Technological opportunities for tropical forestry development

technology to the needs of developing countries for sound management and utilization of forest resources. Specifically, this paper includes the following: (1) Development of criteria for determining whether the political-socioeconomic and institutional framework in a lesser developed country is sufficiently favorable so that technological inputs can have a meaningful impact on improving development and use of wood products and on improving forest management; (2) Identification of those developing countries where the criteria appear to be adequate for such aid; (3) Examination of a limited number of those countries to illustrate how specific technological inputs can be matched with priority needs, and assessment of likely payoffs. The analyses are based on data published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. A composite ranking of institutional capabilities was made by foresters with many years experience with developing countries.