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Commonwealth
Forests | | |
 BOX 5.1 International Partnership for Forestry Education
Background
Post-secondary forestry education is facing serious problems related to enrolment in
forestry schools, curricula and quality of graduates. While the magnitude and
consequences of the specific problem(s) vary from one country to another, the issue has
become a global concern. Many reports have shown that enrolment in forestry schools is
declining in several countries, and that some schools are producing graduates with
qualifications insufficient to steward and manage forest resources. Both public and private
investments in forestry education have dwindled to seriously low levels. The reasons for
such a decline are many; ranging from public perception of forests and foresters to
economic decline in the sector to competition from other disciplines, such as informatics,
in attracting young students.
As a reaction to declining enrolments, many post-secondary institutions have cancelled,
suspended or downsized their forestry programmes, while others have combined forestry
with other natural resource management disciplines such as agriculture or soft sciences
such as sociology and geography. Meanwhile, many popular education programmes have
emerged purportedly to fill the void and there are fears that forest sciences and innovation
would suffer, while the assault on forests continues unabated. Eventually, many
government agencies and private industries may not be able to meet their staffing needs
both in numbers and quality of professional foresters.
Notwithstanding the difficulties facing forestry education, there are serious national and
global efforts to revitalise the sector mainly through identifying the challenges that have led
to its decline and developing strategies that would enable revitalisation. One of the
approaches to fill the gap created by the absence of global fora addressing forestry
education is to establish an international partnership among concerned institutions. The
idea of developing a new partnership for forestry education emerged from discussions at the
University of British Columbia’s 50th anniversary celebrations in December 2001. At the XII
World Forestry Congress in Canada (2003), a few universities, networks and international
organizations discussed the issue and agreed to establish a mechanism for coordinating
efforts to improve forestry education.
Later in 2003 the International Partnership of Forest Education (IPFE) entered into its
development phase through the support of World Bank Development Grant Funding which
continued until the end of 2004. Broader consultation on the concept was sought in
organized sessions and in open meetings at SILVA Meeting (2004), and at the UNFF 4
meetings in May 2004. During these sessions the IPFE’s role to enhance forest education
was further refined and developed into a means of supporting and complimenting existing
institutions and partnerships. The model that emerged was that the partnership was a
“network of networks” that linked different networks and their interests in forest education
together under common themes.
The International Partnership on Forest Education (IPFE) was formally launched at an
international meeting on forest education held at the FAO , Rome in April 2006. Future
governance structure and next steps were the central issues at the meeting in Rome.
Hosny El Lakany, Adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia, Faculty of
Forestry was elected to Chair the IPFE initiative . Three Vice Chairs were also named:
Paavo Pelkonen, Vice-Dean, Faculty of Forestry, and member of SILVA Network ,
University of Joensuu; August Temu, Leader, Training and Education Programme, ICRAF;
Nairobi, Kenya; , Finland and Osvaldo Encinas, Director, Postgrado Forestal, Universidad
de Los Andes. Merida, Venezuela.
Mission
Helping institutions concerned with forestry education meet societies’ needs, through
facilitating forestry educators’ and students’ engagement with relevant knowledge and
understanding among each other and with society.
Focus
Strengthening university-level education about forests and forestry worldwide by facilitating
and supporting collaborations that capitalise on the comparative advantages of and
synergies among the diverse institutions committed to education about forests and forestry.
IPFE envisages such collaborations in various forms and scales, and for a variety of
specific objectives.
IPFE acknowledges and seeks to draw on the many perspectives and the diversity of
knowledge about forest and tree values, products and services, and management to sustain
them. Thus, IPFE’s scope includes the full range of topics and disciplines relevant to
forests, their sustainable management, and their products and services.
Objectives
• Improve the quality and relevance of forestry education
• Raise the profile of forestry education nationally and globally and
• Improve generation and dissemination of knowledge on forestry education among
institutions, networks and concerned international organizations.
Development Phase
Currently the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada and the University of
Joensuu in Finland co-host the IPFE secretariat with some seed funds from the Canadian
Forest Service and Finnish Government, respectively. IPFE has strong linkages with the
Global Forest Information System (GIFS) of IUFRO , SILVA Network, the International
Forestry Students Association, and with the Forestry Department of FAO. During this
phase membership will be strengthened and an expanded multi-year proposal for funding
will be prepared. Preparations are underway to convene a workshop on “Improving the
quality of forestry education in Africa, to be co-hosted by World Agroforestry Centre
(ICRAF0 , African Forest Research Network (AFRONET) and SILVA Network in Nairobi,
Kenya.
Dr. Hosny El Lakany, IPFE Chair
Adjunct Professor ,
Faculty of Forestry, UBC,
Vancouver, B. C.
Canada
hosny.ellakany@ubc.ca
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