Overview

In this module fundamental forestry and woodland management issues will be explored, such as, why manage forests in the first place? The module also explores a range of issues of relevance to Sustainable Forest Management, including introductions to forest valuation techniques, timber markets, forest landscapes and forest economics. The module will enable students to combine their knowledge of core silvicultural approaches and concepts, as well as their practical skills in remote and ground-based methods of forest inventory, to devise silvicultural interventions and make management recommendations. The timetable for this module includes a variety of activities, including lectures, seminars, workshops, field visits, guest lectures and more. Students are expected to devote their private study between the lecture and the following seminar to reading and critiquing a wide range of resources.

• Sustainable forest management (SFM): history, modern concepts and definitions; criteria and indicators of sustainable forest management; sustainable forest management in China and the UK.

• Forestry Standards: Forest certification, including history and principles of certification, certification in China, certification schemes operating in Europe and in the UK – the UK Woodland Assurance Standard (UKWAS) and UK Forestry.

• Forest resources and their contribution to global carbon cycles: remote sensing and ground-based methods for assessing forest resources; inventory planning and forest sampling; estimation of forest biomass and carbon content.

• Productive functions of forests: numerical descriptions of tree and forest growth characteristics; forest growth models and associated functions; quantification and modelling of forest stand structure; management interventions and yield prediction.

This module is divided into lectures and student-led seminars, where students will engage in group work on a topic/subject presented during lectured and develop short seminars followed by class discussions and debates.

Assessment Strategy

Threshold (D- to D+)

Students will show some understanding of the meaning and some understanding of the practices of sustainable forest management. They will be able to define sustainable forest management and identify some of the criteria and indicators of sustainable forest management and be able to describe the main schemes of forest certification. They can prescribe an appropriate silvicultural intervention to achieve a desired management outcome, but their descriptions of interventions may be incomplete or inaccurate in places. They have passing familiarity with forest operations in temperate/(sub)tropical plantations and understand that these operations may cause environmental damage. They will be able to describe some of the ways in which economic methods are used to make forest management decisions.

Excellent (A- and above)

Students will have a comprehensive understanding of the meaning and practice of sustainable forest management. They will demonstrate excellent knowledge of the literature, creative application of the material and a capacity for synthesis. They will be able to explain the meaning of sustainable forest management and evaluate the criteria and indicators of sustainable forest management. They will be able to describe in detail, compare and evaluate the main schemes of forest certification. They will be able to explain in detail the ways in which economic methods are used to make forest management decisions, describe how the methods are applied in different situations, and evaluate their effectiveness. They can prescribe appropriate silvicultural interventions to achieve a range of desired management outcomes. They will have a full understanding of forest operations worldwide, the ways in which these can cause environmental damage and the ways in which these effects can be minimised.

Good (C- to B+)

Students will be able to demonstrate a thorough understanding of the meaning and practice of sustainable forest management. They will be able to explain the meaning of sustainable forest management and identify most of the criteria and indicators of sustainable forest management. They will be able to describe and compare the main schemes of forest certification. They can prescribe an appropriate silvicultural intervention to achieve a desired management outcome. They have an understanding of forest operations in temperate and (sub)tropical plantations and the ways in which these can cause environmental damage.

Learning Outcomes

• Students can describe the different forest certification schemes and evaluate their merits and disadvantages.

• Students can describe the operational practices used in tropical and temperate plantation silviculture and how to minimise their environmental effects

• Students can prescribe a silvicultural intervention to achieve a desired management outcome.

• Students critically understand the meaning of sustainable forest management and can describe and discuss the ways in which it can be effectively assessed and monitored.