HOLISTIC APPROACH NEEDED ON FOREST RESEARCH AND MANAGEMENT - MFRDB CHAIRMAN

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 6 (Bernama) -- There is a need for a holistic approach on
forest research and management in order to develop better practices and
policies, said Malaysian Forestry Research and Development Board chairman Suboh
Mohd Yassin.

He said in many cases, countries were spending their scarce national
resources on studying similar problems while lacking information on what had
already been studied and implemented elsewhere while information on various
issues related to Forest Genetic Resources (FGR) often remained localised in the
country concerned.

"This fact is rarely due to countries' intention to keep the information for
themselves but rather because they are unable to identify a proper channel to
disseminate the information," he said when opening an international symposium
on FGR here Monday.

Suboh said sustainable managnement of FGR required information on phenomena
and processes that were very complex in nature and this pinpointed the need for
a more holistic approach in forest research and manangement, both at regional
and national level.

Thus a regional programme, such as the Asia Pacific Forest Genetic Resources
Programme (APFORGEN) with a holistic scope to conservation and management of
forest genetic resources could further alleviate obstacles and enhance technical
and scientific cooperation, training and information exchange among countries,
he said.
-- BERNAMA