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Contribution short abstract:

West Germany suffered timber shortage in the wake of World War II, inasmuch as it had to export it. Therefore, West German forestry came to consider timber imports as a way of optimising nature. Underexploited (African) tropical forests had to be made productive to supply timber-consuming countries.

Contribution long abstract:

Contrary to a linear narrative that relegates timber to the status of a natural resource of the past, it is striking to see the extent to which it became the material backbone of Western societies in the second half of the 20th century. In West Germany in particular, timber consumption per capita almost doubled between 1949 and 1973, driven by a variety of industrial needs. This was made possible by a massive and fast increase in global production and international trade in forest products that can be quantified. West German forestry played a key role in this process. Right after the Second World War, it protested against the status of exporter of forest products imposed on it by the Allies and raised the spectre of "Holznot" ("urgent shortage of wood") to reverse this degrading status. To revive the economy and relieve the "German forest", forestry experts argued that it was necessary to develop the exploitation of forests that were still under-exploited, particularly primary forests ("Urwälder"). In their minds, Central Africa and West Africa in particular had to be Germany's new log suppliers. To achieve this, the foresters were involved in projects to develop ("erschliessen") the African rainforests , to which they intend to apply their principles of scientific forestry. These projects, which are perfectly in keeping with the spirit of the Division of Forestry of the FAO, included the improvement of forestry statistics, the expansion of botanical knowledge of tropical tree species, and the massive development of appropriate transport infrastructures.