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

P.J Kanowski

doi:10.1505/146554820829523961

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.

Highlights

The case for the centrality of forests, and the ecosystem goods and services they provide, to what is characterised as ‘sustainable development’ (World Commission on Environment and Development 1987) has been made by foresters since the 19th Century (Westoby 1989), by forest-related development institutions since the 1960s (e.g. Westoby 1987, World Bank 1978), and since the 1980s by multilateral initiatives and processes focused on forests that characterise the international forests regime (Fernández-Blanco et al 2019, Rayner et al 2010)
The emergence since the 1970s of institutions and networks to strengthen multilateral forestry research and tertiary forestry education for development was catalysed primarily by accelerating tropical forest loss and degradation, and the adverse consequences for the livelihoods of those most dependent on forests and for environmental services. These pressures have continued, only little abated, over the intervening five decades. Their underlying drivers have changed little since they were first formally addressed in an international multilateral context by the UN Conference on Humans and the Environment in 1972 (O’Neill 2009), reviewed by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED 1987), or by the World Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development (WCFSD 1999) a decade later
Social and political, and environmental factors have variously exacerbated these pressures: examples of each include the increasing globalisation of supply chains (e.g. Kröger 2013, Rousseau et al 2019), populist nationalism (e.g. Brazil–de Area Leão Pereira et al 2019, Hope 2019) and conflicts at a range of scales and durations, and climate change and the multiple challenges that it presents for both mitigation and adaptation (e.g. Angelsen et al 2018, Rosenstock et al 2019)

Summary

SUMMARY

The contemporary institutional landscapes for multilateral forestry research and tertiary forestry education for development were shaped largely in the last three decades of the 20th century. 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. Ces contextes suggèrent que les personnes engagées dans la recherche et l’éducation forestières pour le développement devront faire preuve de finesse politique et institutionnelle et être stratèges et proactives pour catalyser et poursuivre les opportunités. Estos contextos sugieren que las personas dedicadas a la investigación y la educación forestal para el desarrollo tendrán que ser astutas en lo político y lo institucional, así como ser proactivas y estratégicas, para catalizar y aprovechar las oportunidades; y que los diversos modelos de colaboración, tanto a nivel nacional como internacional, seguirán siendo importantes vehículos para compartir recursos, atraer la atención de quienes adoptan las decisiones y lograr impactos en el desarrollo

INTRODUCTION

Findings

CONCLUSIONS