Fakta:
The course is intensive teaching in Umeå between for the class is between 11 Sept - 15 Sept, with pre-lecutre as well as post-lecture assignments.
Deadline for application: June 28, 2017.
Folder about the course.
A NOVA finansed class that is scheduled for fall 2017. No exact date is settled yet. The course is offered in collaboration between EFINORD and Department of Forest Economics.
This PhD level course is given in collaboration between EFINORD, NOVA, CERE (Centre for Environmental and Resource Economics) and Department of Forest Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. The course especially invites graduate students from the agricultural and natural sciences universities in the Nordic and Baltic region. Government officials from e.g., forest agencies or staff at forest companies are also welcome to participate in the course.
Subject: Economics
Level: master/graduate course
Number of credits: 7,5 ETCS
Marking scale: Pass/Fail
Location: Umeå, Sweden
Prerequisites: The course is specifically aimed at PhD students within the field of economics, forest management and related subjects. Knowledge in basic microeconomics, and/or natural resource economics is assumed. Good knowledge in English is vital to be able to follow the course.
Time:
Course period: 2017-09-04 – 2017-10-08
Lecture period: 2017-09-11 – 2017-09-15, the remainder consists of self-study time.
Learning objectives:
The course aims to provide understanding of international forest policy on global as well as European level from a broad social science perspective, with an emphasis on the economics perspective. The course aims at an interdisciplinary audience, welcoming students not only from core social sciences but also from management of natural resources, forests being one example. The course also aims at progress from a theoretical definition of forest policy to practical examples of forest policy on the EU level.
In more detail the learning outcomes are to gain:
Implementation:
International Forest Policy has grown as a field over the past decades, with multiple international conventions and treaties highlighting the potential role and positive contributions of forest globally. One example, which will be explored in the opening lectures of the course, is the acknowledgement of forests’ role in climate change mitigation and adaptation in the Paris agreement. Especially in the climate change context, avoided deforestation has gained track in international and national policy arenas over the past decade. Deforestation is often driven by weak tenure systems within the forest sector, incentives for land conversion to agricultural production, and by global trade and investment patterns within weak governance frameworks as one of the root causes. In such a multi-level environment, when multiple and diverse actors compete to realize their interests, to move away from business as usual of deforestation and the underlying political economy requires transformational change. Changing discourses recognizing the value of standing forests, changing economic incentive structures and new actor coalitions with changing power relations are possible pathways forward. During the course, we will discuss a framework to understand the political economy of deforestation and diverse policy instruments that aim to tackle deforestation in tropical countries. Finally, methods and approaches will be introduced to analyze the political economy of deforestation. The students will then explore the opportunities and challenges for transformational change in selected policy arenas (e.g. by country; by mechanism (REDD+, New York Declaration on Zero Deforestation, Roundtables; and/or commodity (beef, soy, oil palm, etc.).
The course will then move from the global policy problem of deforestation towards a discussion of European challenges and opportunities for forest policy. The European (and namely the EU) policy arena relates to the perhaps most crucial decision making level in forest policy for the European countries. The lectures on European forest and environmental policy will first introduce the European policy making arena including important institutions, actors and processes. Subsequently, we will investigate distinct policies in more depth, drawing on empirical social research data, and relate the findings to bigger theoretical ways of thinking about the European policy arena. Another focus will be put on the implementation and impact for European policies, again drawing on empirical social science data. Finally, the course will explore possible ways into the future for European forest governance, discussing issues such as the Brexit and its implications on European forest and environmental policy.
The course starts with a self-study period of course material, continues with an intensive week of lectures and is finalized with an individual essay.
The pre-lecture period assignment is to conduct a brief analysis of selected case-study areas restricted to REDD+ countries. The students will prepare posters or other forms of visualization or presentation of the case. During the course, students will be organized by the selected case studies and will continue to work on these cases in groups during the course. This is connected to lectures on the global perspective of forest policy, offered by a professor in international forest policy.
Next, the course will take the European perspective, with lectures on forest policy, represented by a lecturer with long-term experience in European forest policy research.
The course will be concluded by lectures from a practitioner’s point of view, discussing the EU-level, and how national policy feed into EU policies addressing forests. The lecturer has long-term experience as negotiator from the Swedish government, giving insights to the organization of forest policy work within an EU member state and how policies addressing forest management and/or climate change are negotiated and developed within the EU, using a current proposal for EU legislation as an example.
The post-lecture period assignment is to write an essay related to European forest and environmental policy-making, which relates to the lectures on the European perspective.
Thus, the course includes a blend of lectures, group discussions, practical exercises, and home-assignments. Each accepted participant must send to the organizers a two-page note describing 1) the issues they work on of relevance for this course, 2) their expectations as to how the course may benefit them.
Estimated workload
Total time is 200 hours divided between:
Requirements for examination:
Approved pre-lecture period assignment and post-lecture period essay paper.
Other information:
The Department of Forest Economics reserves the right to cancel the course if there are not more than 5 students who have applied and is accepted to the course.
There is no tuition fee for students who are affiliated with a NOVA (the Nordic Forestry, Veterinary and Agricultural University Network) or BOVA (the Baltic Forestry, Veterinary and Agricultural University Network) university. Other students are charged with a fee of SEK 2000 to be paid before the course starts. Please check the NOVA homepage and the BOVA homepage for information regarding eligibility.
Literature list (additional items may be added):
The course is intensive teaching in Umeå between for the class is between 11 Sept - 15 Sept, with pre-lecutre as well as post-lecture assignments.
Deadline for application: June 28, 2017.
Folder about the course.
Camilla Widmark, camilla.widmark@slu.se, +46907868596, +46702929018
To apply for the course, please follow the instructions here: