GEORGE NEWS - Partners of Forest21 descended from many parts of South Africa, Norway and Finland to attend a climate-smart forestry workshop at the Nelson Mandela University George Campus.

Forest21, short-hand for “climate-smart forestry education for livelihoods and sustainability in South Africa”, is a collaborative project involving a total of eight institutions of higher learning in South Africa, Norway and Finland that is core-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union. 

The project seeks to mainstream climate-smart practices, and forestry entrepreneurship in SA forestry higher education through the problem-based learning approach as the most appropriate student-centred pedagogics.

The weeklong dialogue saw students and academic staff from Nelson Mandela University, Fort Cox Agriculture and Forestry Training Institute, Tshwane University of Technology, Stellenbosch University, University of Venda, Aalto University, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, and Hãme University of Applied Sciences, Forestry South Africa, and many other forestry role players come together to find ways of improving the forestry education offering in South Africa to mainstream issues of climate change.

'Consider political economy'

Welcoming the delegates, Dr Kaluke Mawila, principal of the NMU George Campus, emphasised the need for delegates to consider the political economy of transformation in which South African forestry, like any other sector, finds itself.

In her opening address, the project coordinator, Dr Eija Laitinen of Hãme University of Applied Sciences, Finland suggested that forestry will need to go through deliberate adaptiveness, which is not only accepting inevitable change, but also includes proactivity and innovation.

The symposium of the first day provided the contextualisation of theme of the project, to enable delegates to identify and prioritise academic themes that required further investigations to drive curriculum change and improved pedagogical techniques. 

Presenters came from industry practitioners and academics that are working on the issues and are specialists in the areas.

State of plantation forestry

Panellist Loise van Wyk presented the state of plantation forestry in South Africa and the environmental values underpinning the sector. 

Other panellists outlined important topics such as risk management in the industry, entrepreneurship as an essential element in a changing global climate as well as specific models and opportunities for inclusive, socially just climate-smart practices.

Time was also allocated to future business models that would support the green and circular economy in the forestry value chain as well as sustainability through inclusive growth and community engagement. South African land is held under multiple tenure systems, each of which presents varying sets of opportunities and challenges. 

The land reform farms, as well as the government-held land, came under scrutiny as they hold a lot of untapped potential.

The carbon market

Key among the discussion points that South Africa also grapples with, was the nature of the carbon market and mechanisms for participation. Forests (natural and commercial) can contribute to carbon sequestration. 

When forests retain more carbon than they emit, they become a carbon sink. Forest carbon is considered a forest product that can be an alternative source of income for forest landowners.

The carbon market specialist, Ciska Terreblance of CMO, presented the modalities, mechanisms and opportunities for participation in the carbon market and the limitations thereof. 

She said, “The opportunity to create value from forest carbon is emerging as part of the solution to address climate change, available to the public, private and community entities. Through the carbon market, a landowner can be paid for management practices that will sequester additional carbon dioxide above a business-as-usual scenario. 

"Carbon markets allow landowners to sell the carbon stored in their forest to another entity to compensate for emissions emitted elsewhere.”

Issues illustrated during excursion

The party also made an excursion to various points where the host illustrated the various issues in Southern Cape ecology, forestry political economy, and landscape as well as identifying areas of entrepreneurial opportunities.

The stop at the Map of Africa viewpoint provided a look into the social and historical ecology of the region going back into the centuries-rich history of the area.

A stop at the Ruigtevlei Plantation of PG Bison demonstrated how climate change could have devastating impacts and how the company is implementing strategies to mitigate these negative impacts. 

The new carbon biochar project which harvests invasives and turn these into biochar was also an eye-opening stop.

A final stop in Knysna introduced participants to how alternative building materials have been used and evolved to compete with ordinary building materials which are climate-wasting. Political will is required for these technologies to be brought into the mainstream.

Need for innovation, enterprise development, partnerships

The conference cemented the need for innovation, enterprise development as well as partnerships between universities, industry and government entities such as local municipalities in leading problem-based teaching of students and learning from working on real-life challenges on the ground.

The Forest21 symposium was held at Nelson Mandela University George Campus.

Pedagogical revolution

One of the key outcomes of the programme is to ensure pedagogical revolution in the manner in which the teaching and learning interaction takes place. 

Students from partner institutions will carry out student challenges emphasising problem-based learning on a number of themes for which they will seek industry partnership and collaboration.

Some of the themes include alternative business models in support of the green economy with a focus on the biomass industry, climate-smart forestry/agriculture production landscapes, opportunities along the forestry/agriculture production landscapes, multiple land-use in support of climate-smart natural resource management, technology/decision support-systems for detecting/monitoring climate-smart natural resource management, management of risks associated with climate change (biotic, abiotic, sociopolitical), wood products (design, alternative uses, promotion, etc), bio-energy, and optimal and appropriate forest business models for plantations earmarked for recommissioning and recapitalisation.

Symposium achieves objectives

The coordinators of the project, workshop organisers, guest speakers, session chairpersons, field trip hosts, and all participants can now pat themselves on the shoulder because the three objectives of the event were achieved beyond expectations.

Climate change, its implications for the forest industry and entrepreneurial opportunities for improved sustainability were contextualised; appropriate and viable student challenges that can inform revised academic curricula were identified and documented; and academic staff from the five South African higher education institutions were further trained in problem-based learning, using the newly drafted student challenges during the four-day workshop.

For more information, refer to the Forest21 website.

READ MORE: Forest21 Symposium seeks ways to adapt forestry education

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