Technological characterization and development of the uses of South American tropical timber species

The technological properties of more than 200 timber species from natural forest of Central and South America have been studied in the laboratories of CIRAD-Forêt. Around two-thirds of them come from Brazil. The disciplines concerned are wood anatomy, sawing, drying, machining, physics and mechanics, preservation and natural durability. These studies aim to identify the best suited utilizations of woods according to their qualities, to supply relevant data and usable information on wood properties and utilizations to the wood sector operators, and to contribute to enhance the acceptance of lesser known species by final users. They have been carried out in close cooperation with partners from different origins, among others, INPA, EMBRAPA, Eldorado Firm, Instituto Brasileiro de Desenvolvimento Florestal in Brazil, the Guyana Forestry Commission, the Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Forestales in Honduras, the French Guiana Region, the Tropenbos Foundation in the Netherlands, the International Tropical Timber Organization. Various kinds of outputs have been produced: - Guide on Major Timber Trees of Guyana - Timber Characteristics and Utilization, - Technical sheets "New marketable Timber Species from South-America", - Tropical Timber Atlas of Latin America Identification Atlas for Woods from Amazonia and Neighbouring Regions, - Diagrams of Technological Characteristics of Tropical Timbers: Volume VI - Brasilian Timbers, - Data Base on Technological Properties of 200 Tropical Timber Species. These documentary outputs are widely utilized by wood industry in the producing countries (Brazil, Guyana, French Guiana) and in the importing countries. Moreover, they constitute basic technicals tools for CIRAD-Forêt in the framework of the technical assistance operations carried out at the demand of wood firms. Considering the evolution of the international timber trade and taking into account the institutional and industrial demand, the CIRADForêt has begun to enhance its actions on South American tropical timber species to improve their utilizations. Based on all the data ever obtained, they will be carried out in the framework of a R&D project entitled Development of the technological knowledge on timbers species from natural forest and rational uses of their variety. This project is organized according to three main stages: - Technological study of commercially less accepted species from Tropical America. - Analyze of processing and marketing sectors in order to optimize the utization of these species. Technical assistance to the primary processing industry so that to improve the quality of the products. (Texte intégral