The Bologna process – a challenge to innovation in forest policy and economics education and research
The Bologna process will thrust forestry and forestry education into the context of an evolving global economy as well as worldwide concerns about environmental protection and climate change. It stimulates the integration of forestry into the framework of sustainable land-use practices and the combi...
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Український ордена "Знак Пошани" НДІ лісового господарства та агролісомеліорації ім. Г.М. Висоцького Держкомлісгоспу та НАН України
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irk-123456789-162682011-02-10T12:02:58Z The Bologna process – a challenge to innovation in forest policy and economics education and research Schmithüsen, F. The Bologna process will thrust forestry and forestry education into the context of an evolving global economy as well as worldwide concerns about environmental protection and climate change. It stimulates the integration of forestry into the framework of sustainable land-use practices and the combination of forest management experience with new scientific knowledge and research methodology. Forest professionals need a comprehensive educational background if they are to tackle rapidly changing social, economic and political problems. At the same time they need to understand the evolving and locally specific social and cultural aspects of forestry. This demands a joint approach to forest management, environment protection and landscape conservation. Maintaining the natural resource base and managing forests in a sustainable manner will require teaching programme combining policy and law, business economics and management, and forest resource and environmental economics components. Болонський процес призводить лісове господарство і лісову освіту в контекст розвитку глобальної економіки, а також всесвітньої турботи про захист середовища та зміни клімату. Це стимулює інтеграцію лісового господарства у мережу невиснажливого землекористування і поєднання досвіду лісового господарства та нових наукових знань і методології досліджень. лісовим професіоналам потрібні всебічні загальноосвітні знання, якщо вони мають утриматися на тлі швидко мінливих соціальних, економічних і політичних проблем. У той же час їм потрібно зрозуміти локальні й культурні аспекти лісового господарства, що розвивається. Це потребує об'єднаного підходу до управління лісами, захисту довкілля і збереження ландшафтів. Для підтримки основи природних ресурсів і лісів, в яких ведеться господарство, у невиснажливій формі необхідна викладацька програма, що об’єднує політику, закон, ділову економіку і управління, складові лісових ресурсів і екологічної економіки. Болонский процесс приводит лесное хозяйство и лесное образование в контекст развития глобальной экономики, а также всемирной заботы о защите окружающей среды и изменениях климата. Это стимулирует интеграцию лесного хозяйства в систему неистощимого землепользования и сочетание опыта лесного хозяйства, новых научных знаний и методологии исследований. Лесным профессионалам нужны всесторонние общеобразовательные знания, если они должны удержаться на фоне быстро меняющихся социальных, экономических и политических проблем. В то же время им нужно понять локальные и культурные аспекты развивающегося лесного хозяйства. Это требует объединенного подхода к управлению лесами, защите окружающей среды и сохранению ландшафтов. Для поддержания основы природных ресурсов и лесов, в которых ведется хозяйство, в неистощимой форме требуется программа преподавания, которая объединяет политику, закон, деловую экономику и управление, составные части лесных ресурсов и экологической экономики. 2008 Article The Bologna process – a challenge to innovation in forest policy and economics education and research / F. Schmithüsen // Лісівництво і агролісомеліорація: Зб. наук. пр. — Харків: УкрНДІЛГА, 2008. — Вип. 112. — С. 3-15. — Бібліогр.: 10 назв. — англ. 0459-1216 http://dspace.nbuv.gov.ua/handle/123456789/16268 630.9 en Український ордена "Знак Пошани" НДІ лісового господарства та агролісомеліорації ім. Г.М. Висоцького Держкомлісгоспу та НАН України |
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The Bologna process will thrust forestry and forestry education into the context of an evolving global economy as well as worldwide concerns about environmental protection and climate change. It stimulates the integration of forestry into the framework of sustainable land-use practices and the combination of forest management experience with new scientific knowledge and research methodology. Forest professionals need a comprehensive educational background if they are to tackle rapidly changing social, economic and political problems. At the same time they need to understand the evolving and locally specific social and cultural aspects of forestry. This demands a joint approach to forest management, environment protection and landscape conservation. Maintaining the natural resource base and managing forests in a sustainable manner will require teaching programme combining policy and law, business economics and management, and forest resource and environmental economics components. |
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Schmithüsen, F. The Bologna process – a challenge to innovation in forest policy and economics education and research |
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Schmithüsen, F. |
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Schmithüsen, F. |
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The Bologna process – a challenge to innovation in forest policy and economics education and research |
