Hamish Kimmins, Professor; Canada ResearchChair in Ecosystem Management Modeling and Director, International Forestry Programs, UBC
Forestry, it seems, is always at some sort of a crossroads. The long time scale of most forest management endeavors has frequently rendered forestry less flexible than society's expectations of forests and forestry. This had led to a phenomenon described by the US futurist Alvin Toffler as "Future Shock".
The dramatic shift over the past decade in the balance of forest values desired by society has created many pressures on the profession and practice of forestry. It has raised the fundamental question: Do we still need "forestry", and, as a consequence, do we still need faculties and schools of forestry?
As forestry at the University of British Columbia celebrates its 50th anniversary as a Faculty, we are holding an international meeting of forestry educators. The objective is to establish the current thinking amongst the global leaders in forestry education about what forestry is today, what it might be in the future, and how forestry education and research should address the multiple and changing needs of the profession.
The one-day meeting will address the changing role of forestry and foresters, from the perspective of both industrial forestry and an environmental organization: do we still need forestry? Trends in the education of the managers and stewards of the forest will then be examined: do we still need schools and faculties of forestry? Finally, the changing role of forestry academics and the linkage of research and social/biophysical science to policy will be discussed; how do we balance fundamental and policy-directed research in forestry?
The results of the deliberations will be submitted to IUFRO's Division 6 at the World Forestry Congress in Québec City in October 2003.
Education and research in forest science, forest management, conservation and wood processing are undergoing major transformations worldwide. As the depth of knowledge needed to manage and use forests sustainably increases, so does the breadth of topics. In many parts of the world, traditional forest schools are experiencing significant changes in their organizational structure as they attempt to respond to the changing education needs of their region.
We believe that debate and discussion with key forest education programs is essential and extremely relevant in the context of the discussions within the ongoing meetings of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF).
The meeting was called and organized by the Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, Canada, in collaboration with Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Forests and Forestry, Rome, Italy.
The attendees, 34 in total, represented major forestry programs and organizations from 11 different countries around the world.
