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International Forestry
FE/FOR 456 - Spring 2008

INSTRUCTORS:
John Sessions and Badege Bishaw

MWF, 10:00 -10:50 AM
3 credit course

Course Materials


Purpose: The purpose of this course is to help forestry and other natural resource students understand the biological, physical, and sociological factors that shape the world's forests and the set of activities used to manage those forests. It will also lay the groundwork for understanding and analyzing complex issues related to managing the world's forest resources. Class activities will examine how biological, physical, and social factors influence forest policies, forest practices, and forest outcomes (goods, services, and values derived from forests).

Goals:

  • To help students understand the extent and diversity of the world's forests

  • To understand the types of goods, services, and values that are derived from the worlds forests and ways in which world trade influences the use of forests

  • To understand how forests around the world are owned and managed, and how patterns of ownership and management influence human use of forests

  • To understand how international organizations and institutions develop and share knowledge about the world's forests and influence forestry policies and practices around the world

  • To help each student investigate in depth at least one global forestry issue or practice and learn to work in an interdisciplinary team

COURSE STRUCTURE: Three lectures per week, including guest lectures and panel discussions. Each student must identify and complete a project investigating one global forestry issue or practice, one midterm, and a final exam.


COURSE CONTENT:

  • World Forest Resources: boreal, temperate, and tropical forests
  • Ecology, Silviculture and Management
  • Forest Values, Conservation, Deforestation, Afforestation, and Biodiversity
  • Forest Ownership and Uses: industrial, public, small private and community
  • Global Forest Policy Issues: trade, land-tenure, poverty, government instability, corruption, wood certification, use versus preservation

Images of planted forests
around the world

GRADING:

Panel Discussions
Web Search
One Midterm
One Final
Team Project

 

10%
15%
25%
25%
25%


GRADUATE CREDIT:

With consent of the instructor a graduate READING and CONFERENCE can be developed with participation in this course as a part of the READING and CONFERENCE requirement.


TEXT:

State of the World’s Forests 2001
State of the World’s Forests 2003
State of the World’s Forests 2005
State of the World's Forests 2007
Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations


INSTRUCTORS:

Dr. John Sessions, Professor of Forest Engineering, Deputy Leader of Group 3.06, Forest Operations in Mountainous Terrain, International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO), and former harvesting manager of JARI Florestal, Amazon Basin, Brazil.

Dr. Badege Bishaw, Director of International Programs, College of Forestry and former Dean of Forestry, Alemaya University of Agriculture, Ethiopia with interests in community forestry and agroforestry.


  

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