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The Bologna process – a challenge to innovation in forest policy and economics education and research |
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The Bologna process – a challenge to innovation in forest policy and economics education and research |
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The Bologna process – a challenge to innovation in forest policy and economics education and research |
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bologna process – a challenge to innovation in forest policy and economics education and research |
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Український ордена "Знак Пошани" НДІ лісового господарства та агролісомеліорації ім. Г.М. Висоцького Держкомлісгоспу та НАН України |
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2008 |
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The Bologna process – a challenge to innovation in forest policy and economics education and research / F. Schmithüsen // Лісівництво і агролісомеліорація: Зб. наук. пр. — Харків: УкрНДІЛГА, 2008. — Вип. 112. — С. 3-15. — Бібліогр.: 10 назв. — англ. |
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ЛІСІВНИЦТВО І АГРОЛІСОМЕЛІОРАЦІЯ
Харків: УкрНДІЛГА, 2008. – Вип. 112
3
UDK 630.9
F. SCHMITHÜSEN *
THE BOLOGNA PROCESS – A CHALLENGE TO INNOVATION IN FOREST POLICY
AND ECONOMICS EDUCATION AND RESEARCH
Institute for Environmental Decisions, Department Environmental Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology,
ETH, Zurich, Switzerland
The Bologna process will thrust forestry and forestry education into the context of an evolving global economy as
well as worldwide concerns about environmental protection and climate change. It stimulates the integration of
forestry into the framework of sustainable land-use practices and the combination of forest management experience
with new scientific knowledge and research methodology. Forest professionals need a comprehensive educational
background if they are to tackle rapidly changing social, economic and political problems. At the same time they need
to understand the evolving and locally specific social and cultural aspects of forestry. This demands a joint approach
to forest management, environment protection and landscape conservation. Maintaining the natural resource base and
managing forests in a sustainable manner will require teaching programme combining policy and law, business
economics and management, and forest resource and environmental economics components.
K e y w o r d s : land use practices, natural resources protection, wood production, environmental services, forest
ecosystem management.
Introduction
The Bologna process presents an opportunity to foster innovation, cooperation and competition
in science. It establishes a common ground for university teaching and research in Europe by
introducing comparable academic grades and quality standards. It encourages mobility among
students, teachers and researchers worldwide and adopts a three-cycle educational system with the
accumulation and transfer of credits, as in North America. The Bologna process offers a chance to
modernize the content and subjects of forestry teaching, to expand socio-economic empirical
research on environmental and natural resources management, and to link teaching and research
more closely to the applied natural sciences. This means, foremost, putting more emphasis on
societal problems and restructuring and expanding the contribution of the social sciences in
university forestry curricula, particularly in the fields of forest policy and forestry economics.
Systems approach to political and economic decision making for the protection, use and
management of renewable natural resources.
The design of innovative socio-economic teaching and research programmes in forestry must
be based on the specifics of managing renewable natural resources. The focus of such programmes
should be on the following:
– sustainability as the guiding principle for maintaining and developing the natural resource
base;
– multifunctional and locally adapted land management solutions that address increasing
economic, societal and environmental demands;
– interplay between natural processes, technological solutions, societal behaviour and political
decision making;
– improvements in land management through developing effective institutions and involving
stakeholders;
– use of appropriate market-based instruments and coordinated public policy networks; and
– multidisciplinary approaches among the natural and social sciences that lead to a common
scientific basis in dealing with economic development, societal needs and values, and cultural
change.
Fig. 1 provides a schematic presentation of a systems approach to analyzing the conditions for
sustainable management, protection and preservation of the renewable natural resource base. The Y
dimension shows the dynamics of social change and the driving factors that determine the
prevailing use of renewable natural resources. Significant aspects are cultural values, societal
* © F. Schmithüsen, 2008
ЛІСІВНИЦТВО І АГРОЛІСОМЕЛІОРАЦІЯ
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4
demands, economic needs and opportunities; political and legal networks setting the conditions for
resource use; and decision-making processes involving landowners, land users and other
stakeholders. The X dimension indicates the spatial impacts of resource use and management on the
physical and human environment as a whole, at landscape levels, for different land-use categories
and individual land management units. The z dimension presents the interplay between private and
public goals, available technologies, policy instruments, and the feedbacks and results that are
obtained.
