Post-Symposium Training Workshop

Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana, India, 13 and 14 February, 2011

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IUFRO-SPDC in cooperation with the Punjab Agriculture University and the EU-BENWOOD Project organised a training workshop on science-policy interfacing. This workshop was open for participants of the IUFRO Symposium on “Short Rotation Forestry: Synergies for Wood Production and Environmental Amelioration” and was held at the same venue from 10 to 12 February 2011.

The need for sound scientific information in the development of public environmental and forest-related policies at the local, national and international levels has grown significantly in recent years. Although it is commonly accepted that scientific information is indispensable for policy and management, linking substantive knowledge and authoritative political decision making is a chronically difficult task. In view of this, IUFRO-SPDC – over the past 5 years – conducted a series of training workshops for creating awareness among scientists in developing countries of the importance of science-policy interfacing issues.

The training provided 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.

The workshop content was based on the work of international experts convened by IUFRO in its Task Force on the Science-Policy Interface. Participants learned about 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 such as the International Forest Regime, global conventions, national forest programmes, national poverty reduction strategies and community-driven processes at local level. A wide range of case studies was presented addressing forest-related science-policy issues including short-rotation forestry under various management objectives.

Trainers/Resource Persons:
Michael Kleine, IUFRO Headquarters, Vienna, Austria
Promode Kant, Institute of Green Economy, New Delhi, India
Sanjeev K. Chauhan, Punjab Agriculture University, India
Jan Dubas and Rafal Matela, WENA Kochanska-Dubas, Poland