IUFRO-SPDC Training Workshop

Buenos Aires,  16 and 17 October 2009

The IUFRO Training Workshop on "Working effectively at the Interface of Forest Science and Forest Policy" took place in conjunction with the XIII World Forestry Congress at Duomi Hotel, Buenos Aires, 16 and 17 October 2009.

The Workshop was jointly organised by IUFRO's Special Programme for Developing Countries (IUFRO-SPDC) in cooperation with the Tropical Agriculture and Higher Education Center (CATIE), Costa Rica, the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), and IUFRO's Special Project on "World Forests, Society and Environment" (IUFRO-WFSE) with support by USDA Forest Service, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland (FORMIN), the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and the Korea Forest Research Institute.

The training workshop aimed at:

• Providing concepts and methods to researchers on how to plan, conduct, and organise research activities so that research results can more quickly and easily be transformed into usable information for problem-solving and policy-making;
  
  
• Explaining key aspects of science-policy interactions, and best practices for work at the science-policy interface in the context of international, national and local policy processes with special emphasis on the incorporation of traditional forest knowledge;
  
  
• Presenting a wide range of case studies mainly dealing with forest-related forest management issues in Africa, Asia and Latin America;
  
  
• Conducting hands-on exercises in working groups with focus on the formulation of research processes that adequately incorporate elements of science-policy interfacing.

Although not all research is specifically focused on policy-relevant questions, best practices in transforming research results into usable information can increase the impact of science on forest policy and improve the practice of forestry, thereby creating more value for society from forest and tree-related research. Towards this end, the training workshop specifically aimed at improving the understanding of policy- and decision-making and the roles scientists can play in informing such processes.

More details about this training can be found in the Workshop Report.