Commonwealth Forests

Chapter 5 Training at professional and technical levels
PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION IN FORESTRY

Accreditation⁶

The proliferation of degree programmes containing an element of forestry has presented a challenge to those trying to ensure that the standards of forestry education are maintained. The Institute of Foresters in Australia, the Institute of Chartered Foresters in the UK and the Canadian Forestry Accreditation Board are examples of organisations that specify the requirements of forestry education. Should attempts be made to suppress such courses, thereby both ensuring that standards are maintained and protecting the more traditional forestry programmes from competition? To a certain extent, this is already occurring within the profession.

Within Canada, for example, a number of provinces have right to title legislation that states that only registered professional foresters have the right to use the title “forester” or practice forestry. This can be problematic, as what constitutes the required training for a forester in one jurisdiction may not count in another. Much the same applies to universities. For example, the Faculty of Graduate Studies at the University of British Columbia does not recognise the degrees and certificates issued by the Indian Institute of Forest Management, but does recognise the Indian Forest Service qualifications issued by the Forest Research Institute Deemed University in Dehradun.  

⁶See also Chapter 4 for a description of professional forestry institutes and associations