Political will in this field has to date been inadequate. At the national level, forestry is still too often seen in isolation from the other areas of development. The capacity for effective application of science and technology is frequently weak in many developing countries. In part this limitation derives from a lack of detailed knowledge. Thus direction for research should come from reliable and comprehensive inventories and assessments made by national forestry organizations.
Most technical problems are site-specific.
Research findings at one location cannot be utilized at another without further adaptive research. Too often the social and economic setting in which improvements through application of science and technology were made was not sufficiently known or considered. There is an urgent need to bring science and technology to bear in forestry, and particularly in tropical forestry. The Tropical Forests Action Programme is a policy and strategy statement and an overall philosophy promoted by FAO, UNDP, the World Bank and the World Resources Institute, and adopted by a great number of developing countries as well as the international community. There is no dearth of forestry problems awaiting scientists and technologists.