wwwn.cdc.gov/travel/yellowBookCh2-InsectsArthropods.aspx

Repellents for application to skin. (English)
http://www.entomology.wisc.edu/mosquitosite/topicalrepel.html

Safety tips on using personal insect repellents. (English)
http://www.pmra-arla.gc.ca/english/consum/insectrepellents-e.html

How to use Lemon Eucalyptus oil as an insect repellent. (English)
http://www.ehow.com/how_2164036_use-lemon-eucalyptus-oil-as.html

Insect repellent products. M. Waldvogel; C. Apperson. Insect Notes. NC State University. 2005. (English)
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/ent/notes/Urban/repellents.htm

Insect repellent information. (English)
http://www.safariquip.co.uk/i_insect_repellent_information.html

Insect repellents. (English)
http://cals.arizona.edu/pubs/insects/az1311.pdf

Natural insect repellents. (English)
http://altmedicine.about.com/od/homeremedyhowtos/a/insect_repel.htm

Active Ingredients found in insect repellents. 2007. (English)
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/health/mosquitoes/ai_insectrp.htm

Flower and vegetable oils. United States Environmental Protection Agency. 1993.(English)
http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/REDs/factsheets/4097fact.pdf

United States Environmental Protection. Pesticides: Regulating pesticides p-Menthane-3,8-diol (011550) Fact Sheet. 2000. (English)
http://www.epa.gov/oppbppd1/biopesticides/ingredients/factsheets/factsheet_011550.htm

United States Environmental Protection. Citronella (Oil of Citronella) Fact Sheet 021901. (English)
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/biopesticides/ingredients/
factsheets/factsheet_021901.htm


Research articles:

Estudo dos efeitos de plantas repelentes a insetos na qualidade fisiologica de sementes de milho armazenadas em espiga atraves de uma analise estatistica longitudinal. F. F. Pauli; M. A. U. Opazo; L. H. P. Nobrega. Revista Brasileira de Produtos Agroindustriais 4(2):167-174. (2002)
http://www.deag.ufcg.edu.br/rbpa/rev42/Art429.pdf

Abstract: New mosquito repellent from Eucalyptus camaldulensis. K. Watanabe; Y. Shono; A. Kakimuzu; A. Matsuo; A. Satoh; H. Nishimura. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 41 (11):2164-2166. (1993)
http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=4064168

Abstract: Plant products used as mosquito repellents in Guinea Bissau, West Africa.
K. Pålsson; T. G.T Jaenson. Acta Tropica 72 (1): 39-52. (1999)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T1R-3VJS2D9-
5&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=
C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=fde55f6546f58debdf64783a6c5e15d9


Comparative eficiency of insect repellents against mosquito bites.
M.S. Fradin; J.F. Day. N Engl J Med 347 (1):13-18. (2002)
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/reprint/347/1/13.pdf

Abstract: Larvicidal effect of Eucalyptus grandis essencial oil and turpentine and their major componets on Aedes aegypti larvae.
A. Lucia; P. G. Audino; E. Seccacini, S. Licastro; E. Zerba; H. Masuh. Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association 23 (3):299-303. (2007)
http://apt.allenpress.com/perlserv/?request=get-abstract&doi=10.2987%2F8756-
971X(2007)23%5B299%3ALEOEGE%5D2.0.CO%3B2&ct=1


Abstract: Evaluation of repellency effect of two natural aroma mosquito repellent compounds - citronella and citronellal. K. Jeong-Kyu; K. Chang-Soo; L. Jong-Kwon; K. Young-Ran; H. Hye-Yun; Y. Hwa Kyung. Entomological Research 35 (2), 117–120. (2005)
http://www.cababstractsplus.org/google/abstract.asp?AcNo=20053175470

Abstract: Field test of a lemon Eucalyptus repellent against Leptoconops biting midges.
S.P. Carrol; J. Love. Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association:22(3):507-13. (2006)
http://www.bioone.org/perlserv/?request=get-pdf&doi=10.2987%2F8756-
971X%282006%2922%5B483%3AFTOALE%5D2.0.CO%3B2
Technical mini-article by Celso Foelkel

