Asia-Pacific Forestry Education Coordination Mechanism (AP-FECM)

 Forests in the Asia-Pacific region serve nearly half of the global population. More than five million people work in the forestry sector in this region. However, the region’s forests face mounting challenges, such as a decline in forest cover, loss of biodiversity, damage to forest ecosystems and reduced ecosystem stability and resilience. To address these challenges, an improved and more innovative team of forestry practitioners is critical, and post-secondary forestry education and training will play a key role in creating this team. It will require closer linkages and synergies among forestry institutions and forest-related organizations in our increasingly globalized world.

Initiated by the Asia-Pacific Network for Sustainable Forest Management and Rehabilitation (APFNet), the Asia Pacific Forestry Education Coordination Mechanism (AP-FECM) (former name: the Forestry College Deans Meeting Mechanism in the Asia-Pacific Region) was proposed during the First Forestry College Deans Meeting in 2010 and formally launched in a second meeting in 2011. Its objective is to develop concrete activities in support of the reform and improvement of forestry education in the region.

NEWS: Best Practices In Forest Education – Winner

On March 21st 2019 – also known as International Forestry Day – AP-FECM is the winner of  the Global Competition on Best Practices in Forest Education organized by the Joint IUFRO-IFSA Task Force on Forest Education. In the competition, our program was one of the 71 participants, representing a total of 23 economies and ranging from primary to tertiary education. Although we are extremely grateful for this recognition as it is the result of our hard work and our commitment to enhance sustainable forest management, we are also thrilled to see the success of this competition. Congratulations to all participants!

AP-FECM’s goal of promoting forestry education in the Asia Pacific region and making knowledge accessible to more people is reflected in the online program: through our 5 existing online courses and with the 10 new ones being developed, students, faculty members and professionals from around the world are able to learn, share and update their knowledge and build professional network. This has been thrilling for us and we can’t wait to launch our next online courses.

Thank you to everyone for joining our network and making our initiative the Best Practice in Forest Education!