Forest and Nature Management Planning
Course content
Students of forest and nature management planning need to
understand the complexity of planning and the challenges of
managing forest and nature areas in a sustainable way. For forest
and nature managers, sustainability managing a particular forest or
nature area means determining, in a tangible way, how to use it
today to ensure similar benefits, health and productivity in the
future. Forest and nature managers must assess and integrate a wide
array of sometimes conflicting factors - commercial and
non-commercial values, environmental issues and community needs to
produce sound and useful forest and nature plans. Additionally,
plans must be feasible and economically viable.
The course introduces students to Structured Decision
Making which is an organized approach to developing and
evaluating creative alternatives and making defensible choices. It
has been particularly useful for helping groups work productively
together on decisions marked by technical uncertainty and
controversial trade-offs. It combines analytical methods from
decision analysis with insights into human judgments and behaviour.
The course works its way through what we know about the prerequisites of informed decision-making, following logical steps in identifying aims and objectives, investigating the state of forest / nature goods and services, and transforming objectives into management actions with due consideration of for who, when and how to implement management actions. Students will also acquire knowledge about practical planning and the relation between means (e.g. budgets) and ends (objectives). Finally, the students will learn to quantify and model ecosystem services and include them in the forest and nature management plan
The course is mainly related to the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):
- SDG 7: Clean and affordable energy.
- SDG 12. Responsible consumption and production.
- SDG13. Climate action.
- SDG15. Life on land.
Trade-offs between SDGS are quantified and discussed.
Digitalization is included in the course as part of:
- Data management, collection and handling of empirical data (mainly quantitative data)
- Technological understanding of the application of digital technologies within the sector
- Digital information collection as part of literature search
MSc Programme in Forest and Nature Management
Knowledge
- Understand a natural science management planning approach emphasizing the study objects: forests and natural resources.
- Explain the principles of sustainable utilization, protection and stewardship of forests and other semi-natural areas
- Explain key theories and methodologies for management planning, modelling, and making structured environmental decisions
Skills
- Apply a social science management planning approach, including structured environmental decision-making, to forests and natural resources from the point of view of an enterprise, organization, and/or society.
- Apply economic theory and utilize economic planning tools for analysing and modelling the welfare and economic business production from forests and natural resources, and realizing management and development tasks within the frames given by society (legislation, regulations, facts).
- Develop long-term strategies, operational objectives and specific plans for sustainable utilization and protection of forests and other green resources, considering the social, ecological and economic objectives and limitations.
- Describe modelling, regulation and management of green resources; develop, quantify and use theoretical and applied models of the productive and protective functions of forests and natural resources – material as well as immaterial.
- Prepare a forest and nature management plan, including basic models based on economic theory and methods.
- Analyse the planning process and structure; and communicate planning implementation and result – both orally and in writing
Competences
- Transfer the use of structured decision-making, economic theory and methods in management planning for forests and natural resources to other planning problems and situations involving people, social systems, and allocation of scarce production resources.
- Design decision-making with the entry point of rational economic planning theory
- Understand and apply general criteria applicable for economic evaluation of planning results.
- Cooperate and work effectively in a group with a common economic planning project developing interpersonal and intercultural competences
Plenary lectures on topics will be given. Field trips are organised to a forest and nature case area to actively link theory with practice. This will facilitate understanding theory in the context of real world planning. Theoretical exercises will support the lectures. Students will present results and round-up discussions will summarise. Groups of 4-5 students will prepare a forest and nature management project for a real world case. Groups will formulate and present milestones of their project during the course. Teaching is concentrated on 3-4 days per week in the first 5-6 weeks of the course. In the last weeks of the course most of the time is used on group work, supported by consultations with teachers. Exact dates and times will be available at the beginning of the course. The overall requirements of the course correspond to full time studies. Therefore, it is recommended to use the full block for studies in this course without significant parallel activities.
Teaching material will be announced at Absalon. It includes book chapters and journal papers, which are accessible through university library facilities.
It is recommended to have competences within the fields covered
by the following courses:
LNAK10064U Thematic Course: Ecology and Management of Forests and
other Semi-natural Terrestrial Ecosystems
LOJK10282U Applied Economics of Forest and Nature or similar
economic competences
LTEK10157U Natural Resource Sampling and Modelling
Academic qualifications equivalent to a BSc degree is
recommended.
The student groups will be offered the opportunity to receive feed-back on group work
- ECTS
- 15 ECTS
- Type of assessment
-
Oral exam on basis of previous submission, 30 minutes (no preparation time)
- Type of assessment details
- The oral exam consists of an examination in a randomly drawn
question as well as the forest and nature management project
report.
In order to partake in the oral examination, the written assignment must be submitted. - Aid
- Only certain aids allowed (see description below)
Students may bring the project report and a one-pager with notes for their presentation of the project report.
- Marking scale
- 7-point grading scale
- Censorship form
- External censorship
- Re-exam
-
Same as ordinary exam.
The student can choose to either hand in a new/revised report or resubmit the original report from the ordinary exam.
Criteria for exam assessment
See Learning Outcome
Single subject courses (day)
- Category
- Hours
- Lectures
- 80
- Preparation
- 73
- Practical exercises
- 30
- Excursions
- 25
- Project work
- 170
- Guidance
- 4
- Exam
- 30
- English
- 412
Kursusinformation
- Language
- English
- Course number
- LNAK10098U
- ECTS
- 15 ECTS
- Programme level
- Full Degree Master
- Duration
-
1 block
- Placement
- Block 4
- Schedulegroup
-
Teaching activities take place out of course structure. The time schedule plan will be made available at least four weeks prior to Block 4.
- Capacity
- No limitation – unless you register in the late-registration period (BSc and MSc) or as a credit or single subject student.
- Studyboard
- Study Board of Natural Resources, Environment and Animal Science
Contracting department
- Department of Food and Resource Economics
Contracting faculty
- Faculty of Science
Course Coordinators
- Henrik Meilby (4-6f6c746c47706d797635727c356b72)
- Niels Strange (3-74797a466f6c787534717b346a71)
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