The Eucalyptus Planted Forests and the Sustainability

In the recent past decades we have succeeded in developing in Brazil a fantastic forest planting and growing technology. We have learned to make them develop well and to produce specialized woods for specific end uses. The leaps in forest productivity were equally fantastic: from growth rates below 20 cubic meters per hectare.year in the ’60s to about 40-55 m³/ha.year at this end of the first decade of the 2000s. The forest plantations have been developed to produce wood (or other forest products as well), where it is required by the social and entrepreneurial activities, or where an additional source of revenue is required for the rural farm producers. With these forests and their products we have attracted the admiration of the forest world. We are seen as competitive and competent: holders of one of the most modern forest planting technologies in Earth. In short, something that fills us with pride and responsibilities as well. We have had success with the Eucalyptus and with the Pinus. In both cases, the reasons are sometimes the same, but the unquestionable point is that this Brazilian planted forest sector composes an appreciable portion of the richness and welfare generation in Brazil. Recently, the ABRAF – Brazilian Association of Planted Forest Producers – ranked the sector as responsible for 4 % of the Brazilian GDP (Gross Domestic Product), something really impressing, considering the tender age of the business and of the activity in the country.

The genus Eucalyptus has a fundamental participation in this process and it is very much thanks to it that we have had this set of successes. The cloning technique developed to grow new trees was the great impeller of the forest growth rate, as well as of the more homogeneous planted forest quality. Initially timid in the ’80s, cloning boomed in the ’90s. Nowadays, it is the dominant practice in the country. In parallel with it, the companies keep genetic banks, so that new genes can be placed to action as required. Hence, the importance of the genomic mapping and the studies of forest biotechnology, in full development by universities, institutes, and companies. The wood is also being improved for its end uses, whichever it is: coal, energetic biomass, printing paper, tissue paper, sawn-timber, plywood, etc. There are at present clones, the woods of which become dry without cracking, there are special woods for veneering and to manufacture plywood, etc., etc. Technology changed, conferring competitiveness to business. Definitively. But what about sustainability, so much spoken of nowadays? Have we evolved in this respect as well?

We have now-a-days heard many managers, from any branches of business, speaking about sustainability. The same thing is heard from many environmentalists, politicians, and even from common citizens. It seems even that it became a current practice to say "sustainable": banks, department store chains, cosmetic manufacturers, forest planters, all of them define themselves as "sustainable". All this would be very good if it were true and practiced with determination! I do hope this not to be just rhetoric, but to have a solid foundation in the form of actions towards its achievement.

The word sustainability is nice to say and it is exalted in the ears of the one hearing it. Although it is a fashion word, it is perfectly possible that everyone has an own definition for it. Many undertakers believe to be doing "everything they should do or even a little more" to be "green" and they try to guarantee the "sustainability of their businesses" as well. On the other hand, the definition of many environmentalists is founded on the obstinate prevention of the impacts on the environment, the fauna and the flora, forgetting about the economic pillar of the sustainable development. Apparently, some of them are contrary to all initiatives of expanding the industrial production, mining, energy generation at thermoelectric or nuclear power stations, planting of agricultural crops and afforestation with plantations. They may be trying to help save the animals and the natural resources, but what about the human being’s requirements? How will they be met?

When nowadays an environmentalist NGO tries to prevent energy generating or paper manufacturing companies from growing, they are forgetting that the demanding population will be lacking on these not generated or wasted jobs. Furthermore, the lack of future energy and consumer goods (among which paper, food, etc.) may be even more chaotic and perverse to the planet. For this reason, sustainability does not mean necessarily to be just green, but rather to display the color of all components allowing life and happiness to thrive and to flourish on our planet.

