Environmental Services in Forest Management

The use of forest resources is becoming more globalised while the demand to satisfy aesthetic, non‑economic, and economic needs are increasing. The effects of climate change, the recovery of degraded forest soils, the management of water catchment areas as well as the pursuit of the economic and non‑economic goals of forest dependent communities worldwide – all these phenomena call for integrated and multidisciplinary research approaches.

The current issues in sustainable forest resource management emphasise the importance of the effects and interactions between the forest and human ecosystems. The integration of these dynamics is essential to facilitate the creation of a multi-stakeholder system that simultaneously preserves natural forests for the mankind, guarantees environmental services for societies as well as secures a sustainable supply of wood and non-wood forest resources to the forest sector dependent communities worldwide.

In this respect, natural forest and forest plantation resources have become an important part of the global natural resource puzzle. Furthermore, during the XXIII World Forestry Congress of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, the international forest community has recently agreed on the importance of sustainable forest management for the provision of “...an effective framework for forest-based climate change mitigation and adaptation.” As a result, adaptation and flexibility of management schemes are needed in order to reach efficient community forestry systems as well as cost effective forest plantations which produce simultaneously sustainable ecosystems services as well as livelihood resources for local communities. For that purpose, this intensive course focuses on the opportunities and threats of international carbon binding forestry in Afforestation and Reforestation (A/R) scheme as well as in relation to the avoidance of leakage and permanence issues under the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) mechanisms. Besides, the effect of policy limitations on watersheds in upstream and downstream catchments during the provision of ecosystem services is another central aspect to be incorporated and discussed during the teaching programme.

The course has three main themes:

• Biological production and its modelling to enhance sustainable management of forest ecosystems to mitigate and adapt to climate change, generate environmental services, and produce an efficient supply of forest resources.
   
• The planning and management of forest ecosystems to adapt to the challenges of climate change and comply with the efficient provision of forest products without decreasing the level of the environmental services and aesthetic values of managed forest landscapes.
   
• The valuation of products and services from forest ecosystems in economic and non‑economic measure to understand the stakeholders' needs and obligations. Valuation could make it possible to organise forest resources in a way that increases the welfare, efficiency and legitimacy of forest resource management.

The content of the course provides the tools and methods for understanding the multidisciplinary approach of sustainably managed forest ecosystems. In this way, the effects of human and forest interactions are analysed together to identify the challenges and opportunities from managed forest ecosystems which ultimately enhance the legitimacy of a multidisciplinary perspective and a multi‑stakeholder dialogue on forest resources.

The students will be introduced to the issues of forest ecology and biology to identify the forest ecosystem structures and functions that lead to efficient environmental services and the supply of wood and non-wood products from sustainably managed forest ecosystems. Furthermore, participants have the opportunity to learn about the benefits of multi-layer forest resource information added to GIS and spatial systems to generate the sustainable silvicultural management plans of forest ecosystems. Finally, there are concepts of property rights, the total economic value of natural resources, and the legitimacy of forest policy that provide insight into the management of social mosaics within forest ecosystems.

For additional information, please direct any questions concerning the content of this course to the Coordinator, Ms. Gabriela Albarracín, gabriela.albarracin(at)helsinki.fi. Any concerns about the general arrangements (accommodation, scholarship, etc.) should be addressed to the Summer School's office at summer-school@helsinki.fi.

The minimum academic requirement is a Bachelor's Degree completed or to be completed during the academic period of 2009-2010. The course is open to all academic students interested in sustainable forest resource management and to forest sciences professionals. Due to the multidisciplinary perspective of the course, participants from other fields of expertise are welcome to this intensive programme. Those applicants who have other expertise will have to complete an additional pre-course assignment on the principles of forest sciences and forest management.

The programme includes lectures, field work, institutional visits, an individual pre-course assignment, group work, a final report, and a seminar presentation. In addition, the course contains a one-day public seminar on current topics in environmental services in forest management.