Fig. 1 – Human environment systems interactions in sustainable natural resources management ([8], modified)
Forest teaching and research should enable university graduates and future engineers to grasp
the dynamics of cultural change and their meaning for societal demands on forests and forestry.
Students need integrative social and cultural knowledge to assess opportunities and new approaches
in managing natural resources in a specific situation and at a given time. At the ETH we have been
looking at evolving societal demands as well as the great variety of culturally specific situations in
which forest management develops. Our new program for teaching and researching “cultural
aspects of forests and forestry” has proven attractive to our students and inspired a considerable
number of diploma theses that provide new and interesting findings.
A second aspect of a systems approach to managing forests and forestry in a broad social,
environmental and land-use perspective is thus the historical dimension of change. It is, in fact, my
firm conviction that the structure and content of any academic teaching and research programme in
forestry should be anchored in a profound understanding of the long-lasting cultural processes that
have influenced forest distribution and forest uses over centuries [9]. This understanding will enable
forestry professionals, educators and researchers to be aware of the dynamic human interactions and
the manifold societal impacts in environmental, natural resources and land management. And only
the cultural context can explain the great variety of problems and solutions in time and space as
well as the need to develop specific approaches.
ЛІСІВНИЦТВО І АГРОЛІСОМЕЛІОРАЦІЯ
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5
Teaching requirements in forest policy and law
Public policies and law provide the necessary political framework for balancing private and
public interests and are changing in response to new societal demands. No longer is it sufficient to
address only wood production and forest protection and management. Today’s social and
environmental demands and policy objectives extend to human induced effects on climate change,
preservation of biodiversity, and to nature and landscape protection. National and local political
problems have to be addressed, as well as the continental and worldwide concerns of citizens and
governments. The fundamentally new aspect of forest related policy decision making is that it must
devote equal attention to economic efficient wood production, societal and cultural values, and
environmental protection.
Forest policy goals are incremental and involve the economic potential of forests for industrial
wood production and processing, their availability as multifunctional social resources in urban and
rural areas, their importance as varied and complex ecosystems, and their essential role in
maintaining biodiversity of flora and fauna. The process of modernizing national forest policies and
legislation has gained considerable momentum across Europe – western, central, and eastern – since
the 1990s. In countries in transition to open civil society and market economies, functioning
democratic institutions are being built, and new political and legal frameworks addressing agri-
culture and forestry, nature preservation and environmental protection are being established [1, 6].
Fig. 2 shows a systems approach to identifying the broad regulatory issues and content of
forest policy and law. Protection regulations refer to conserving and preserving the environment and
biodiversity, nature and landscapes, soil and water resources, and the cultural and spiritual values
associated with trees and forests. Land-use regulations provide for zoning of forestland, control of
forest clearing, protection of a country’s permanent forest estate, and the establishment of new
forest resources through reforestation and afforestation. Utilization and management regulations
determine the rights and responsibilities of forest owners with regard to the sustainable production
of wood and non-timber forest products, environmental and recreational services, and
multifunctional forest use and management systems.
Forest policy has been a traditional university course since the 19th century, when university
forestry programs were established. However, the focus of modern policy teaching and research
needs to be based much more on the disciplinary foundations of the political sciences than has
generally been the case. Education in this field must combine knowledge of political science
concepts, models and methodologies with analysis of political decisions about forestland
management options in the context of protecting the environment and addressing climate change.
New scientific concepts and methodologies are available, new research is going on, and the
literature is continually growing. The challenge is to combine specific knowledge of forestry
problems with a strong methodological foundation in political science. A wealth of forestry-specific
knowledge has been accumulated in the past that can be used for demonstration and problem
analysis of the problems of today. It is essential to use this knowledge in a more comprehensive
educational and research context.
Primary teaching subjects in a modern forest policy course relate to the following broad
themes:
Forest conservation, protection and management are economic, political, social and cultural
phenomena, and sustainability is the basis for maintaining and utilizing natural renewable resources.
Important conflicts over forests exist between divergent private and public interests. Such
conflicts relate to controversial strategies and management goals for industrial wood production,
protecting the environment, and nature and landscape preservation.
Forest policy as well as other forest related public policies form an aggregate of multiple
conflict regulation processes and imply a multitude of political arbitration and decision-making
processes among private and public stakeholders in utilizing the forest resource.
Political systems and constitutional values, political institutions and political actors, and law
and jurisdiction are the foundation of political arbitration and decision-making processes.