All of us know that our society grows in number and consumption requirements, which is another irreversible factor up to this moment: the socioeconomic development model chosen by the human beings favors these aspects. To meet these increasing requirements, we must go on producing goods to guarantee our own happiness and sustainability. The higher the world population and the greater its facility to consume, the better for people and business, but the greater the threat to sustainability. After all, it is the human being’s sustainability that is always the background when the word sustainability is mentioned. Sustainability is in essence an anthropocentric concept: we are those under threat, and curiously, we are the threat ourselves. It was for this reason that the concept of sustainable development appeared in the ’90s, having evolved to the word sustainability in the 2000's. Sustainability aims to guarantee the conservation of the human being’s life conditions on the planet in the long-term. Its horizon is definitively the long-term. It is not possible to say being sustainable today, since sustainability is an endless way, it always requires to be striven for. When defending the environment, we will be also defending healthy life conditions for the human population existing in a distant future. For this reason, sustainability must be seen by everybody from the long- term perspective, focussing on the conditions we will leave the planet in to the mankind that will succeed us for generations and on the assumption that these human people will require consumer goods, food, energy, etc.

With so many concerns we have seen and heard from eminent scientists with regard to the future of Earth, sustainability must be really striven for intensely, in the same way as we strive for the growth of our companies and businesses. Therefore, sustainability involves and must be practiced by everybody, not only by some "lighted" people. As far as the increase of population is concerned, we hope that our rulers and political and religious leaders will reflect more thereupon, a more than urgent matter, to be followed by effective actions to restrain this avalanche of people falling every year onto a finite planet having finite resources.

It was just recently that we discovered that to be sustainable the environment should be kept healthy and well-balanced. We are now on the alert; as to action with this regard, we are just beginning; but with antennas directed to the future, rather than just to the present. Sustainability, as it is a dynamic long-term concept, will be never achieved, we will have always to strive after it, as it is an endless way, as already mentioned. As the forest-based sector has the use to work in the long-term, it is easier for us to understand this and put this concept into practice.

Although the entrepreneurial success depends on the growth of consumption by an increasing population, we have to focus on managerial actions allowing us to achieve business success, so as to leave the place where we are acting in good conditions to continue to be productive in the distant future. For example, the areas where we plant our forests should maintain their productive capacity in the future, no matter how distant it may be. They must not be necessarily only productive for the forest type of plantation which they are being used for at present, but they must be capable of generating valuable goods for our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc. In other words, we must act locally for the long run and think in global terms, the scope being the Earth planet.

Definitively, we must reach a differentiated level in our relationships with the environment, no doubts about. As far as the forest sector is concerned, there is still much to be done to reach an optimum level, but this sector is aware of what it is doing, as well as of what it can and must do for sustainability. We had marvelous gains in our environmental performance and attitudes in the past decade. We succeeded in improving our way of forest management by inserting environmental commitments which resulted in ISO, OHSAS, FSC, CERFLOR certifications, among other ones. We succeeded in changing much of our faults of the past, we have improved and we can even improve a lot further. The process may be still distant from the optimum situation, we have much to learn from the new and required scientific discoveries, but we are doing our homework. The path to tread is distant, but the steps are being taken and the horizon can now be seen more clearly, more objectively and in a more committed way.

Sustainability has been a banner for many companies and business groups. The Brazilian pulp and paper sector embraced this cause, although still without so deep a knowledge of what should be done and at what rate. Many actions for environmental preservation, pollution prevention and control, socio-environmental management, have been and are being taken. One thing is absolutely certain: the intention of achieving sustainability exists, it only remains to strongly direct the actions and to work for both company and sustainability-related results. I would like very much these commitments and actions to result from a process involving a more intense dialog between the interested parties, capable of aggregating different points of view to the process.

Our Eucalyptus pulp producing companies have extremely important relationships with Nature. Our industry has a strong environmental involvement. It may have very significant negative impacts if mismanaged. On the other hand, as it is concerned with numerous activities based on using renewable natural resources, this industry has immense possibilities of becoming more and more sustainable. Its fibrous raw material coming from the planted forests and its energy originating from organic biomass are examples thereof. By sustainable one should understand a company generating minimum negative environmental impacts on the fauna, flora, ecosystems, and on the human being himself. Such a company is capable of maintaining itself indefinitely in the business and in the ecosystem it is present in and using it. It also contributes to the happiness of society with its products and tries to do it so as to prevent environmental damages and to maximize social benefits. In case someday it will come to abandon the business, it will leave its lands and surroundings in suitable condition for other equally sustainable activities to flourish.

