Prepared by Lavinia Gasperini for the Education Group
Extension, Education and Communication Service,
Sustainable Development Department, FAO
The background and justification statement for this gathering captures the sense of change in the forestry sector brought about by a variety of global, national, and local influences. It also highlights the need for forestry education to adjust to these changes and to equip young people with the skills and the tools required to meet the new reality and to satisfy the expectations of an expanded stakeholder pool. Much of the attention of forestry educators at this meeting is on higher education and indeed this is justified because many future leaders in the scientific, production, extraction, management and industrial aspects of the sector will graduate from these institutions at this level. We should, however, also take this opportunity to think about the scope of traditional forestry education and its influence on other professional and technical players in the sector and about opportunities for educating and informing non-traditional audiences about forests and forestry issues.
Traditionally forestry education was science based and technical. Students were taught to produce, grow, plant, manage, and harvest trees and process timber. Graduates filled positions in forestry research, forest management, plantation establishment, timber harvesting, and industry. The forests were a public good entrusted to, managed and protected by the estate. Traditional forestry education included degrees, diplomas, certificates and in-service training. Sub-degree or diploma level education prepared students for applied work in forestry and the forest industry - saw mills, plywood factories, furniture making, nursery management and machinery operation and maintenance. Certificate training in developing countries prepared forest guards (rangers) who were hired by the public sector to protect the forest from illegal loggers and poachers and to issue certificates to those who had permission to cut trees legally so that logs could be transported to sawmills or to ports for export. The focus of traditional forestry education prior to the influences now impacting on the sector was in serving the needs of a clearly defined clientele. Forestry and the forest service was somewhat isolated from the broader rural scene by nature of geography - the forests being in more remote areas, by the nature of the work and mandate, and the fact that the public sector dominated virtually all activities and was the major employer of graduates of the forestry education system. As we have learned, forests and forestry are no longer out of the public view and are subject to many change influences. Forestry is not alone in feeling the impact of change.
The agriculture sector which dominated the rural scene is also feeling the influence of change as most developing countries and the international donor community adopt a rural development approach to the challenge of alleviating poverty and improving the livelihoods of those who live in the rural areas. Agriculture, which was synonymous with "rural", is now seen as one element in what is being termed the "rural space". This change to a rural development focus is having a major impact on traditional agricultural education and training. Virtually all commentators on the future of agricultural education stress the need for broadening purely production-focused programmes in order to encompass rural development challenges that reside outside agriculture or are closely linked to it. The World Bank's strategy paper for rural development titled From Vision to Action (1997) notes that Rural Development encompasses all activities outside urban areas related to development. The strategy paper indicates that in future the Bank would be taking a broad rural focus, as opposed to a narrow agricultural focus. "The rural sector strategy focuses on the entire rural productive system. Water resource allocation and comprehensive watershed management incorporate irrigation and drainage. The management of natural resources in sustainable production systems treats agriculture, forestry, and livestock as part of a larger system. Human capital development, infrastructure, and social development are integrated into rural development strategies and programmes."
The main implication is that agricultural education has to adapt to change or it risks becoming irrelevant (Warren, 1998). FAO has been investigating the change phenomenon in agricultural education and has, on its web site, two recent papers (Gasperini, 2000 and Maguire, 2000) that analyse the need for change and suggest ways in which education systems can begin the change process by adopting a systemic approach to rural development. McCalla (1998), taking a world-view, warns that the agricultural science system will have to change. Isolated agricultural universities, dominated by the faculty and scientists, simply will not survive. The complexity of the challenge requires access to disciplines far beyond traditional agriculture. The changing role of civil society, participation and decentralisation will radically alter the clientele of universities and change the demands on them; and the role of proprietary private sector research will almost certainly increasingly dwarf public sector investments. The convening of this gathering suggests that forestry educators have felt similar pressures for change in the way education and training is planned, managed and delivered for the forestry sector.
The almost universal shift in focus to rural development as distinct from dealing with problems from a single sector perspective has implications for forestry education that deserve attention. Forests and forestry have come to the attention of new stakeholders because of the concern of modern societies about global warming, biodiversity protection, the alarming rate of disappearance of native or virgin forests especially in the moist tropics, and the plight of indigenous forest people. Modern, and heavily urbanised, populations also look to forests not only as a valuable natural resource but also as a source of recreation. Governments at national and, in a number of cases, regional level who are concerned about water conservation see forests as a critical element in watershed and river basin protection. The new stakeholders and their interests are part of the change pressure on forestry education and training. The rural development focus also recognises the roles and interaction between forests, water, land and human population in a more holistic manner than in the past and this recognition raises the expectations of stakeholders in terms of the ability of the various sectors to provide scientific, social, and educational answers to those who live in what is being viewed as the rural space.
