Multilateral forestry research and tertiary forestry education for development: reflections on progress since the 1970s

Abstract

The contemporary institutional landscapes for multilateral forestry research and tertiary forestry education for development were shaped largely in the last three decades of the 20 th century. Some limitations of largely post-colonial arrangements in the 1970s for forestry research for development were addressed by the establishment of CIFOR and incorporation of ICRAF into the CGIAR system in the early 1990s, following international processes in which FAO, IUFRO and the World Bank played central roles. Contemporaneously, tertiary forestry education evolved and internationalised in conjunction with that sector more generally. Institutional arrangements for multilateral forestry research are now undergoing another phase of change, as key actors seek more impact without more investment. Traditional models of tertiary forestry education for development are similarly challenged by ongoing changes in higher education systems. Both forestry research and education need now to address the profound challenges and potential opportunities associated with major forces such as ongoing forest loss and degradation, climate change, economic globalisation, and social and demographic change. In parallel, the value of evidence-based policy and practice, and of multilateralism, are being challenged by resurgent political populism and nationalism. Together, these contexts suggest that those engaged in forestry research and education for development will need to be politically and institutionally astute, and proactive and strategic, in catalysing and pursuing opportunities; and that various collaborative models, both nationally and internationally, will remain important vehicles for sharing resources, commanding the attention of decision-makers, and realising development impacts.