Asia-Pacific Forestry Week 2011

New challenges - new opportunities

STUDENT DELEGATION TO THE SECOND ASIA PACIFIC FORESTRY WEEK

November 7-11 2011, Beijing, China

1)Asia Pacific Forestry Week

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and its partners invite the forestry sector to come together for the second Asia-Pacific Forestry Week (APFW), in Beijing, China, 7-11 November 2011.

In the light of the 2011 Forestry Week theme “New Challenges – New Opportunity”, participants will come together to chart new pathways across the evolving Asia-Pacific forestry landscape. Through the diversity of an expected 1500-2000 participants and the combination of the professional forestry sector, cross-sectoral dialogue, youth and civil society perspectives, and the melding of diverse national, cultural and stakeholder viewpoints Forestry Week will form a unique platform for dynamic thinking, inspiration and creativity. The FAO and partner organizations put considerable efforts in making this event different, more dynamic and creative by specifically attracting youth and civil society.

While the conference focus is mainly on gathering people (and students) from the Asia-Pacific region, students from all over the world will also be able to participate to the conference through IFSA.

To get more information about APFW please access the conference website at http://www.fao.org/forestry/ap-forestry-week/en/ and find the conference page on Facebook.

2)IFSA delegation:

As the only world wide youth organization in the field of forestry IFSA was given the chance to act as an umbrella for youth at this large event. Following the long tradition of organizing student delegations IFSA will offer a variety of services and activities to make this experience become a life moving event for students and young foresters.

The aim is to bring around 30-50 students through IFSA to the conference. Interested students will need to register to the event through IFSA and join the preparations for the delegations. IFSA is seeking for financial support that can be offered to students applying through IFSA (student scholarships). However, this will be limited and participants are expected to undertake individual fundraising to cover their travel and accommodation costs. Registration to the event will be free. You can find more information about funding and fundraising further down on this page.

To make sure you get all relevant information please kindly send an email to [email protected] and follow the instruction for registering at http://groups.google.com/group/students-to-apfw.

3)IFSA provides a range of services to help students attending APFW:

Promotion and provision of information about APFW.
Fundraising documents and assistance to support individual fundraising including reference letters will help convince universities and other sponsors to support your travelling costs.
Organization and attendance of APFW as a joint student group makes it easier and more fun and pleasant for students.
Identification of low-budget accommodations in Beijing to minimize costs.
Given the regional importance a limited number of student scholarships for travel and accommodation through partner organizations will be made available to students from the Asia-Pacific.

4)IFSA will organize a range activities at the conference to show student involvement on the global agenda and to increase the educational benefit for participating students:

Partner event on forestry education: A half day event will focus on forestry education and recruitment. It will be co-organized by IFSA and other organizations focusing on forestry education and should give enough room for several student contributions (presentations and speeches).
Student workshops: 3-4 educational/training sessions for students will increase the educational benefits of students during/at the APFW. According to the possibilities the venue will be either informally at the conference center or in the evening at the student accommodation. Proposed topics are:
The IFSA booth and possibly a restricted student area will be a meeting point for students where they can hang out and exchange their experiences. Information panels, informative posters and announcement boards will be set up for different purposes.
The IFSA delegation will create T-shirts and badges to strengthen the group spirit and youth recognition on the conference.
IFSA Alumni Meeting and evening social event to get to know IFSA and Chinese students
Student city tour

5)Further activities that are attractive to youth (some of them co-organized by IFSA):

All conference sessions may help you transfer your knowledge acquired in your studies into a bigger frame.
Contests (photo, video, essay writing) with attractive prizes (scholarships to go Beijing).
Session on job opportunities / job fair with professional institutions (co-organized by IFSA and international forestry organizations).
Guest lecturers: Professors/scientists will be asked to give parallel lectures of interesting forestry topics for the Asia-Pacific region at Beijing Forestry University. This is to be confirmed.
Speed networking event: Participants with various backgrounds will come together at a dedicated area after the official program (late afternoon) and will be exposed to each other on a random basis for five minutes per round. During this time participants have the opportunity to introduce themselves and exchange ideas and knowledge.

6)Expected costs for individuals:

Travel costs: Costs for flights to Beijing will be around 500-1500USD, depending from what country and region you come and on the date you book your flight. Student will have to book their flight individually.
Accommodation: IFSA is trying to provide low-budget accommodation for the whole delegation at university dormitories or guesthouses. You should count with 8-15 USD per night.
For the daily costs in Beijing (food and transport, excluding accommodation) you should count with 10-15$ USD/day. Limited lunch meals will be provided free of charge at the conference.
Conference fee: no conference fee will be charged.
Visa: Detailed information about visa will be provided on the conference website. Every individual needs to apply for a visa in their home country; there are no possibilities to get a visa on arrival in China. In general, a fee for visa is charged (~50$). An invitation letter by the conference organizer and IFSA will be provided once you register to the conference. Getting a visa for China can take up to four weeks for some countries.

A realistic estimation is 800-2000USD for your participation at the APFW (7 days), mainly depending on the price of the flight to Beijing, the lengths of your stay and your own expenses in Beijing. This figure should be covered by your sponsors. A detailed fundraising package with reference letters, budget, a list of activities and explanations on what are the benefits for students to attend APFW will be provided by IFSA in order to support your personal fundraising at your university/government (ministries)/private companies etc. In general, donors are very supportive to IFSA activities and you have every reason to be optimistic to acquire funding for your participation to APFW.

7)How to participate to the APFW:

The official registration to the conference will open soon on the conference website. Participating students will need to register by themselves. The deadline for registration will be at the beginning of September 2011. This is a very short time and we strongly encourage you to start with the following steps right now:

A: Promotion of the idea in your LC and at your university

Send an email to [email protected] and request access to the APFW Google group in order to receive all relevant information in the next days, weeks and months. Make sure all people in your LC get the relevant information by encouraging them to register to the googlegroup by themselves.
Carefully read the details about APFW on the IFSA website and the conference website, APFW flier etc. in order to get a clear idea about APFW and your participation.
Present the idea within your LC/university to other students in order to find the most motivated students from your university that will seriously want to come to APFW. A PowerPoint presentation about APFW for that purpose will be made available soon.
Talk about your plans with your supervisors, professor and deans at your university in order to get advice and later their support (to get funding and for leaving classes).

B: Fundraising

After you defined who wants to join APFW you need to start fundraising. Remember that the IFSA fundraising team will support you with documents and advice.
Fundraising should start in July latest as it usually takes a long time to secure funding. Remember the registration deadline for the conference is in the beginning of September.

8) How to join the preparation team

Organizing student delegations in IFSA has a long tradition. As you can imagine all activities requires careful and dedicated preparation work. As a voluntary network IFSA projects rely on highly motivated students that are ready to give a lot of energy over a few months into the preparations. The organization of the delegation to the APFW will require a great commitment and many hours of joint work. However, every task will be voluntary, participative within a team and assisted by experienced students. Following past experiences, the preparation of an IFSA project has always be a great fun for all involved students.

Information on which tasks need to be done and on how you can contribute to the organization of the delegation will be given soon through the APFW google group. Request membership by sending an email to [email protected]

See you all in Beijing!