University hosts international experts

More than 40 participants from 13 countries in Africa and Asia are taking part in the Improving Forestry Governance programme at the University’s Telford Innovation Campus.

It is the fifth year the University’s Centre for International Development and Training (CIDT) has run the successful course which is aimed at Government regulators, the private sector, academics and journalists.

The six-week course looks at the reasons for poor forest management and ways to improve the situation. Run throughout May and June, it is taught in French and English, and this year also in Spanish for the first time.

The 42 participants on this year’s course are from countries such as Honduras, Colombia and Guatemala.

Ella Haruna, Deputy Head of CIDT, said: “For people working in the forestry and natural resource sector, the rapidly moving situation can be complex and difficult to keep pace with. The major timber markets are now demanding the supply of legally harvested and traded wood as reinforced by EU regulation which came into force last year.

“The course analyses reasons for poor forest governance and look at the use of multi-stakeholder processes and enterprise development as tools to improve the situation.”

The course has been run by Centre for International Development and Training, which is a self-financing, non-profit making centre within the University, since 2010.

It is funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the European Forestry Institute (EFI) and the European Commission (EC).

ENDS

For more information please contact Vickie Warren in the Media Relations Office on 01902 322736.

Date Issued: Monday, 09 June 2014