Invitation to WFSE Satellite Meeting

"How Can Global Research by WFSE Sustain Forest Development?"

on 9 August 2000, 19.30 – 21.30 at IUFRO Congress in Malaysia

Background

The World Forests, Society and Environment Research Program is jointly implemented by METLA, EFI, and UNU/IAS since 1996. The mission of the research program is to conduct globally relevant research on world forests, society and environment, in support of sustainable forest development and well-being of people.

Goals of Satellite Meeting

The objectives of the meeting are

  1. to present the WFSE program and key findings to IUFRO participants.
  2. to identify future common research priorities for the period 2000 – 2004.
  3. to strengthen the existing partnerships and invite new partners.

Agenda of Satellite Meeting


19.30    Opening Address by Prof. Risto Seppälä, Vice President, IUFRO
19.35    Introduction to WFSE by Mr. Philip Wardle, Chair of WFSE Editorial Advisory Board
19.40    Globally relevant research findings by Prof. Matti Palo and the WFSE team
20.15    Panel Discussion on research prospects and priorities in World Forests, Trade and Sustainable Development
21.00    Open Discussion

Additional Information on WFSE Research Program


The program’s basic activities are characterized by the following profile:

  • A global research program, which is networking with interested international and national forest research institutes and individual researchers throughout the world.
  • Ongoing research on the following themes: deforestation, forest cover change and carbon balance, globalization, international trade and direct investments, forest policies and development.
  • Strong linkage to the forest sectors in developing countries in the form of on-spot researchers, authorship, networking and dissemination of findings.
  • The establishment of a "World Forest" book series by Kluwer Academic Publishers. The first volume called "World Forests, Society and Environment" was published in January 1999, while the second and third volumes ("World Forests from Deforestation to Transition", "World Forests, Markets and Policies" respectively) are forthcoming this year.
  • The worlds largest database of forest products trade flows has been developed and a book of global trade flow maps and graphs were published.

Proposed future WFSE Objectives and Structure

CATIE, CIFOR, ICRAF and World Forestry Center (WFC) have joined the WFSE research program as Associate Partners in 2000. Therefore, the future objectives as well as overall organization need to be discussed and agreed upon. Initial discussions around these topics will be held during the panel discussion, and will be consequently taken up by the WFSE Scientific Advisory Board.

Suggested WFSE objectives to be discussed in Kuala Lumpur for the period 2000-2004 are as follows:

  1. Advance research with specific emphasis on world forests, trade and development
  2. Increase the human capacity for global forest research and policy making
  3. Improve global networking and collaboration among forest researchers and research institutions.

For the first item above, we propose to continue to a) jointly conduct globally relevant research, taking into account the comparative advantage of each partner. Indeed, the strengths of each partner are the strengths of WFSE. Mutually established priorities, joint planning and good coordination will secure quality research; b) editing and publishing WFSE books in the Kluwer Academic Publishers book series "World Forests" with tentative subtitles such as "World Forests, Trade and Sustainable Development" and "World Forests, Globalization, Privatization and Trade".

For the second item above, we aim to jointly organize seminars, workshops and symposia among scientists and policy-makers. We intend to intensify the education and training efforts together with other interested organizations.

For the third item above, we invite participation at the open WFSE-Forum for information dissemination and discussion. It is planned to intensify networking and cooperation with actors interested in globally relevant forest issues both in the developing and developed countries.

We believe that this partnership will be beneficial for all partners:

  • Global research partnership for globally-relevant research problems.
  • WFSE can provide a global publication outlet, and build on worldwide, high quality contributions.
  • Improved exchange of information through networking and visiting scholars.
  • Higher chances for all partners to secure research funding.
  • Strengthening of worldwide research capacity on world forests.
  • Improved access to and increased usage of WFSE databases (e.g. on trade flows of forest products) and research findings.
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