International Forest Ecosystem Management Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development

Overview

Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development's International Forest Ecosystem Management (B.Sc.) Bachelor's programme's graduates should contribute to the implementation of international decisions and conventions for the protection and sustainable use of the Earth's natural resources through their acquired knowledge, management skills and experience abroad.

The term Forest Ecosystem Management  (FEM) strives for a systematic appreciation of the factors that determine the structures, processes, and functions of forest ecosystems. Beside the scientific-ecological connections, they include the interactions of the forest systems with the human societies that affect and use them. Based upon this, concrete management approaches have to be developed. However, at an international level the aim is not always the sustainable use of forests. In many parts of the world, forests have to compete with forms of land-use that are often more profitable in the short run. The result of increasing utilization pressure and progressive deforestation is the dramatic loss of healthy and functional forest ecosystems and of their biological diversity.

Career

Ecosystem management and the principles of sustainable forestry are undergoing a period of unprecedented change and synergy, and it is exactly this that makes our study programme so dynamic. The IFEM study programme is one of very few rather unique international study programmes of its kind; comparable study programs can be found at the universities of e.g.: York University, UK; University of New Brunswick, Canada; Iowa State University, USA.

Accordingly, the graduates of IFEM are able to work in many diverse occupational areas. They are particularly well suited to work within projects concerning: Sustainable forestry and conservation management.