Global Forest Education Project 2019-2021
The Merits-HE Company has been a partner in the Global Forest Education Project, formally entitled as ”Creation of a Global Forest Education Platform and Launch of a Joint Initiative under the Aegis of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests”. The project was conducted during the years 2019-2021.
The goal of the project was to catalyse, accelerate and enhance broad efforts in the forest education both at national and local levels in developing countries, and to counteract globally the considerable deficiencies in the forest education. The project was designed to prepare the foundation for a longer-term effort in the forest education, envisaged as a Joint Initiative of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests.
The Merits-HE Company was sub-contracted with the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) in order to support the Global Assessment of Forest Education Project. For the first time ever, a global survey was carried out to inventory ongoing activities, key actors, objectives and achievements at all levels of formal education. The status of forest education was analyzed based on a literature search and on responses of forest education experts, teachers and students.
The outcome of the project consisted of six regional assessment reports. The Regional Assessment Report of Forest Education in Europe was written by Mika Rekola, Anne Nevgi, and Niclas Sandström (University of Helsinki & Merits-HE).
These reports will be synthesized in a global report on the status of forest education to be published in World Forestry Congress, Seoul 2-6. May, 2022. The report is written by Mika Rekola and Terry Sharik (Michigan Tech, USA)
Project was lead by The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. The third lead partner along with FAO and IUFRO was the International Tropical Timber Organization . The project was financed by the Germany Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL). It was operational from November 2019 through June 2021.