It is evident that modern forestry education must prepare students for a world that expects more than technical knowledge and skills. Graduates will need to be good professional foresters but .in addition will need the capacity to contribute to rural development, food security, sustainable natural resources management and poverty reduction. Some of the more obvious areas that will demand a place in the modern forestry curriculum include:
Some of these topics will demand a change in the composition of faculty members in Forestry Universities while others can be dealt with by linking to other parts of the education system and creating cross department teams that can effectively deal with the new areas of interest and concern. The solution will not be to overcrowd the curriculum with new subjects but to teach students to learn through life long interdisciplinary education.
Although there is a significant level of support for protecting the world's remaining natural forests, preserving biodiversity, protecting vital watersheds, and providing recreational opportunities the reality is very different. Despite policies, laws and a force of (sometimes armed) rangers the world's forest resources in developing countries are disappearing at a fast pace. This is due to a variety of factors including corruption where the public good is given as a reward or sold to well-positioned people who maximise extraction and are not accountable. Forests also suffer from population pressure where landless people and small farmers who have too little land or have degraded their holdings seek new areas in which to produce food. The latter encroach on forest reserves and the protection services seem unable to contain the flow. Those who encroach on forest reserves to seek land for food crop production are often poor and are driven by the instinct to survive. Those who are better informed and who understand the value of the natural resource are better educated, more wealthy, and, mostly, urban dwellers. Foresters have, relatively recently, sought ways in which people surrounding the forests can be motivated to join in the protection and sustainable management of the resource.
Successful involvement of communities who live in and around the forest in the management of forests - Joint Forest Management - (JFM) has pointed a way to more effective forest protection. The communities traditionally used the forests in a sustainable way to get firewood and non-timber products (fruits, berries, medicinal plants, fodder for animal production and animals for meat) but when states were under colonial or national regimes access was denied to these communities and those who used the forest were punished by law for "stealing" from the resource. Despite the laws many communities entered the forest anyway to harvest traditional products. Incidences of illegal logging increased since the end of colonial regimes and not only was a source of revenue lost to governments and their populations but illegal logging was associated with considerable collateral damage to the forest ecosystem and contributed to erosion and watershed denudation by exposing fragile soils to the elements and creating unprotected logging trails. Now, when responsibility for the sustainability of the resource is given to the communities they police the use of the forest by their own members and keep non-local people out. There are a number of successful country examples but most progress has been made in India. The success of JFM is based on the fact that the communities understand the concept of sustainability and they benefit from education and training provided by the forest services. While JFM shows that sustainable management, which involves local communities, can work it is not yet a universal phenomenon. How else can sustainability and respect for the resource be fostered?
There is an excellent opportunity to complement the impact of the reforms at higher forestry education level by taking the message of sound and sustainable forest management to children in primary school and, through forestry extension, to youth and adults. The reasons for doing so will be obvious to professional foresters who have had to contend with the effects of population pressure on forests for a long time. It may appear to those who work in higher forestry education that the link with primary schools is too weak or too far-fetched to exploit but lessons learned from both developing and developed countries on the impact of environmental education on primary school children suggest otherwise. In developed countries children have become family advocates for no smoking campaigns and for waste recycling; in developing countries primary school children have become advocates of conservation of both plants and animals. The impact of school children on parents, neighbourhoods and communities has been very powerful and has helped change societal attitudes in a very short time period. There are examples of forestry education and training now being offered to primary school children through Environmental Education programmes. One of the most striking examples from a developing country can be found in India's National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) programmes aimed at primary and secondary schools. The programme had its beginning with the National Policy on Education, 1986 (NPE) which stated that protection of the environment is a value, which must form an integral part of curriculum at all stages in the education cycle. Specifically the policy states: "There is a paramount need to create a consciousness of the environment. It must permeate all ages and all sections of society, beginning with the child. Environmental consciousness should inform teaching in schools and colleges. This aspect will be integrated in the entire educational process."
NCERT developed a national curriculum framework in late 2000, which described desired learning outcomes for students at all levels in the system. The framework identified Environmental Studies as one of the subjects at lower primary level. Environmental Studies is one of the prescribed areas of the official curriculum in primary school and is allotted twenty percent of school time. As students move up the educational ladder environmental education as a specific subject disappears but integrated science is taught and demands that students reflect on observations made on the environment including the balance of nature and population impacts on natural resources. A big challenge for the primary school system is finding teachers to deal with the topic. This was solved innovatively by using voluntary organisations that specialise in environmental issues. These voluntary organisations submit proposals for teaching in the environmental education portion of the curriculum to the government agency concerned in the states or to one of the three nodal agencies of the NCERT. Once approved the voluntary agency receives a grant. The nodal centres provide training for teaching staff of the NGOs, provide support for the programme in the form of audio and visual aids, planning sessions and programme evaluation. Of particular interest to forestry educators is the fact that the nodal agencies organise school nurseries, plantation programmes, gardens, and sustainable technology. They also supply saplings to the schools free of charge. The programme is expanding at a fast pace.
