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UPDATES:
Competence development for forestry
September 26th till October 1st 2011
IUFRO conference in Freiburg, Germany
co-organized by
IUFRO extension and knowledge exchange group
IUFRO education group
IUFRO unit on gender & forestry
Kuratorium für Waldarbeit und Forsttechnik (KWF)
European Network of Forest Entrepreneurs – ENFE
and others
On behalf of these groups the Institute for Forest Utilization and Work Science, University of Freiburg, will host a conference on competence development for forestry. The demands from society on forest management and forest sciences are developing dynamically and rather radically. This is due to climate change, nature protection and biodiversity targets, a growing demand for bio-energy, and generally due to the changing role of forestry, which is part of primary production in a more and more service industry dominated world. As a consequence, requirements for competences for all tasks in forestry are permanently progressing towards higher levels and to advanced knowledge and skills. This applies to all levels of occupation in forestry, from forestry work to forester’s work, in forest services of state and communities, private owned forests and forest enterprises. Forest entrepreneurs play an increasingly important role for the productivity, efficiency, and profitability in the chain from forest to wood industry. Already today they show performances of high standard when working in manifold ways in forest operations, and particularly in forest harvesting and transport. So, development of competences of forest entrepreneurs and their employees is one of the keys to meet the increasing demands from society and professional development and to attract promising young men and women to the sector. Therefore here will be a special focus of the conference.