International Partnership for Forestry Education Hosny El Lakany Chair, IPFE

Background Forestry Education Workshop, UBC, 2001 Status of global forestry education Lack of an international forestry education forum Creating an entity that would link forestry institutions through curriculum development and networking

International Partnership for Forestry Education (IPFE) The IPFE’s founding members met at FAO, Rome in 2006, and agreed to initiate a Secretariat for the Partnership jointly between UBC and the University of Joensuu, Finland. The Founding members are: UBC, Faculty of Forestry University of Joensuu, Finland Australian National University Oregon State University University of Stellenbosch, South Africa Univesidad de Los Andes, Venezuela World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF), Kenya Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Indonesia International Forestry Students Association (IFSA); Food and Agriculture Organization of the United nations (FAO), Italy International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO), Austria

What is the IPFE? A new global partnership and a network to share information, experiences, resources and skills regarding forestry and its allied fields

Vision By 2015, forestry education is responsive to globally agreed needs and contextualized in locally relevant social, economic and ecological settings

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

International Partnership for Forestry Education (IPFE) Approaches Sharing learning and experiences – of curricula, courses, methods and joint programming Strengthening and connecting regional networks – in order to share knowledge and address needs

Approaches (cont.) Partnering with student bodies – IFSA Fostering dialogue among diverse interests about forests and forestry education Enhancing societies’ understanding of forests and forestry – a key role for universities

Approaches (cont.) Joint programming among forestry schools (national and international) Faculty exchange (e.g. to fill some gaps), and participation in inter-governmental forums to inform and influence decisions Student exchange Training student abroad Joint research

International Partnership for Forestry Education Activities The First Regional Workshop on Forest Education in Africa was held under the auspices of IPFE at the World Agroforestry Center, (ICRAF) in Nairobi, Kenya in October 2007 Maintaining the information portal about forestry education institutions globally– www.ipfe.net . The portal will link with other forestry information providers such as the Global Forestry Information Service of IUFRO and SILVA network

International Partnership for Forestry Education Activities (cont.) Supporting the Development of International Forest Policy course (several universities) Supporting regional forestry education workshops in Latin America and Asia Facilitating the Canada-China Forestry Education Symposia

IPFE contact www.ipfe.fi/ Jorma Neuvonen Director, Special Projects Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia jorma.neuvonen@ubc.ca Dr Sari Pitkänen Secretary General, IPFE, University of Joensuu Faculty of Forest Sciences P.O Box 111 sari.pitkanene@joensuu.fi