Forestry is an important economic sector. For rural communities, forestry, and the related industries, play a significant role in community health and well-being, as well as influencing the health of the surrounding environment. However, achieving a sustained forestry workforce is recognized internationally as a complex challenge – including changes in the skills and size of the workforce. For example, increasing the human capital of the forest sectors is vital to ensuring the development of forest resources and safeguarding ecosystem services. Changing technology is important to planning and production, but is changing the skill sets demanded by employers. Provision of forestry specific higher education faces multiple challenges as student enrollment to forestry programmes declined over decades which is associated with negative perceptions of the land based sector generally and a lack of awareness of forestry career options. This webinar focuses on workforce development within the forestry sector, presenting findings from research undertaken in the United Kingdom and Canada.
Research Questions
• How do stakeholders and practitioners involved in forestry conceptualize forests and forestry?
• What is the future of 'forests' and 'forestry' from the perspectives of stakeholders and practitioners involved in forestry?
• What implications concerning education and learning in forestry can be drawn from the personal experiences of forestry stakeholders and practitioners?
Objectives
• Identify and understand those factors relating to attracting, maintaining, and expanding a skilled forestry workforce.
• Understand the role of technology and innovation in the future of the forestry industry.
Presenters: Dr. Philomena de Lima, Sarah Pohlschneider, and Dr. Sarah-Patricia Breen
