会议名称：2013世界木材日研讨会(2013 World Wood Day Symposium)
会议时间：2013年3月19-20日
会议地点：Karimjee Hall, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
报 告 人：Mario Tomazello - Filho
　　　　　Professor/Head of the Dep. Of Forest Sciences, University of Sao Paulo

Abstract
Wood and forest culture represent a strong connection with the history of Brazil, whose name is derived from a traditional Brazilian tree species, Caesalpinia echinata, heavily exploited by the early settlers. When Portuguese navigators discovered Brazil, on April 22, 1500; they observed that brazilwood trees were abundant along the coast and the rivers of the new country. Brazilwood constituted at that time a better source of a brilliant red dye replacing the tropical Asian tree sappanwood (Caesalpinia sappan) native to India, Malaya and Sri Lanka, and imported into Europe in limited quantities from medieval times. In the following years, under a monopoly established by a Portuguese royal family, the first, intensive and organized operation for felling and shipping the brazilwood logs to Europe was established with the participation of indigenous population. According to the historical documents this rich commerce stimulated other nations to harvest and illegally transport brazilwood out of Brazil and corsairs to attack Portuguese ships to steal the brazilwood. In 1555, a French expedition invaded the colony for economic exploitation of brazilwood.
Brazilwood was first mentioned in the botanical literature in 1623, by Caspar Bauhim, a Swiss botanist, who published a long list of Brazilian plants in the early 17th century. In 1789, the French naturalist Lamarck described the main characteristics and named the tree species Caesalpinia echinata, which is still used today. The botanical specimen used for the first description is deposited in the Natural History Museum of Paris. This plant is also cited in the famous book Flora Brasiliensis by Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius. However in the 18th century the excessive exploitation of brazilwood trees resulted in the cessation of brazilwood activity. Presently, the species is listed as an endangered species by the IUCN and also included in the official list of endangered flora of Brazil. The heartwood of brazilwood was used to make violin bows for more than two centuries and is known to bow makers and musicians as pernambuco wood. Today, some sites where pernambuco wood occurs naturally are legally protected. Therefore, new reserves must be created and surveys undertaken to locate remnant populations, and evaluate their genetic and diversity mechanisms. The presentation aims to recall the history of Brazilwood and its significance to the forest culture in Brazil.

Speaker Profile
MARIO TOMAZELLO-FILHO is a Professor of the Department of Forest Sciences, University of São Paulo, Brazil. He is currently Head of the Department, and exercised the Coordination of the Graduate Program of the Forestry Sciences (2008-2011). Mario is responsible for the disciplines of Graduate and Postgraduate Course of the University of Sao Paulo. The main lines of research are related to wood anatomy and identification, dendrology, X-ray densitometry applied to wood and wood products, dendrochronology, quality wood, etc. He is a Deputy-Member of IUFRO 5.10.01 Wood Culture and Associate-Member of the International Wood Culture Society. Had the opportunity to participate of the main events held in the area of wood culture, presenting works related to wood and forest culture in Brazil and the connection with the history of the country, such as in XXII IUFRO World Forestry Congress (Korea, 2010) and IUFRO All-Division 5 Conference (Portugal, 2012).