ЛІСІВНИЦТВО І АГРОЛІСОМЕЛІОРАЦІЯ
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Fig. 2 – Forest policy and law regulations ([5], p. 10)
The students need a solid knowledge of the functioning of the political system in a democracy
and the constituting political steps determining changes in forest policy and law, as for that matter,
in other political domains such as energy, water, environmental and landscape policies. The
political framework for the formation of a particular public policy and for its implementation can be
analysed in three fundamental dimensions. The institutional dimension (polity) determines the
constitutional framework for political decisions. The process dimension (politics) identifies the
policy actors (stakeholders), their interests and conflicts, their political power, and ways to resolve
conflict. The policy dimension deals with concrete political problems and solutions, addressing
specific needs and values and determining goals and measures. It is important to understand the
policy cycle, the choice of policy instruments, and the role of public policy programmes.
Governance has become important in politics as a reaction to policy failures due to rigid and
ineffective top-down decisions of the state. The word denotes a shift from hierarchic and top-down
political processes to a more participatory and self-organizing style of policy making. It thus
characterizes a more open and democratic relationship between the state and civil society, including
citizens, stakeholders, and private institutions such as associations, corporations and social
communities. Policy actors in this context include concerned interest groups, private enterprise and
industry representatives, and nongovernmental organisations (NGOs). Active communication
among all actors within the political system and processes leading to formally agreed problem
solutions are essential elements of modern governance. And governance becomes operational
through market transactions, societal self-regulation, negotiation processes and agreement on
ЛІСІВНИЦТВО І АГРОЛІСОМЕЛІОРАЦІЯ
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criteria, indicators and performance standards, as well as through contractual arrangements for the
delivery of goods and services.
Governance is based on functioning political networks between the public and private sector,
including the following:
– cooperation between the state and specific target groups;
– participation of citizens and NGOs in the processes of policy making and policy
implementation;
– coordination, inclusiveness and integration of relevant sector policies;
– multilevel transactions between private and public organizations;
– decentralization and transfer of public authority and responsibilities to lower governmental
levels in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity;
– programmes based on jointly agreed and precise objectives, monitoring of performance and
evaluation of results; and
– business standards for public administration to ensure effectiveness and efficiency.
Another important aspect in modern forest policy teaching results from the fact that there are
many transversal and cross-sectoral public policies and regulations that have multiple impacts on
forest and natural resource utilization—sometimes conflicting with the overall goals of
sustainability and rational use of the natural resource base (Fig. 3).
Fig. 3 – Multiple public policy impacts on forest resource utilization ([5], p. 13, modified)
Public policies of relevance in this context may address agriculture, game management and
fisheries and the protection of public and private infrastructure. Also having a growing impact on
forestry are policies dealing with nature preservation, landscape protection, national parks,
environmental protection and soil and water resources. Policies addressing rural development, land-
use planning, land tenure, regional development, recreation and tourism have considerable influence
on forest utilization as well.
It follows that forest policy alone cannot regulate exclusively anymore the public framework
for using and managing forests. It is important to analyse the full range of relevant public policies
and those political interventions enhancing their positive impacts on forest conservation and
forestry development, as well as reducing those policy effects having negative effects on forest
development. A more systematic consideration of cross-sectoral effects and policy links has been
ЛІСІВНИЦТВО І АГРОЛІСОМЕЛІОРАЦІЯ
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one of the important concerns of the international community since the Rio Conference 1992 and its
follow-up processes.
National and international governance networks addressing sustainable forest management,
environmental protection and natural resource utilization have today increasingly multilevel
political dimensions (Fig. 4). They extend from the global level of the United Nations and from
continental and supranational levels, such as the European Union, to the national level, sub-national
levels in countries with federal political systems, and to municipal and local community and
association levels. The combined demands on forest management from such multilevel policy
making must be met foremost by landowners and land users, and the political impacts on forestry
have to be assessed for individual ownership units, ecosystems and the landscape.
Fig. 4 – Multilevel governance networks ([5], modified)
Teaching requirements in forest business economics
Sustainable wood production: Wood production remains the backbone of commercial forestry
practices and of a sustainable forest sector. New technology offers opportunities to improve the
productivity and profitability of wood production through rationalization and reduction of
production costs, and efficient business management must focus on the entire value-added chain
between forestry activities, industrial wood processing and changing end-markets demands.
