World Forestry Congress: Presentation

This event – held every six years – will take place from the 18th to the 23rd of October 2009 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and is expected to attract approximately 6 000 participants from more than 160 countries. It is considered to be the most important gathering for dialogue and experience exchange in the forestry sector. “Forests in development - a vital balance” is the theme of this XIIIth World Forestry Congress. It will be tackled from the social, ecological and economic perspectives. Internationally renowned speakers, academic institutions, producers, environmentalists, indigenous and rural people, forest managers, technical experts, policy makers and...students (!) will be summoned to share ideas on forestry and offer a truly global view on the future of the world forests.
Institutions from various sectors of Argentina are involved in organizing this important event. The Congress will include one week of presentations, conferences, round-table discussions, parallel events and exhibits. In the following fortnight, assistants will have the opportunity to participate in a wide range of study and tourist tours throughout the country, creating the possibility of further exchanges and discovering various forests.

For further information, visit the WFC's website: www.wfc2009.org

International Forestry Students Association's actions in the framework of WFC

Such an event is a very important opportunity for IFSA to implement its strategy in order to get closer to the achievement of one of its main goals : improve forestry education throughout the world. Therefore it has taken actions in two different fields, corresponding to two different goals.

   1. Organise and contribute to a session on forestry education.

Since April 2008, IFSA has been promoting the idea of a session on forestry education to be organized in the framework of WFC. The International Partnership for Forestry Education (IPFE), the International Union of Forestry Research Organizations (IUFRO), SilvaNetwork and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in particular the Assistant Secretary General of WFC are the partner organizations with whom discussions to promote this initiative have been carried out. Thanks to this cooperation and preparation, the green light to organize such a session was given by the Steering Committee of WFC.

IFSA, with the above named partners, is contributing to the organization of this session. It promoted students' works from 4 continents to be presented during the session, and will propose a presentation about its action and how to improve it.

   2. Ensure a direct benefit of WFC to forestry students.

It is of highest interest that students can attend WFC in order to give their point of view on several different issues, but also to learn through direct contact to decision makers, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) and companies of the forestry and environment sectors. The goal is that students learn more and better, create contacts, in order to better communicate and implement their learnings, once back home or in the professional world.

To do so, IFSA has started a fund raising campaign, with support of its technical partners IPFE, IUFRO, SilvaNetwork and FAO. The aim is to help 50 students, members and non-members of IFSA, to attend WFC. The estimated costs for this operation are about 120 000 € - or 150 000 US$.

Receiving help from IFSA – How does it work ?

The students who will attend WFC thanks to the help of the money raised by IFSA will have a great opportunity to learn, create professional contacts, discover and get enriched at the direct contact to forestry entrepreneurs, decision makers, researchers, students and other stakeholders from the entire world. However, they will also carry an important responsibility on their shoulders. Indeed, they will have to analyze, synthesize, and communicate the lessons learned during the Congress. They will be the ones in position to tell the other students the latest news in forestry worldwide and forward, maybe even provide ideas of solutions to implement. They will benefit from money provided by public and private organizations. In order to make this investment profitable for sustainable development, only the most motivated and committed people will have the opportunity to benefit from it.

This is the reason why an application form including motivation letter was created. Its aim is to collect all important data necessary for the registration to WFC, but also to give the possibility to select the students who seem best suited to this job.

Every student selected to benefit from this help will have, in every case, to pay a part of the total fees corresponding to his/her participation. IFSA would provide a support letter to help them raise the necessary money, but they would have to look for it. This part will depend on the final amount IFSA succeeds to raise, as well as on the country of origin of the student. Depending on the success of the fundraising, the participation by students from low-income economies, lower-middle-income economies and middle-income economies could be a maximum of 300 € (385 US$). For students from high-income economies, the maximum participation will be 800 € (1030 US$). These fees cover both participation fee and travel and hosting costs. If the fundraising campaign is completely successful, these amounts will be lessened. To know the income category of your country, please check the table below.

To be updated, please also check this website regularly, the latest news will be published on it. You can also follow the discussion on the IFSA online forum: www.ifsa.net/forum

You have to know that it will involve preparation work before the Congress, and conclusion work after it, but what a great and exciting experience you can have !!!

For any further question: students.wfc@gmail.com

NEWS

1st April 2009

   Applications

We have registered 100 applications so far. However, many more arrived lately, and this number might increase to about 140. Now, the deadline is over, and we ask you to kindly not send any application anymore. It would not be possible to take them into account, in order for the others to have enough time to get organized.
   The results of the application ranking will be sent to all the candidates per e-mail on Monday, 6th April, last term. For discretion matters, they will not be published on this website.

   Fundraising

Unfortunately, despite our efforts, we are still in trouble to raise funds to help the students. A collaborative action of about 60 universities is being prepared, but we don't know yet if it will work. Our biggest problem is the lack of time, and if you are student and willing to contribute, don't hesitate to contact us.
   We have created a fund raising document, to be distributed as widely as possible. Don't hesitate to download it to understand our action, and to forward it to potential sponsors. You could also translate it. If you do so, thank you for kindly sending it first to us before spreading it.

Here is the English version

   Session on forestry education

The organization of this session has been discussed with partners, including the Assistant General Secretary of WFC. IPFE and IFSA are the only organizers of this session. We will have to shape it in order to make efficient for the improvement of forestry education – and all the benefits it brings along – around the world. It is in our hands, and all ideas are most welcome. We can discuss this on the forum.

   What about you ?

Even if we raise all the money expected and that you are selected, you would have to pay a percentage depending on your country of origin. So, don't hesitate to start looking for funds on your own. If you are not selected to receive help through our action, you are still most welcome in our students' delegation, for several reasons. We do believe that only if we act in a coordinated manner already before the Congress we will have the strength, representativity and arguments to really contribute to changing things. Secondly, for practical reasons, you could benefit from our contact with the travel agency in Argentina who will take care about all logistical issues.

LINKS

World Forestry Congress 2009 Web page.

Technical partners:

	Forestry department of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
	International Partnership for Forestry Education (IPFE)
	International Union of Forestry Research Organizations (IUFRO)
	SilvaNetwork

COUNTRY CLASSIFICATION (source : World Bank)

Low-income economies (49):

Lower-middle-income economies (54):

Upper-middle-income economies (41):

High-income economies (65):