When speaking today about sustainability at the forest-based companies, 4 approaches are basically concerned:

Business sustainability: it is the undertaker interest that his business continues to be competitive in the future and succeeds in growing and/or keeping its market share. It means to keep the business in a competitive position, without losing ground to the competitors and guaranteeing a better and better performance in the markets;
Forest site sustainability: it is the work to maintain the forest area productivity, controlling the factors that may reduce the forest productive capacity of the land, such as erosion, fertility, pests and diseases, water resources and hydrology, weed competition, stresses, etc.
Environmental sustainability: it consists in the suitable application of preservationist and prevention practices, intended to minimize the environmental plantation impacts on biodiversity, soil, water regime, climate, and on the human being too.
Social sustainability: it consists in guaranteeing perpetuity conditions for the human species, so that it can not only survive on the planet, but also have the desired happiness.

The result of these four approaches leads to Sustainability or to the Sustainable Development, the foundations of which lie in the economic (business), environmental (nature) and social (human being) aspects. We are running fast in this direction, it is of interest for all of us: undertakers, workers, and society. Many new technologies are being gradually introduced, mitigating adverse impacts. Undoubtedly, there is still much to develop, to innovate, and to implement. But there is the interest and awareness, greater and greater. It is certain that the Brazilian forest sector wants to grow, to compete, to be winner in the business; but also to keep the environment sustainable, as thereby both forests and society will gain. The recent decisions to promote forest growth along with the rural producer, by multiplying small planted forest areas in agroforestry programs, will allow greater environmental and social balance, as well as better division of the richness generated by the planted forests. The transfer of technology, of the best genotypes and of the knowledge acquired to the rural farmers show that we are beginning to put the concepts of sustainability more into practice and to be less selfish. By applying these new procedures, the forests will be able to yield more social benefits and to have greater environmental safety, as they will be much better distributed over the ecosystems.

The leading Brazilian forest companies know that the natural resources represent their greatest patrimonies and for this very reason they are placing all efforts to maintain the forest site productive capacity and sustainability. For this purpose they adopt conservationist practices, fertilization, erosion control and a suitable planning for the use of the soil, studies of environmental impacts and their mitigation and control, etc., etc.

The Brazilian forest planting companies do not practice a migratory and predatory extractivist silviculture. On the contrary, they are acting for decades in the same area, which demonstrates that the activity is not exhausting the productive capacity of the land. On the contrary, the planted forests are at present definitively more productive than they were some decades ago, because the companies are dedicated to optimize the factors defining the sustainability of the productive capacity of the site, such as forest management, soil, climatic aspects, hydrology, and genetic improvement. The perpetuity in using the areas is also associated with the continuous development on the tree genetics. T
hrough the genetic improvement more ecoefficient trees have been developed, capable of being more productive and consuming less nutrients and less water. This means that the forest sector is in search of its sustainability, not only through conservationist and preventionist practices, but also by developing less impacting plantations, requiring less natural resources to develop and to produce.

The companies studying biotechnology and genetic engineering as an additional tool for forest improvement must be strongly committed to the legal biosafety requirements and to the demands applied thereto, showing it to society by displaying a higher transparency.

Planning the use of the land in mosaics, by inserting in between the planted forests of different genetic materials and ages with the natural areas of permanent preservation and natural areas of legal reserve helps to improve this sustainability process. On average in Brazil, the occupation rate with planted forests ranges from 55 to 65% of the total area managed by the forest companies, the native forests and ecosystems occupying about 30 to 40% of this same total area.

By adopting these protection and conservation practices, the forest planters expect to maintain the productivity of the same planted area for successive forest generations.