Innovative business and management teaching in forestry will explore the ongoing modernization of
industrial production units based on comprehensive, cost-effective strategies. One has to be aware,
in fact, that the forestry and wood-processing sector in Europe is already highly competitive in
world markets and is expanding rapidly. If the industry succeeds in building on its present strengths
and reducing its weaknesses, sustainable wood production and modern wood-processing
technologies can deliver new products and services to intermediate end-user markets.
Multifunctional land management: At the same time it is urgent to generate additional income
from marketable environmental and recreational services. Forestry students and professionals thus
have to understand the economics of industrial wood processing as well as the economics of
multifunctional land management. It is concerned with actual and prospective business
opportunities and a wide range of present and future consumer wants and preferences as the driving
ЛІСІВНИЦТВО І АГРОЛІСОМЕЛІОРАЦІЯ
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9
forces within a market economy. The analysis focuses on short- and medium-time perspectives and
on economic growth in a spatial perspective reaching from local to national and to international.
Comprehensive disciplinary foundation: The programme in forest business economics requires
a comprehensive disciplinary foundation in the concepts, models and methodologies of the
management and economics sciences. It has to convey an understanding of the special production
and marketing conditions within forestry and the wood-processing sector. And it should be well
grounded in the current literature as well as the results of applied economic research. Development
of an entrepreneurial spirit, strategic thinking and human relations abilities are the main goals in
teaching the students. Primary subjects are the end markets that drive business, process
management and strategic innovation techniques, measures to foster competitive wood production,
and new approaches in marketing environmental and recreational services. Students, teaching staff
and professionals need to understand the complex management processes of enterprises in a free-
market economy. They have to know how to optimize production within the entire value-added
chain and to understand the primary role of markets and marketing. At the same time they should be
able to evaluate the options and constraints of industrial production of the wood industry versus
multifunctional forestry production systems providing a wide range of goods and services.
Major teaching subjects: Important standard chapters of management and economics to be
included in this programme are business politics, human resources and organisational development,
accounting systems and methods, financing and investment, logistics and production processes, and
strategic planning and controlling. The translation and subsequent publication by the economics
faculty of the University in Belgrade of Entrepreneurship in the Forest and Wood Products Industry
– Principles of Business Economics and Management (Fig. 5) is based on the original version in
German, published in 2003 as a leading textbook and reference in our field [7].
Fig. 5 – Serbian translation of the textbook «Entrepreneurship in the forest and wood products industry» [10]
This new book can make a significant contribution in modernizing the teaching programmes of
the forestry faculties in the Balkan region. The authors hope that the book will be a standard
teaching text for bachelor’s and master’s students as well as a standard reference for forestry and
wood-processing professionals. We are thankful to all colleagues who have contributed to make this
ЛІСІВНИЦТВО І АГРОЛІСОМЕЛІОРАЦІЯ
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publication a reality. Special thanks are due to the capable translator, Vesna Ivanovic, and to
Assistant Professor Dragan Nonic for his initiative and valuable contributions.
From sellers’ to buyers’ markets: The fundamental change in modern market economies is the
change from sellers’ to buyers’ markets (Fig. 6). From an economy of scarcity, in which demand
surpassed the available offer, we have moved in many countries to an economy of surplus, in which
the offer exceeds apparent demand. Whereas production of goods and services was the limiting
factor in the past, developing new markets for new products is now the primary issue. Stimulating
demand and focusing on consumer preferences have become the driving forces of competitive
business activities. New product development and design to meet new consumer wants and
preferences and identification of new market segments and regions are now the entrepreneurial
challenge.
Fig. 6 – From sellers’ to buyers’ markets ([3], p. 133, translated)
A SWOT (strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis of the wood-
processing sector was undertaken by the European Community in 2000 (Fig. 7).
Fig. 7 – Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the wood-processing sector in the European Union
([2], p. 44, modified)
ЛІСІВНИЦТВО І АГРОЛІСОМЕЛІОРАЦІЯ
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The strengths lie in an expanding raw materials basis, the availability of high-level technology
and expertise, access to large and sophisticated markets, and a high density of industrial clusters.
Weaknesses are the high costs of raw materials and labour, insufficiency of entrepreneurial research
and development, resistance to restructuring and rationalization of business, and in many European
regions, lack of a wood-using culture. New opportunities include the promotion of wood and wood
products as “life-style products,” development of integrated solutions in construction and building,
use of geographic and infrastructural advantages in expanding markets, and transfer of production
activities to cost-competitive regions. Threats are in particular global competition, lack of
innovation in products and services, and competition from other high-tech materials.
