活动名称：木艺木趣国际研讨会暨展览会
时间地点：2011年10月19日，印度班加罗尔J N Tata多功能礼堂
演讲嘉宾：Victor Adekunle
演讲题目：The social, religious and magico-cultural aspects of wood and its contributions to sustainable rural and national development in Nigeria

摘要：Wood is the most versatile material that has ever been known and a material that has contributed immensely to the development of nations that are richly endowed with it. Nigeria is a tropical country with good productive wood resource base (forest). This study therefore assessed the social, religious and magico-cultural roles of wood and its contributions to rural and sustainable national development. Data on religious and socio-cultural roles and other important utilization patterns were collected through questionnaire administration, discussion with key informants and observation. The data on the roles of wood for sustainable development and increasing higher-value wood, now and in future, were collected from records and literatures. This study expatiated on wood utilization from religious perspective, trees and national identity, different cultural products from wood, traditional herbal medicine, wood and fetishism, musical instruments from wood and the aesthetic products of wood. Specific wood species involved in each of the utilization patterns were identified. For other utilization patterns, wood is relied on as the only source of industrial and domestic cooking, the only source of lumber, poles, stakes, handles for farm tools, hunting tools, shelter, canoes, and household utensils. On national development and sustainable future, the study reviewed the development of wood industries in Nigeria, employment and trade in wood and wood products as sources of rural and urban income. It assessed the present status of the various large and small-scale wood industries in Nigeria and their contributions to national development. Finally, the paper proposes some recommendations on how wood use and sustainable development can be strengthened with the view of promoting higher-value wood use at the local and national levels Nigeria.

Mr. Victor Adekunle comes from Department of Forestry and Wood Technology, Federal University of Technology, Akure, NIGERIA.