Some practices recommended for this purpose are as follows:

• Maintenance and enrichment of the organic forest litter deposited on the soil surface, what increases the content of carbon, nutrients, moisture, and microbiology of the superficial soil layers;
• Higher effectiveness in nutrient cycling;
• Higher effectiveness in water use by the trees;
• Maintenance of a part or almost all forest harvesting residues on the soil (including tree bark), also contributing to the increase in organic carbon and moisture, erosion reduction, and soil compaction prevention, as well as soil enrichment with nutrients;
• Improvement in structuration, porosity, and water infiltration and water storage capacity in the soils;
• Mineral fertilization and soil liming;
• Planning the use of the soil by adopting conservationist practices;
• Greater understanding of the interrelations of the planted commercial trees with the biodiversity, including the forest understories of the plantations;
• Culture rotation and alternation in the same land area, interchanging forestry with other activities, productive or conservationist;
• Use of interplanting, mixed plantations, or alternate Leguminosae plantings, to improve the soil quality;
• Increase the forest rotation length, to favor nutrient cycling, increase the plantation eco-efficiency, reduce the anthropic action on the area, reduce the specific agrochemical applications per year and per ton of produced wood, etc., etc.;
• Understanding the causes limiting the achievement of the productive planted forest potential and working to break down the barriers making difficult this achievement (hydrological deficit, stresses, diseases, pests, reduction in photosynthetic capacity, etc., etc.);
• Work hard to consolidate and to sustain the gains already obtained in terms of forest productivity. It was feasible to reach 40 to 55 m³/ha.year in the Eucalyptus plantations; now we have to think not only about increasing these rates a little more, but also of guaranteeing such gains in the long-term.

I have no doubts that there is a lot going on in the forest sector and that the silviculture will be able to continue to find more and more sustainable ways in the next years to come. However, it should not be forgotten, my friends, that the real sustainability will be only achieved with the strong commitment and responsibility of the people working in the sector, all of them, starting from the top managers. It should be also focussed on the equalitarian distribution of the gains among business, environment, and people. Whenever there is an unbalance favoring one of the pillars, it will be the sustainability concept that will be losing ground. If only the social development or only the environment is privileged, the companies will lose profitability and will no longer generate new jobs and profits to be invested in environmental and social projects. If we think selfishly only about our businesses and forget about environment and people, we may degrade our sources of natural raw materials and inputs, also losing people’s confidence and motivation. Therefore, finding the right balance is the fundamental mission of undertakers, government, and citizens. As always, there will be different points of view among the interested parties involved. The dialog and the mutual commitments should be stimulated. This is something that is not happening to the extent it should be. More forums, more multipurpose researches, more technological developments aiming at the three sustainability pillars are required.

A final suggestion: you should always insert economic, environmental and social evaluations into all studies of opportunities in the business, market or technology you are or have. Yes, I said in all of them. It is an easy thing to do, which will help consolidate a culture directed towards sustainability. Thus, we will be really attaching more economic, environmental and social value to the planted Eucalyptus forests in all their dimensions.

I would like to finish this mini-article with some phrases:

" The sustainable development is built by doing things, making mistakes, correcting, insisting, and succeeding! One should be humble to recognize his mistakes and to make corrections; not being prostrated before the limitations; have sensitivity as to the individual and collective aspects; and being aware of the past, present, and future". (Nelson Barboza Leite’s quotations, SBS - 2002)

" The dialog, the search for understanding and scientific knowledge, in addition to the recognition of the different points of view, will help to build a better Silviculture, a better Industry, a better Society, and a better Environment" and this another one "Those planting forests believe in the future". (Celso Foelkel’s quotations).

Eucalyptus Online Book & Newsletter are technical information texts written and made available free of charge to all people involved with the forestry and utilization of the Eucalyptus. It depends only on registering yourself to receive them.
Technical coordination - Celso Foelkel
celso@celso-foelkel.com.br
Webmaster / editing - Alessandra Foelkel
Celsius Degree: Phone (+55-51) 3338-4809
Copyright © 2007-2010

This knowledge oriented service was made possible through sponsoring support provided by ABTCP - Brazilian Technical Association of Pulp and Paper and by Botnia, Aracruz, International Paper do Brasil, Conestoga-Rovers & Associates, Suzano and VCP. The opinions expressed in the texts are those of the authors or coming from the referenced technical literature. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the sponsors.



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