New financial strategies: Another important issue, to be addressed in teaching and research, is
the need to develop new financial strategies for multifunctional forest management practices
providing multiple forest goods and services. Combined forest financing is based on the principle
that the private and public interests using the resource must share costs and benefits equally. Fig. 8
presents a systems approach in identifying investments and current financial contributions for
multifunctional forestry. It indicates different combinations of wood production, non-timber forest
products, and environmental and infrastructural services.
Proceeds from market transactions are the backbone for financing forestry operations. They
derive from sales of wood and non-timber products, technical services for third parties, and
environmental and infrastructural services for which markets exist or can be developed. Proceeds
from third parties result from contractual obligations and payments made by individual users,
private user groups and NGOs for specific services and may include incentives and compensation
for protecting infrastructural facilities or for preserving forest areas with high ecological values.
Fig. 8 – Financing multifunctional forest management for wood, non-timber products and environmental
services ([5], p. 36, modified)
National, sub-national and local authorities may provide similar incentives and compensation:
for instance, for managing protection forests under a special regime, for nature and landscape
protection, or for environmental services provided in the public interest. Supranational and
international institutions and organisations, such as the European Union, may create special
programmes to co-finance structural improvements for productive forest resource development
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through afforestation and reforestation, and for fire prevention, detection and suppression.
Cooperation among small-scale landowners in sustainable management practices and rural
development measures intended to enhance the self-sufficiency of the local population provide
other possibilities to finance joint public and private multifunctional forest management systems.
Teaching requirements in forest resources, environmental and ecological economics
Role of forest owners: Landowners and land users play an important role: they determine
whether the renewable natural resource base is maintained or degraded (Fig. 9). Forest owners have
both the right and the responsibility, considering the range of actual and potential societal and
economic demands, to decide on management goals and forestry practices. Forestry professionals
must be aware of the economic needs and opportunities that influence forest owners’ use and
management. But it is also important to grasp the social and cultural values that prevail at any given
time and understand their implications for a particular locality, country or region. Promoting
sustainable uses of the natural resource base is today the overarching goal of political interventions.
Technology, investment and labour determine the level and combination of goods and services that
can be made available to private consumers and the community as a whole.
Fig. 9 – Drivers of the behaviour of landowners and land users ([4], modified)
Innovative university forest education must take a systems approach to explaining the impact
of economic and societal factors on the natural resource base. Resource economics, environmental
economics and ecological economics are three economic disciplines that can widen the perspective,
understanding and professional qualifications of university graduates. The concepts and
methodologies of these three disciplinary approaches within economics are an indispensable basis
for teaching economics in the field of sustainable forestry and renewable natural resources
management.
Resource economics deals with optimization of production and consumption processes in a
dynamic and intertemporal allocation perspective. Resource economists develop models of the
conditions for an optimal consumption of resources and for correcting suboptimal consumption
practices. Environmental economics analyses in particular the positive and negative external effects
of production and consumption and how to internalize these externalities to improve utilization
processes. It is primarily based on a static resources allocation analysis dealing with actual
competitive use of environmental resources. Ecological economics deals with dynamic systems in
evolution and with human preferences reflecting broad ecological opportunities and aversion to
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environmental constraints. The timeframe of the processes studied extends from short to very long,
and its scale extends from local to global, and the focus is on sustainability as a combination of
economic, environmental and social factors.
Multidisciplinary approach: The three economic disciplines take a multidisciplinary scientific
approach. Combining their theoretical concepts and methodologies in a problem-oriented research
and teaching approach helps students understand the complex and pressing issues of society with
regard to forest utilization, ecosystem management and the role of forests in maintaining a livable
environment. The teaching focus is on understanding in a reasoned and scientific manner the
economic values related to sustainable use and management; analysing human behaviour toward
forests, nature and landscape in economic terms; and developing economically efficient solutions
for a wide range of ecological problems.
Primary teaching subjects encompass the following:
– multiple cross-sectoral links as well as positive and negative conditionality between
economic decisions and their impacts on natural environmental processes, especially on soil, water
and climate;
– intertemporal effects of alternative use and management strategies on present as well as
future stocks of renewable natural resources;
– economic implications of positive and negative externalities in production and consumption
as influencing the behaviour of firms and individuals;
– economic and social aspects of providing public goods and managing common property
resources to meet collective economic, societal and political demands and respect culturally derived
attitudes and beliefs;
– dynamics of changing private and public consumer demands based on an optimization of
economic strategies combining production, protection and preservation outputs;
– identification, quantification, valuation and monetarization of environmental, social and
cultural services and benefits that result from multifunctional forest management, environmental
protection, and nature and landscape preservation.
