Then came World War I and later World War II which, in addition to causing enormous human suffering, devastated buildings and infrastructure and depleted forests across Europe. The Second Annual Conference of FAO, held at Copenhagen in September 1946, recommended that an international conference should examine the urgent problem of lumber supplies in Europe. Lumber was essential for the reconstruction of countries devastated by the war, and there were clear indications that the timber shortage might produce a major social, economic, and political crisis.