Expertise helps achieve sustainability goals in Borneo

Expertise helps achieve sustainability goals in Borneo

There may not be many Kiwi accents in the tropical forests of Borneo but the skills needed to sustainably manage them are found here.

Lincoln University’s Postgraduate Diploma in Applied Science in Sustainable Tropical Forest Management has been taught since 2006 in Sarawak, a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo, and another crop of students will graduate from the course on April 11.

Lincoln Faculty of Agribusiness and Commerce Dean, Professor Hugh Bigsby, initiated the course, and he and Vice-Chancellor Dr Andrew West will be on hand to congratulate the students.

Professor Bigsby says forest management is becoming increasingly complex as the forest industry moves towards sustainable management practices and the need to meet multiple objectives from their forestry activities.

“Forest and logging managers are now being called on to deal not only with profitable forest operations, but as well, to deal with difficult environmental and social issues. In addition, many markets are now looking for assurance of sustainable forestry through forest certification, and more companies are looking at certification.

“As a result of these changes, developing the appropriate skills to successfully manage forestry operations that meet the goals of sustainable tropical forestry, which includes social and environment elements, has become an important requirement for managers in the forest sector of Sarawak.”

Lincoln and the Sarawak Timber Association, with cooperation from the Sarawak Forestry Corporation and the Sarawak Forest Department, developed the Postgraduate Diploma to meet the skill needs of those forestry managers, he says.

The programme is delivered in intensive one-week block courses offered over around 24 months, allowing managers to continue to work full-time and study part-time.
The subjects are taught by a mixture of Lincoln lecturers and local Sarawak forestry specialists.

Three cohorts of students have now completed the degree, and the fourth is under way.

Professor Bigsby says the programme has been running since 2006, and has evolved to include an expansion of the plantation forestry component and the development of a continuing education programme called the ‘STA Sustainable Forest Manager’. Options for a Master’s degree have also been developed.

The Postgraduate Diploma was specifically designed for Sarawak, recognising that many of the people who work in the industry without formal training in forestry.

It covers all aspects of forestry, including silviculture, harvesting, planning, economics, and social factors. It is also recognises many forest industry managers do not have a degree, and many others have not been at university for a long time, so it includes ways to help people develop skills for postgraduate study.

Graduates include people who are new to the industry to those who have 30 years’ experience, as well as a number of people without an undergraduate degree.

Dr West says the strong emphasis on sustainability in the Diploma fits in well with the stated causes of the University — Feed the World, Protect the Future and Live Well. The success of the course also shows the University’s teaching expertise is of an international standard, and is capable of adapting to meet local requirements.

The Postgraduate Diploma is also important to Lincoln University because it continues the long association it has with Sarawak, he says, which includes tourism and biodiversity initiatives.

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