Conclusions
The social, economic and political processes linked to forest management and environmental
protection, as well as the importance of the forestry and wood-processing sector, have evolved and
become multilayered. Forest conservation and forestry development are today not only national and
local concerns but even worldwide issues. This requires an interdisciplinary view of forest systems
that addresses the multiple and spatially differentiated uses of renewable natural resources. Forest
and landscape dynamics are the result of complex interactions between physical and ecological
conditions and changing societal needs and values, new economic opportunities, and evolving
political institutions.
A comprehensive teaching and research approach is essential for understanding the multiple
and locally, nationally and internationally varying dimensions of all relevant outputs from forestry,
striking a balance between private and public, and achieving a rational distribution of investments
and maintenance costs among those benefiting from wood production and environmental services.
One has to understand the many possible interactions between the production of private goods and
services from forests on the one hand, and the maintenance of the flow of public goods and services
from forests on the other hand.
Exploring the dynamically changing relationships between forest, landscape and society
requires empirical analysis and concrete experience in a given space and time with the aim of better
understanding the prevailing institutional conditions, the ongoing political and social processes, and
the actors involved. In investigating such relationships one comes to understand the interface
between alternative land uses at different spatial scales as well as the societal changes that
determine the manifold interactions.
With regard to innovation in forest policy and forest economics teaching and research
specifically, the following conclusions are to be emphasized:
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Academic teaching of socio-economic aspects in forestry curricula needs to be based on a
systems approach, analysing forestry problems in the overall context of natural resource use,
sustainable land management practices and environmental protection.
Forest policy teaching requires a solid disciplinary basis in the theoretical concepts, models
and research methodologies of political science. Academic courses in forest policy and forest law
should offer, for instance, a comprehensive knowledge of public policy making, governance
networks and multilevel political processes.
Forest economics related to private and public land management should focus on a
comprehensive understanding of entrepreneurial decisions and management strategies. Knowledge
of business economics, analytical skills, social capabilities and leadership are primary teaching
goals.
Professional foresters need to understand public values related to environmental, recreational
and landscape services. The leading concepts, theories and research methodologies of resource
economics, environmental economics and ecological economics, as they relate to the use and
management of forests, have to be included in forestry curricula.
Social and cultural developments in modern societies as well as the historical dimensions of
societal changes in attitudes towards forests are an integrating part of academic programmes for
university forestry students. Knowledge of the dynamic changes in humans’ relationship to forests,
nature and environment is the primary focus of teaching.
REFERENCES
1. Cirelli M.-T., Schmithüsen Fr. Trends in Forestry Legislation: Western Europe. FAO Legislative Study 10,
Rome, 2000. http://faolex.fao.org/faolex/index.htm
2. European Commission. Competitiveness of the European Union Woodworking Industries – Summary Report.
Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg. 2000. – 72 pp.
3. Peters S., Fortgefьhrt von Bruehl R. M., Stelling J. N. Betriebswirtschaftslehre – Einfuhrung. 9. durchges.
Auflage. Oldenbourg, Mьnchen. 1999. – 239 s.
4. Schmithüsen F., Bisang K., Zimmermann W. Cross-Sector Linkages in Forestry – Review of Available
Information and Considerations on Further Research. Working Document No 1; Forestry Department. – FAO, Rome.
2001. – 56 pp.
5. Schmithüsen F. Understanding Cross-Sectoral Policy Impacts – Policy and Legal Aspects // Cross-sectoral Policy
Impacts between Forestry and other Sectors. FAO Forestry Paper. – FAO, Rome, 2003a. – V. 142, № 5. – 44 р.
6. Schmithüsen F. The Global Revolution in Sustainable Forest Policy – A European Perspective. Pinchot Lecture
Series. – Pinchot Institute for Conservation, Washington D.C., 2003b.
7. Schmithüsen F., Kaiser B., Schmidhauser A., Mellinghoff St., Kammerhofer A. W. Unternehmerisches Handeln in
der Wald- und Holzwirtschaft – Betriebswirtschaftliche Grundlagen und Managementprozesse. – Deutscher
Betriebswirte-Verlag, Gernsbach, 2003c. – 560 s.