The India case is not an isolated one but is cited because it identifies a very powerful vehicle for carrying the forestry message to large numbers of children who are attracted by the appeal of environmental issues. The example further shows forestry educators who participate in environmental education programmes that are already in place, so, it will not be necessary to invent a new forest sector education programme. Instead the forestry input can benefit from the headstart already made by environmental education and enrich that initiative. The opportunity is a significant one and international in its scope. Forestry higher education reformers should eagerly grasp the opportunity.
A primary school forestry initiative has implications for the higher education curriculum and will affect students and faculty members. Curriculum implications include the provision of a course or courses on children's education to enable future foresters to understand how children, youth and adults learn, what types of activities appeal to them and are likely to be most effective in conveying the desired forestry messages. The course would also deal with communications methods likely to get the attention of primary school children and likely to encourage them to participate in learning activities. Such courses in higher forestry education can be team-taught or custom ordered from faculties of Education in the larger university system. While this course would be important for all students in higher forestry education it would be mandatory for those who would be the future forestry extension staff because these men and women would, as part of their job description, be involved with the implementation of the forestry primary school initiative.
The university forestry faculty would also offer training for primary school administrators and teachers or to those from volunteer organisations that would participate in the programme at primary school level. The training would give participants a clear overview of the role of forests in sustaining natural resources and their contribution to rural, and national, development. Practical nursery or school plantation management would form part of the training as would be the effective use of field visits, models, and other audio and visual aids. The training of administrators and staff could also be a joint venture with faculties of education and/or teacher training.
An important aspect of forestry reaching out to the education system would be publicity through various media outlets. A sustained campaign of media coverage of the "forestry story" would require forestry graduates skilled in media techniques to provide the ideas and technical inputs and advice to make the campaigns effective with civil society at large.
The forest sector could also play an important role in advocating for expanded access to basic education (primary education, literacy and basic skills for life) for those who live in remote forest areas often not sufficiently served by schools and who have no influence on school mapping decision-makers. The forestry case, to promote in remote communities the understanding of the importance of sustainably managing the resource, can be powerful enough to influence ministries of education to invest in schools in such areas especially when forestry educators will be active participants in the education programme of these schools. Successful advocacy, in addition to taking the forestry messages to young people, would contribute to:
In the spirit of the World Conference on Education For All (Jomtien 1990 and Dakar 2000) the expansion of forestry concerns to primary, and possibly secondary, schools could be viewed as a new commitment by forestry academicians, researchers, and teachers to Educating All and a contribution to the reduction of poverty through improved natural resources management.
If the effort to take the key forestry messages to primary schools is successful the programme should continue at a higher level of sophistication and detail into secondary education. The India case shows that while environmental education, per se, does not appear at secondary level there is considerable emphasis on environmental issues in the science and social studies subjects. This suggests that forestry too can enrich the secondary curriculum with imaginative and innovative modules and learning materials for science subjects in order to reinforce the sustainable forestry message and the place of the sector in the broader arena of rural development.
The need for reform of forestry higher education has been identified and the sector is committed to bringing about important changes. These changes will have an impact on the quality of forestry education and on the sustainable production and protection of the critical natural resource. However, sustainability will prove difficult to achieve in the long term unless the critical role of forests and forestry for national and rural development is firmly embedded in the minds of young people. An opportunity exists to bring these critical messages to large numbers of children, young people and adults through the primary and secondary school system and through non-formal education (literacy and adult education) and this opportunity should be grasped without delay. Such an approach to forestry education can, at relatively low cost, produce future generations of people who understand the role of forests in sustainable natural resources management, in watershed management, biodiversity conservation, global warming, and the production of timber based products for home and export markets.
This important gathering has a unique opportunity to seize the opportunity to make a major contribution to society's understanding of and attitude towards forests and forestry and the pivotal role that they play in making countries and, indeed, the world a better place for humankind. The economic and social benefits that can accrue over time have the potential to be very significant.
We should not miss the opportunity.
Gasperini,Lavinia. From agricultural education to education for rural development and food security: All for education and food for all. English. http://www.fao.org/sd/exdirect/exre0028.htm
Maguire, Charles J. From agriculture to rural development: critical choices for agricultural education. English.
http://www.fao.org/sd/2001/kn0401_en.htm; De l'agriculture au développement rural: Choix critiques en matière d'éducation agricole: French:
http://www.fao.org/sd/2001/kn0401_fr.htm
McCalla, Alex F. Agricultural Education, Science and Modern Technology's Role in Solving the Problems of Global Food Resources in the 21st Century. In Conference Proceedings of Globalizing of Agricultural Higher Education and Science: meeting the needs of the 21st century. Kyiv National University of Ukraine. Kiev, September 1998
Warren, M. Practicing what we preach: managing agricultural education in a changing world. European Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension, 1998, vol.5, Number 1