8. Schmithüsen F. European Forest Policy Developments in Changing Societies: Political Trends and Challenges to
Research. In: Towards the Sustainable Use of Europe’s Forests – Forest Ecosystem and Landscape Research: Scientific
Challenges and Opportunities. EFI Proceedings. – European Forest Institute, Joensuu, Finland, 2004. – № 49. – Р. 87 –
99.
9. Schmithüsen F., Seeland K. European Landscapes and Forest as Representation of Culture // Cultural Heritage
and Sustainable Forest Management – The Role of Traditional Knowledge. – Ministerial Conference on the Protection
of Forests in Europe, Liaison Unit, Warsaw, Poland, 2006. – Volume 1. – Р. 217 – 224.
10. Schmithüsen F., Kaiser B., Schmidhauser A., Mellinghoff St., Kammerhofer A. W. Entrepreneurship in the
Forest- and Wood Products Industry – Principles of Business Economics and Management. – Publishing Centre of the
Faculty for Economic Sciences, University of Belgrade, Serbia, 2006. – 529 pp. (Serbian Translation of the Text- and
Reference Book in German published in 2003, Deutscher Betriebswirte-Verlag, Gernsbach).
Шмітхузен Ф.
БОЛОНСЬКИЙ ПРОЦЕС – ЗАКЛИК ДО ІННОВАЦІЇ В ЛІСОВІЙ ПОЛІТИЦІ, ЕКОНОМІЧНІЙ ОСВІТІ ТА
ДОСЛІДЖЕННЯХ
Інститут рішень щодо навколишнього середовища, відділ екологічних наук, Швейцарського Федерального
Інституту Технології, Цюріх, Швейцарія
Болонський процес призводить лісове господарство і лісову освіту в контекст розвитку глобальної
економіки, а також всесвітньої турботи про захист середовища та зміни клімату. Це стимулює інтеграцію
лісового господарства у мережу невиснажливого землекористування і поєднання досвіду лісового господарства
http://faolex.fao.org/faolex/index.htm
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15
та нових наукових знань і методології досліджень. лісовим професіоналам потрібні всебічні загальноосвітні
знання, якщо вони мають утриматися на тлі швидко мінливих соціальних, економічних і політичних проблем. У
той же час їм потрібно зрозуміти локальні й культурні аспекти лісового господарства, що розвивається. Це
потребує об'єднаного підходу до управління лісами, захисту довкілля і збереження ландшафтів. Для підтримки
основи природних ресурсів і лісів, в яких ведеться господарство, у невиснажливій формі необхідна викладацька
програма, що об’єднує політику, закон, ділову економіку і управління, складові лісових ресурсів і екологічної
економіки.
К лю ч о в і с л о в а : практика землекористування, захист природних ресурсів, лісова продукція, екологічні
послуги, управління лісовими екосистемами.
Шмитхузен Ф.
БОЛОНСКИЙ ПРОЦЕСС – ПРИЗЫВ К ИННОВАЦИИ В ЛЕСНОЙ ПОЛИТИКЕ, ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКОМ
ОБРАЗОВАНИИ И ИССЛЕДОВАНИЯХ
Институт решений по окрежающей среде, отдел экологических наук, Швейцарского Федерального
Института Технологии, Цюріх, Швейцария
Болонский процесс приводит лесное хозяйство и лесное образование в контекст развития глобальной
экономики, а также всемирной заботы о защите окружающей среды и изменениях климата. Это стимулирует
интеграцию лесного хозяйства в систему неистощимого землепользования и сочетание опыта лесного
хозяйства, новых научных знаний и методологии исследований. Лесным профессионалам нужны всесторонние
общеобразовательные знания, если они должны удержаться на фоне быстро меняющихся социальных,
экономических и политических проблем. В то же время им нужно понять локальные и культурные аспекты
развивающегося лесного хозяйства. Это требует объединенного подхода к управлению лесами, защите
окружающей среды и сохранению ландшафтов. Для поддержания основы природных ресурсов и лесов, в
которых ведется хозяйство, в неистощимой форме требуется программа преподавания, которая объединяет
политику, закон, деловую экономику и управление, составные части лесных ресурсов и экологической
экономики.
К лю ч е в ы е с л о в а : практика землепользования, защита природных ресурсов, лесная продукция,
экологические услуги, управление лесными экосистемами.
franz.schmithuesen@env.ethz.ch
Одержано редколегією 20.06.2007 р.
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